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Olympus C-211 Zoom Have your cake and eat it too! - 2 megapixels worth of digital photos, and a built-in Polaroid printer! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet C-211 Zoom Test Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on C-211 Zoom Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:Viewfinder Review First Posted: 9/25/2000

Viewfinder
As we mentioned earlier, the C-211 has no optical viewfinder; its LCD monitor must be activated at all times to operate the camera, making it somewhat power hungry. The 2.5-inch, low-temperature, TFT color LCD monitor has more than 113,500 pixels. A sliding switch on the right side of the monitor controls a backlight feature for shooting outdoors. Flipping the switch down opens a small plastic flap on top of the monitor to reveal a small white reflector. The reflector directs natural light into the monitor chamber, thereby illuminating the LCD image with natural light

We found this "sunlight assisted" backlight option quite useful within a limited range of situations. If the sun was directly overhead (best case scenario), or directly behind us, the sunlight backlight option worked quite well to improve the visibility of the LCD. If the sun was in front of the camera, the internal backlight worked better.

If you do a lot of outdoor shooting, this backlight-assist option could save you a bit of battery power, because the internal backlight is turned off whenever the backlight-assist shutter is opened. Overall, this is a nice feature, but we'd like to see an option that would allow the internal backlight to stay on with the shutter open to provide maximum brightness.

When the camera is in Record mode, the LCD monitor displays the image, a central autofocus target mark (brackets), the number of available images, and the quality setting. By depressing the four buttons below the monitor (left to right), you can adjust the Digital telephoto status, Focus mode, Flash mode, and access the Record mode menu. Exposure compensation is adjusted by depressing the left and right touchpad buttons.

In Playback mode (third icon from the top of the on/off control dial), the LCD monitor provides optional four- and nine-image thumbnail index displays, as well as a playback zoom function which enlarges the captured image 1.5 to 3 times, in 0.5X increments. You can access the index displays by pushing up on the silver zoom lever-once for the four-image index and twice for the nine-image index. To zoom in on the image, push down on the level-once for a 1.5X enlargement and twice for a 3X enlargement. Once the playback zoom is activated, you can use the four arrow buttons on the camera's touchpad to scroll smoothly around the expanded image.

The quality setting is reported at the top of the screen as you access each captured image: Standard Quality (SQ), High Quality (HQ), and Super High Quality (SHQ). Depressing the Info button cycles between the current file name and frame number.