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Olympus C-2000 Zoom Digital Camera -
Product Shots & Controls

The following images and control descriptions were part of our initial "First Look" review of the Olympus C-2000 Zoom camera. Our full review is now up, but we thought the following info would still be of interest to people, some of it isn't repeated in the main review.

(Initial review date: 14 February, 1999)

 


 

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1,600 x 1,200 pixel resolution

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3X optical zoom, + 2.5X digital

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Optical and LCD viewfinder

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Spot or Average light metering

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Program, shutter-, aperture-priority exposure modes, in 1/3-stop increments(!) FULL external-flash support! (with 1/3 stop aperture control)

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Large RAM buffer for rapid shot-to-shot cycling, for up to 10 full-resolution images.

 

Sample Photos Update:
The "dreamarts" site in Japan has posted some very nice-looking images on their Japanese-language page, though, and the Japanese PC-Watch site also has a page on the camera, complete with pictures. For photos with a detailed analysis, check our own pictures index page for the C-2000 Zoom.
Product Photos/External Controls:

The following product shots show some of the external controls and functions of the C-2000 Zoom, as well as a quick look at the options available to control the picture-taking process.

This 3/4 view  of the C-2000 Zoom shows the lens in the extended position.The accessory threads shown earlier are contained in the plastic ring at the base of the lens, from which the lens barrel extends. In this shot, the toggle control for the zoom lens is at upper left, the dioptric adjustment for the optical viewfinder at upper right, and the PC connector for external flash connection at lower right.
A rear view of the C-2000 Zoom: Despite the relative paucity of control buttons, we found the user interface very easy to navigate. LCD screen is at bottom (obviously), the door on the right hides the SmartMedia card.

A close-up of the rear-panel controls: The upper-middle button turns the LCD display on or off, while the lower button enables the menu system. Most routine camera control is accomplished with the 4-way rocker button at upper right. We liked the way we could control either aperture or shutter speed (depending on exposure mode) with up/down actuation, and EV compensation with left/right actions, without resorting to the menu system.

Top-panel controls: Most functions you'd use the LCD menu system for are mirrored on the top-mounted LCD display. This makes for great power savings, while still providing full camera control. The rotary function dial on the right has positions for shutter-priority, aperture-priority, program-mode exposure, playback, and setup/PC connnection. The control at upper right has the shutter release in the center, with the zoom toggle control projecting to the front.

 

 

Screen Shots/LCD Menu System:
The following screen shots should give a fairly good idea of the controls available on the C-2000 Zoom:

This is the first screen of the main setup menu. As you might guess, the highlighted entry resets all settings to their default values. The second entry appears to be for image sharpness, with settings of "Normal" and "Soft." The SHQ Setup option lets you choose either low-compression JPEG or uncompressed TIFF file formats for the "SHQ" image-quality setting. Likewise, SQ Setup gives you options for the SQ quality setting to correspond to either 640x480 or 1024x768 pixel images. The last menu item controls the annunciator sounds the camera makes as you actuate various controls.
The second screen of the main setup menu. Rec View (selected) turns the LCD screen on for a brief period after each shot, to let you verify the image you just captured. Card Setup controls SmartMedia formatting. The grid entry with "9" next to it is used to set how many thumbnails are displayed on-screen in thumbnail review mode: 4, 9, or 16. The screen with the -...+ scale next to it adjusts LCD brightness. (A neat enhancement: The C-2000 Zoom displays a set of grayscale steps while you're setting the screen brightness, giving you an objective reference for the brightness level you've selected.) The last entry sets the date & time as well as its display format.
The first screen of the Record-Mode Setup Menu. The top entry (selected) chooses between averaging or spot metering modes. The second controls flash modes. The third was never active on our prototype unit: It apparently selects a special slow-sync flash mode, with a longer shutter speed to allow more ambient light to enter the image. The AF option selects between standard autofocus, macro focus, and two fixed focus settings (8 feet/2.5m and infinity). The last option controls the self-timer and remote triggering via the infrared controller, which we didn't have access to for our preliminary tests. (You can apparently control all camera functions via a handheld remote control unit -- very handy for portrait work with kids!)
The second screen of the record-mode setup menu. The top item controls "special functions" enabled by Olympus-brand SmartMedia cards. The display shown offers choices between rapid-sequence mode (2 frame per second shooting) and panorama mode. The next menu entry selects digital zoom ratio, with settings of 1x (no zoom), 1.25, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.5x. The third entry lets you choose between 5 different white-balance settings. Next is the ISO selector, with options of ISO 100, 200, and 400, all user-selectable. Finally, the image-quality selector provides options of SQ, HQ, and SHQ, with the options for SQ and SHQ being determined by the corresponding settings in the main setup menu shown earlier.
As a parting shot, here's what the display looks like when taking a picture in aperture-priority mode. (We had the camera pointed at a blank wall so you could see the readouts clearly: Normally, this display would be overlaid on an image of your subject.) At left is the aperture opening we've selected, by rocking the 4-way toggle pad up and down. At right is the EV compensation we've selected, by rocking the 4-way control from left to right. In the middle is the shutter speed (1/3 of a second) that the camera has chosen in response to our aperture and EV compensation settings, and the light falling on the subject. - We really liked both the level of control the C-2000 Zoom gave us, and the way it kept us informed of its current choice for shutter speed and aperture size.

Phew! That's a lot of functionality, packed into a pretty small package. While the screen shots above give some idea of how the camera works, they don't really convey how smoothly the whole user interface works: You can get to the various camera functions with an absolute minimum of button-pushing, yet you have an exceptional level of control over the picture-taking process. Overall, a very nice user-interface design...

 


Reader Comments!
See what other Imaging Resource readers have had to say about the C-2000 Zoom, or add comments of your own. (Read what's here, then add your own!)

 

For More Info:

View the Imaging Resource Data Sheet for the C-2000 Zoom
See the Full Review of the C-2000 Zoom
View the Sample Pictures from the C-2000 Zoom

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