Olympus C-50 ZoomOlympus packs a 5.0-megapixel CCD into an ultra-compact body, with a host of advanced features too.<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 11/26/2002 |
Exposure
The C-50 Zoom offers extensive exposure control for a compact camera,
featuring Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure
modes, as well as a handful of preset scene modes for shooting in specific situations.
The Full Auto and Scene modes make the camera easy to use for novices, while
the other options provide the flexibility demanded by more advanced users. All
capture modes are set by turning the Mode dial on the back panel, which also
accesses the My Mode and Movie modes. (My Mode lets you create a custom setup
for the camera, including virtually every exposure and operating parameter,
that can then be selected simply by rotating the Mode Dial to the "My"
position.)
In Auto mode, the camera has complete control over the exposure parameters. You have control over options like zoom, drive mode, image size, etc., but no exposure adjustments at all (not even exposure compensation or white balance - this is truly a "point-and-shoot" mode). Program mode leaves the camera in charge of the aperture and shutter speed, while you control the remaining exposure options such as ISO, metering mode, and white balance. In Program mode, you also have access to the exposure compensation adjustment, which lets you adjust the camera's automatically determined exposure setting by plus or minus two exposure equivalent (EV) units, in steps of 0.3 EV. (This is important for getting properly exposed photos of beach and snow scenes, where the overall brightness tricks the camera into underexposing.) Aperture Priority lets you set the aperture from f/2.8-f/4.8 to f/8 (maximum aperture varies from f/2.8 to f/4.8 as the lens is zoomed from wide to telephoto) leaving the camera to automatically determine the appropriate shutter speed. In Shutter Priority, you can select shutter speeds from 1/1,000 to 1/2 second, with the camera selecting the corresponding aperture setting. The Manual exposure option lets you control both aperture and shutter speed yourself, and the bottom end of the shutter speed range is extended to eight seconds. An interesting feature of the Manual mode is that, as you scroll through the various exposure settings, the camera indicates whether or your chosen setting will produce a correct exposure. It does this by showing the f/stop, shutter speed, and exposure differential (the difference between your settings and what the camera metering system thinks is correct) in green up to a limit of +/- 3.0EV. If you exceed a range of +/- 3 EV from the nominal exposure, the readout numerals turn red and remain at the 3.0 indication. This is a very handy feature that I'd like to see implemented in the manual exposure modes of more cameras.
Six scene modes include Portrait, Landscape-Portrait, Landscape-Scene, Night Scene, Sports, and Self-Portrait modes, which optimize the camera for specific shooting situations. In Portrait mode, the camera uses a larger lens aperture, reducing depth of field and letting you capture the subject in sharp focus in front of a slightly soft-focused background. Landscape-Portrait mode uses a smaller lens aperture, to help keep both the foreground and background in sharp focus, while Landscape-Scene mode also keeps foreground and background in focus, but intensifies any blue or green values colors for more vibrant foliage and sky colors. Night Scene employs a slower shutter speed, allowing more ambient light into the image, and extends the lower shutter speed to four seconds (although only via automatic control). Sports mode biases the exposure system toward faster shutter speeds, to help freeze fast-moving subjects. Finally, Self-Portrait mode sets close focusing so you can photograph yourself while holding the camera in front of you. Limited menu options are available in the scene modes, as their purpose is to simplify camera setup for novices. (A multitude of menu choices would only add complication to what are intended to be easy-to-use camera settings.)
The C-50 offers a variable ISO setting, which lets you set the camera's light sensitivity to 80, 160, or 320 ISO equivalents, or to an Auto mode where the camera will choose the best ISO. The higher sensitivity settings, combined with the camera's eight-second shutter speed, provide good low-light shooting capabilities. In my tests, the C-50 performed pretty well at low light levels, capturing clear images with great color, but with fairly obtrusive "hot pixel" noise (see the test results section below). The higher ISO settings are also helpful when you want faster shutter speeds under normal lighting, to help freeze fast action. Of course, as with all digicams, the higher ISO settings produce photos with more image noise, much as higher-ISO film shows more film grain.
Two metering systems are available on the C-50: Spot and Digital ESP. Both are accessed through the Spot / Macro / DPOF button on the camera's back panel. Under the default Digital ESP setting, the camera takes an exposure reading from the center of the image as well as the surrounding area and chooses the best exposure based on brightness and contrast across the entire scene. Spot metering simply reads the exposure from the very center of the image, so you can pinpoint the specific area of the photograph you want properly exposed. (Spot metering is very handy when you have a subject that's backlit, or that has a very different brightness (either lighter or darker) than the background.)
A Record View function, enabled through the Record menu, displays the most recently captured image on the LCD screen while the image is recorded to the memory card. You can set the Record View to display only the image, or to display the image with a confirmation screen, letting you delete the image before it's saved to the card. This is a nice way to check your shots and not waste time switching back and forth between Playback and Record modes. There's also a Quick View function that lets you check the previously captured image, by pressing the Monitor button twice in quick succession. The most recent image is displayed, with an option to delete it.
In situations where exposure compensation is necessary, simply press either the right or left Arrow buttons (in all exposure modes except Auto and Manual) and the EV value displayed on the LCD will increase or decrease in one-third-step increments, up to a maximum of +/- 2 EV. Or, you can use the Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) function to automatically bracket an exposure as much as +/- 2 EV in either three or five steps, with increments of 0.3, 0.6, or 1.0 EV units each. The auto bracketing will center its efforts around whatever exposure you've chosen as the starting point, including any exposure compensation adjustments you've made. AEB is really handy for those times when you want to make sure you get just the right exposure for a critical subject, and need to do so quickly.
White balance options include Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, and Fluorescent settings, to accommodate a variety of lighting situations. The C-50 Zoom also offers a 12-second Self-Timer for self-portraits or those occasions when you don't want to risk camera shake on a long exposure by pressing the Shutter button to trip the shutter.You can also use the included remote control to trigger the shutter from a maximum distance of 16.5 feet in front of the camera. There are also options on the Record menu to set the in-camera image sharpening and contrast.
Flash
The
C-50 offers a built-in flash, with six operating modes: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction,
Fill-in Flash, Flash Off, Slow Sync, and Slow Sync with Red-Eye Reduction modes.
Auto mode lets the camera decide when to fire the flash, while the Fill-in mode
fires the flash with every shot. (Fill-in is useful for throwing light on backlit
subjects, keeping their faces from being obscured in deep shadow.) The two Red-Eye
Reduction modes fire a small pre-flash before firing the flash at full power,
making the pupils of your subjects' eyes contrast, reducing the occurrence of
the Red-Eye Effect. Slow Sync combines the flash with a slower shutter speed,
allowing more ambient light into the background, producing more natural background
lighting behind a flash-illuminated subject. You can also adjust the overall
flash intensity from +/-2 EV through the Record menu.
Special Exposure Modes
Movie Mode
The C-50's Movie mode is accessible via the Mode dial on the camera's rear
panel (marked with a small movie camera symbol). Once in Movie mode, you can
record QuickTime movies (without sound) at either 160 x 120- or 320 x 240-pixel
resolutions. The length of movie clips depends on the resolution setting, HQ-mode
(320x240) movies limited to 16 seconds in length, and SQ-mode (160x120) movies
limited to 70 seconds. (Note though, that memory card space sets an absolute
limit, so if you're low on card space, you may not be able to record the maximum
duration in either mode.) A number indicating the total available seconds of
movie storage remaining on the memory card appears on the LCD monitor whenever
you enter Movie Mode, but note that this is the total space available, not all
of which may be available in a single clip. The lens is set to its maximum wide
angle position when you enter Movie Mode, and neither optical nor digital telephoto
is available during filming. Spot metering, macro mode, exposure compensation,
focus lock, self-timer, variable ISO, and white balance are also available in
Movie mode, all of which are unusual features to find available during Movie
recording. Both resolutions record at approximately 15 frames per second. Finally,
an unusual "index" option is available while playing back movies,
that lets you create an "index print" of a movie file, showing 9 separate
frames evenly spread throughout the movie. The index image is saved as a separate
640x480 image file on the memory card.
Panorama Mode
Like most Olympus digicams, the C-50 offers a Panorama exposure mode when
using an Olympus brand, panorama-enabled xD-Picture Cards. In this mode, the
exposure and white balance for a series of shots are determined by the first
exposure. The Panorama function provides light blue guide lines at the edges
of the pictures to help you align successive shots, leaving enough overlap between
them for the stitching software to be able to do its job. Up to 10 shots can
be taken in a panoramic series. Note that this function is only enabled by the
built-in panorama firmware found only on Olympus brand memory cards. (A product
decision that I personally think makes little sense for Olympus.) Images are
saved individually and then assembled on a computer using the (included) Olympus
software after they've been downloaded.
"2-in-1" Mode
Accessed through the Record menu, "2 in 1" photography mode records
two vertically-oriented, half-sized images. After capture, the images are saved
side-by-side as one full resolution image, giving a split-screen effect. As
with Panorama mode, a set of guidelines appear in the LCD display, to help you
line up shots.
Sequence Mode
The C-50 also offers two Sequence modes that mimic the motor drive on a
film camera, continually recording images for as long as the Shutter button
is held down or until the memory runs out (this varies with the image quality
setting and available xD-Picture Card space). Olympus rates
the fastest cycle time as one frame per second, a slightly conservative figure,
since I measured a maximum of 1.11 frames per second in my own testing at the
small/basic resolution. As is usually the case though, the number of frames
you can capture quickly is limited by the camera's buffer memory capacity at
higher resolution settings, but appears to be limited only by the capacity of
the memory card at the lowest resolution. Sequence mode isn't available at all
for the TIFF (uncompressed) image format, and also won't work properly if the
flash is enabled, due to the time required to charge the flash between pictures.
The AF Sequence mode also captures a rapid series of images, but adjusts focus
between each shot, resulting in much slower shot to shot times.
My Mode
Accessed by turning the Mode dial to the "My" position, this mode
lets you save customized settings and then access them simply by turning the
Mode Dial. For example, if you consistently shoot in the same environment, you
could save the exposure settings for those specific shooting conditions, so
that they can be instantly recalled.(I can imagine this option being very handy
for situations where you might have to switch quickly between two different
environments. Think of a wedding reception, for instance: Standard "program"
mode for outside shots on the lawn, etc, but a custom setup in My Mode to shoot
the indoor scenes under incandescent lighting.) My Mode even lets you edit the
Shortcut menu items, which appear when the Menu button is pressed, to reflect
often-changed settings. The My Mode is very flexible, letting you preset the
following camera parameters (see the subsequent section on camera modes and
menus for explanations of any settings which might not be obvious from the list
below):
- P/A/S/M exposure mode
- Lens default aperture
- Default shutter speed
- Exposure compensation
- LCD default (on/off)
- Lens zoom setting
- Flash mode
- Macro/spot metering setting
- Self-timer or Remote Control mode
- Drive setting (single, sequence, etc)
- ISO
- Flash exposure compensation
- Digital zoom enabled/disabled
- File size/quality
- White balance
- Sharpness
- Contrast
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