Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom

Video Out

The C7070 Wide Zoom has a Video Out port for connecting the camera directly to a television set. Through the Setup menu, you can select either NTSC or PAL formats. The video output can be used for reviewing previously captured images and movies, or running slide shows from the camera. It also shows all of the LCD menu screens, as well as the preview display from the LCD viewfinder. Combined with the optional infrared remote control device, the C7070 Wide Zoom's video capabilities make the camera a unique presentation device.

Power

The Olympus C7070 Wide Zoom is powered by a single BLM1 lithium-ion battery pack (7.2v, 1500mAh), or by an optional AC adapter that can significantly extend battery life if you're doing a lot of downloads on the computer or working in a studio environment. The camera comes with a battery and a charger and as usual, I recommend picking up a second battery and keeping it freshly charged at all times. The table below shows the power consumption in various operating modes, and the projected run times you could expect based on the stated capacity of the provided battery pack:

With a worst case run time (capture mode with the rear panel LCD turned on) of almost five hours, the Olympus C7070 has really excellent battery life. With the LCD off, you can shoot literally all day on a full battery, but the C7070's poor viewfinder accuracy means that you'll probably find yourself using the LCD more often than not. Still, really excellent battery life, easily one of the top cameras on the market in this respect.

Included Software

The Olympus C7070 Wide Zoom ships with Olympus' standard complement of software on CD. Direct camera control and image downloading are provided by the Olympus Master software package for both Mac and Windows platforms (Macintosh OS X 10.2 and later, Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP). USB drivers for both platforms and an Apple QuickTime reader are also included. Also included is the Olympus Photoshop RAW plug-in version 2.0, for both Mac and Windows platforms, compatible with Adobe Photoshop(tm) versions 5.0 and above. (Note that QuickTime 4.0 must be installed on your computer in order to use the Photoshop plug-in.)

Olympus Master allows you to download and organize images, as well as perform minor image correction and enhancement functions (such as adjusting contrast, sharpness, and color balance). For panoramic images, Olympus Master supplies a "stitching" utility to piece together shots vertically or horizontally. A complete printing utility works with the DPOF settings and allows you to print images directly to Olympus or other photo printers.

The Photoshop RAW plugin lets you open the C7070's RAW-format files in Adobe Photoshop, adjusting color and tone on the way in. The advantage of working directly from the RAW file format is that it preserves all the data originally captured by the camera's sensor, so you can make radical tonal adjustments without having the image "break up" on you due to gaps in the tonal scale.

In the Box

The following items are included in the box with the C7070 Wide Zoom (in the USA, at least):

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