Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom

Camera Modes

Scene Mode: Noted on the Mode dial by the word "SCENE," this mode offers seven preset shooting modes for specific situations. Available modes include Portrait, Sports, Landscape and Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Underwater Wide, and Underwater Macro.

Movie Mode: Accessed by turning the Mode dial to the movie camera symbol, Movie mode allows you to capture movies with or without sound for as long as the memory card allows. Shutter speed is automatically set depending on light levels, although Olympus doesn't specify the range of shutter speeds the camera uses in movie mode.

My Mode: Sets up the camera according to a set of user-defined camera settings, specific to shooting conditions. A huge range of exposure variables such as aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc. can all be saved. You can even save the lens zoom position. My Mode settings are made through the Setup menu.

Manual Mode: Allows the user to select both the desired aperture (f/2.8 to f/11) and shutter speed (1/4,000 to 16 seconds, with a Bulb mode) settings independently. The camera meters the scene, and indicates how over- or underexposed it thinks the shot will be by displaying the number of EV units over or under in green numerals. If the settings are beyond the camera's metering capabilities or would result in more than a +/- 3EV exposure error, the display is fixed at plus or minus 3 EV, and the numerals turn red.

Shutter Priority: Allows the user to select the desired shutter speed from 1/4,000 to 16 seconds, while the camera adjusts the aperture to achieve the correct exposure. If the required aperture is beyond the camera's capabilities, the shutter speed / aperture status numbers in the LCD will flash red.


Aperture Priority: Allows the user to select the desired lens aperture (in varying increments, from f/2.8 to f/11), while the camera adjusts the shutter speed to achieve the correct exposure. If the required shutter speed is beyond the camera's capabilities, the shutter speed / aperture status numbers in the LCD will flash red.


Programmed Exposure: The camera selects both shutter speed and lens aperture, based on existing light conditions and certain camera functions. For example, it uses a faster shutter speed when the lens is in the telephoto position and a slower shutter speed when the lens is in the wide-angle position.


Playback Mode: This mode allows the user to view previously captured images using the Arrow Pad to scroll through frames stored in memory. The Zoom lever switches the image display to Index mode when moved in the wide-angle direction, and enlarges a single image when moved in the telephoto direction, zooming in to a maximum of 7x magnification. While zoomed in on an image, the Arrow buttons can be used to move the enlarged view around the full image area, allowing you to inspect all parts of it.

Camera menu tab:

Screen 2:

• Self-Timer/Remote: Selects either the self-timer or IR remote for shutter control, or disables both, for normal control via the Shutter button.
• Digital Zoom: Turns the Digital Zoom function On or Off.
• Noise Reduction: When turned on, this function reduces the background noise in long exposures. (Evidently through the use of dark-frame subtraction.)
• Function: Allows you to select between Panorama, Black-and-White, and Sepia modes.
• Accessory: Tells the camera if a lens accessory or the underwater housing is in use, .
  
  
  Screen 3:
  
• Sound: Turns the camera's voice caption recorder On or Off.
• Frame Assist: Activates either of the two grid framing guidelines.
• Histogram: Turns the live histogram display on or off. This option also offers the +/- On and Direct settings, which extend the capabilities of the camera's histogram option a great deal.
• My Mode: Applies one of the saved My Mode settings to the current exposure mode.
• Scene: (Scene exposure mode only.) Selects from Portrait, Night Scene, Landscape, Landscape and Portrait, Sports, Underwater Wide, and Underwater Macro preset modes.
  
  
  

Screen 1:

• Quality: The 7070's image size/quality settings are also among the most sophisticated I've yet seen on a prosumer camera. Its RAW mode lets you choose to save RAW images alone, or to combine them with any size/quality JPEG image that the camera is capable of. When you select the "RAW"" option on this menu item, you can also select an option for the JPEG duplicate file of "OFF", SHQ, HQ, SQ1, or SQ2, and the camera will save a duplicate copy of the image as a JPEG file, with whatever size/quality settings you've chosen for the selected SHQ/HQ/etc type. As for the SHQ and HQ settings, your options there include 3,072 x 2,304 or 3,072 x 2,048 (3:2) for SHQ. (HQ saves the same the same size images, but at a higher compression ratio.) SQ1 offers options of 2,592 x 1,944, 2,288 x 1,712, 2,048 x 1,536, and 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, at either high or normal image qualities. SQ2 offers options of 1,280 x 960, 1,024 x 768, and 640 x 480 pixels, also with high or normal quality settings. In TIFF (uncompressed) mode, the camera can capture images at any size offered for any of the JPEG options. In Movie mode, image-size options are SHQ (640 x 480 pixels), HQ (320 x 240 pixels) and SQ (160 x 120 pixels).
• White Balance (WB): Sets the camera's white balance to Auto, Preset 1 (Shade, Cloudy, Sunny, or Evening Sun), Preset 2 (Fluorescent settings 1 through 4, or Incandescent), Custom, or Manual white setting options. One extension of the earlier C5060's white balance options is that the 7070 allows you to "tweak" its color response in either Auto or any of the Preset settings towards red or blue, and then save that setting as a semi-permanent characteristic of the camera. On the 5060, this was a separate menu item, but the 7070 integrates it with the full range of auto, manual, and preset white balance settings. (A very handy feature, other companies take notice!) The Manual option lets you set a white balance based on a white or gray card, "tweak" it towards red or blue, and then assign it to one of four Custom memory slots. The Custom menu option then lets you select any of the four previously-stored White Balance memory values. This is great if you plan on shooting often under a unique light source, or want to switch back and forth between light sources without having to shoot a new white reference each time. Overall, the C7070 has the most sophisticated white balance system I've yet seen on a prosumer-level digital camera.
• Scene Modes: Applies Scene mode properties to P, A, S, M, My, and Movie modes. Options are Normal, Portrait, Landscape, or Night Scene.
• Sharpness: Sets the picture sharpness from +5 to -5 in arbitrary units
• Contrast: Sets the picture contrast from +5 to -5 in arbitrary units.
  
  
  Screen 2:
  
• Hue: Lets you adjust the color of the image from red to blue, in arbitrary units ranging from +5 to -5. (Somewhat redundant to the "tweak" adjustments in the white balance system, but the Hue option is more quickly available, and so more suited to temporary color shifts for creative effect.
• Saturation: Sets the picture saturation from +5 to -5 in arbitrary units.
  
  

• Format: Formats the currently-selected memory card (either the CF or xD cards), erasing all images, even the write-protected or Locked images.
  
  
  

Screen 1:

• All Reset: Determines whether the camera options are reset on power off or not. (The camera will reset either to the factory default settings or to your own custom default settings if you've set them up via the My Mode Setup option.)
• EV Step: Sets the exposure compensation step size to one-third or one-half EV units.
• Language: Sets the menu language to one of several options. (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese on our eval unit.)
• Date/Time: Sets the camera's date and time.
• My Mode Setup: Sets up the My Mode settings, or resets them to the defaults. (Includes a "custom" submenu that lets you preset virtually any camera option, choosing from a list of 32 different functions.)
  
  
  

  Screen 2:

• Sound: Displays the following sound submenu:
• Beep: Turns the camera button operation sounds off, or selects between "beep" and "plink" sounds, at either low or high volume.
• Shutter Sound: Selects one of two different shutter sounds, with volume adjustments, or turns the shutter sound off.
• Beep Volume: Controls the volume of warning beep sounds.
• Volume: Controls the playback volume.
• Power On/Off Setup: Controls the screen image and sound options for starting up and shutting down the camera.
• Monitor Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the LCD display.
• Video Out: Adjusts the video signal to NTSC or PAL timings.
• Rec View: Turns Rec View On or Off, with display times of three, five, or 10 seconds. Rec View displays the most recently recorded image while it is being written to the memory card.

Screen 3:

• File Name: Designates whether file numbering continues from card to card, or resets with each new card.
• Pixel Mapping: Allows the camera to check the CCD for bad pixels and adjust any image processing problems. (Olympus recommends performing this only once a year.)
• Meters/Feet: Sets the manual focus measurement to meters or feet.
• AF Illuminator: Turns the AF illuminator on or off. Dual Control Panel: Enables a "Control Panel" display on the rear-panel LCD. When this option is enabled the currently selected exposure options appear on the LCD monitor in a control panel layout. When enabled, the subject will only appear on the LCD screen if Macro mode or digital zoom is used.
  
  

  Screen 4:
• Index Display: Sets the index display to show four, nine, or 16 images per page. (Option appears in all modes, but appears to only be active in playback mode with still images present on the card.)
• USB Mode: Sets the USB mode to PC for easy connection to a computer or Print to connect to a printer. (The C7070 offers extensive PictBridge support, including paper size, bordered/borderless selection, and in-camera cropping, with options for either 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratio crops.)
• Short Cut: Designates which menu options appear on the Short Cut menu screen in the still-picture record modes.
• Custom Button: Sets the function of the Custom / DPOF button. The default setting is for Drive mode, though a long list of functions is available from which to choose.
• Dial: Configures the operation of the main control dial. Normally you can control exposure compensation by pressing the +/- button and rotating the control dial. This option lets you adjust exposure compensation with the control dial without pressing the +/- button. It also controls a wide range of control dial behavior when used alone or in conjunction with the up/down or left/right arrow keys, in a variety of camera operating modes. By selecting Custom 1, 2, 3, or 4, you select various combinations of behavior in different exposure modes. (I'll leave the details of this one to the instruction manual.)

Screen 5:

• My Mode / Scene: This function displays the settings screen for My Mode or Scene mode immediately when the Mode dial is set to either position
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• Slide Show: Sets up the camera to run an automatic slide show playback of all single-frame recorded images.
• Sound Recording: This option lets you add approximately four seconds of sound annotation to a previously-captured still image.
• Mode Menu: Takes you to the main menu for playback mode. (See below for full details.)
  
  

• RAW Data Edit: Lets you edit RAW data files in-camera, adjusting white balance, sharpness, etc. You can then save a copy of the new file in JPEG format. This is a very unusual feature, that extends the usefulness of the RAW format to in-camera modifications of the files, as well as later changes on a computer. I'm not sure just how useful it will be in practice (as the camera really lacks the ability to show you the results of changes you might make), but it still seems like a nice feature to have. (This option is only available if the currently-viewed image is in RAW format, hence it's greyed-out in the screen shot above right.)
• Resize: Reduces the resolution of the image and saves it as a new file. Resolution options are 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels. (Handy for shrinking images for emailing.)
• Crop: Lets you crop part of the image and save it as a new file. (An unusual feature of the C7070 is that it lets you crop to either 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratios. The latter would be useful for controlling the cropping of the camera's images when being output as 4x6 prints.)
• Copy: Copies the selected image to or from another memory card. (Useful for transferring images between CF and xD Picture Cards, that may be in the camera at the same time.)
• Redeye Fix: Enables an automatic Redeye Fix, which highlights the Redeye portion of the subject, and then removes the effect. (We didn't test this function ourselves.)
  
  

• All Erase: Erases all files from the memory card, except for protected ones.
• Format: Allows you to erase all images on the memory card, except write-protected files, or format the memory card, erasing all images, even the write-protected or Locked images.
  
  

• Movie Play: This leads to a sub-menu system with a variety of playback options (see below).
• Copy: Copies one or more images or movies between memory cards, if more than one card is inserted.
• Mode Menu: Takes you to a (very abbreviated) menu for Movie Playback mode. (See below)
  
  

• Edit:
  • Index: Creates an index of individual frames from the movie and displays it in a 3x3 matrix on the screen. This makes it easy to see what's contained in the current clip. By pressing the right and left arrow buttons, you can move "virtual cursors" to set the beginning and end of a portion that you're interested in creating the index from. You can then save the entire index or save only the highlighted portion as a separate still image.
  • Edit: This option lets you edit out uninteresting material at the start and/or end of a movie clip. Using the arrow keys, you can choose the starting and ending points of the most interesting part of the movie and then either save the edited segment as a new file, or replace the original movie with it. (Very handy for saving your audience from having to watch boring footage recorded before or after the action stops/starts.). Thus, you can cut out beginning or ending frames, or chop out a segment in the middle.
    
    
• Card:
  • All Erase: Erases all files from the memory card, except for protected ones.
  • Format: Formats the selected memory card, erasing all files, even those with write protection.
    
    
• Setup: Accesses the main Setup menu.

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