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Olympus C-720 Ultra Zoom Olympus packs an 8x zoom lens into an amazingly small body, for an amazingly low price. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet C720 Sample 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 C720 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:Viewfinder Review First Posted: 7/1/2002

Viewfinder
The C-720 Zoom offers both a 0.5-inch electronic viewfinder and a rear panel, 1.5-inch, TFT color LCD screen, each with approximately 114,000 pixels. (This looks fine on the rear panel display, but the EVF display seems pretty coarse: I really have to question whether there's actually the same number of pixels in both, the rear-panel LCD clearly seems much sharper.) The EVF display also behaves a little oddly (IMHO) with moving objects or during rapid panning of the camera: I don't think it's a refresh rate issue, but the image blurs noticeably when you move the camera, or when an object moves across the field of view quickly. When things become more or less stationary again, the display seems to sharpen. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) accommodates eyeglass wearers with a diopter correction adjustment and a comfortably high eyepoint, leaving enough room between your eye and the finder for most eyeglass lenses to fit in. The tiny display is identical to that of the larger LCD monitor, complete with menus and exposure information. The EVF remains active at all times, which would usually result in rather short battery life. On the 720 though, battery life is over 200 minutes in capture mode with the EVF active, a commendable figure.

My regular readers will already know that I'm no fan of electronic viewfinders. They seem to be a necessary evil with long-zoom cameras, as it'd be prohibitively expensive and bulky to include an optical viewfinder with an 8x zoom to match the lens. EVFs do have the dual advantages of providing true "through the lens" (TTL) viewing, as well as a the same information display as on rear-panel LCDs, but to my mind the negatives outweigh the positives. My biggest objection to them is that they are generally useless for low light shooting, and the EVF on the C-720 UltraZoom is no exception. In my testing, it proved to be barely usable at light levels of 1/2 foot-candle (5.5 lux), while the camera was capable of recording usable images at light levels 8x lower. (Although the autofocus only worked reliably down to levels of about 1 foot-candle.)

The C-720's LCD monitor is controlled by the Display button located just off its lower right corner. Pressing the button simply turns the main LCD display on or off, but doesn't affect the information display or the EVF display. A detailed information readout on both monitors highlights a number of exposure settings, including the currently selected f/stop, shutter speed, and exposure compensation adjustments across the top of the screen. In Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, the chosen aperture or shutter speed appears as a constant, while the second, automatically determined exposure value updates continuously to respond to changes in subject or lighting. The Manual mode displays the selected f/stop and shutter speed values together, while the exposure compensation value reports when a setting is over- or underexposed by glowing red. In my testing, I found the viewfinder display to be very accurate, showing only about 99 percent of the final image area. (Excellent performance, since I generally expect LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible.)

When using the LCD monitor to review captured images, you can zoom in on displayed images and then scroll around the enlarged image using the Arrow buttons. This is extremely handy for checking focus, small details, or precise framing. There's also an Index display option, which shows either four, nine, or 16 thumbnail-sized images at a time. A very handy "quick view" function lets you check the last picture taken in Record mode by pressing the Display button twice in quick succession. The image will remain displayed on the LCD until you revert back to Record mode by pressing the Display button again, or by half-pressing the shutter button.