Olympus C-730 Ultra Zoom3.2 megapixels, a sharp 10x zoom lens, tons of features, and an affordable price!<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 11/25/2002 |
Exposure
The C-730 Zoom offers fairly extensive exposure control, including
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 top of the camera, which also
accesses the My Mode, Movie, and Playback modes. (My Mode lets you create a
custom setup for the camera, including settings for virtually every exposure
and operating parameter, that can then be selected simply by rotating the Mode
Dial to the "My" position. See below for more information.)
In Auto mode, the camera has complete control over the exposure parameters. You can adjust options like zoom, drive mode, image size, etc., but can't make any 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, 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. Aperture Priority lets you set the aperture from f/2.8 to f/8 (depending on the lens zoom position) leaving the camera to automatically determine the appropriate shutter speed. In Shutter Priority, you can select shutter speeds from 1/1,000 to one 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 16 seconds. An interesting feature of the Manual mode is that, as you scroll through the various exposure settings, the camera indicates whether it thinks 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 +/- 3EV. For exposure differentials outside that range, the numbers turn red and remain fixed at the 3EV reading. This is a very handy feature that I'd like to see more manufacturers implement in their cameras' manual exposure modes.
Six scene modes include Portrait, Sports, Landscape-Portrait, Landscape-Scene, Night Scene, 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 to throw distracting background elements out of focus. Sports mode biases the exposure system toward faster shutter speeds, to help freeze fast-moving subjects. Landscape-Portrait mode uses a smaller lens aperture, to increase depth of field, helping to keep both the foreground and background in sharp focus, while Landscape-Scene mode also keeps foreground and background in focus, but emphasizes blue and green hues in the image. (Producing more intense foliage and sky colors.) Night Scene employs slower shutter speeds, allowing more ambient light into the image. Finally, for the truly vain, Self-Portrait mode adjusts the focus to help you photograph yourself while holding the camera at arm's length. 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-730 features a variable ISO setting, which lets you set the camera's light sensitivity to 100, 200, or 400 ISO equivalents, or to an Auto mode. The higher sensitivity settings, combined with the camera's maximum 16-second shutter speed and noise reduction option, provide excellent low-light shooting capabilities. In my tests, the C-730 performed well at low light levels, capturing clear images with great color (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, in much the same way that higher-ISO films show more film grain. To combat this problem, the C-730 offers a Noise Reduction mode through the Record menu, which greatly reduces the amount of image noise from the long exposure time and higher ISO settings.
Two metering systems are available on the C-730: 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.)
An AE Lock button locks the current exposure settings whenever pressed, so you can independently lock exposure and focus. (AE Lock is useful when you want to base your exposure on an off-center subject. Point the camera at the subject, lock the exposure, then recompose your shot however you like. Your subject will be correctly exposed, regardless of what might be in the center of the frame when you finally snap the shutter.)
For precise manual control
over exposure metering, an eight-point Multi-Metering mode is available when
in Spot metering mode. Enabling the Multi-Metering option through the Record
menu lets you take up to eight single readings throughout the frame, which are
then averaged to get the best exposure. I particularly like way the C-730 displays
exposure information in Multi-Metering mode. In Multi-Metering mode, you select
individual metering points by pressing the AEL button, and each time you do
so, the relative exposure for that point is displayed on a little ruler-graph
at the bottom of the LCD screen as soon as you select the first point. Once
the exposure graph is displayed, a small green pointer above the line shows
the relative brightness of the subject under the central metering spot in real
time. Pressing the AEL button captures the current brightness value to incorporate
in the exposure calculation, and adds a green marker arrow under the graph at
that point. In this way, you can very easily see the range of exposure values
represented in your subject, and choose how you want to weight them in the final
exposure determination. (You can bias the exposure toward a particular part
of your subject by simply adding more exposure samples from that area.) This
one of the most flexible and powerful exposure metering options I've seen on
a digicam, and is another feature other manufacturers would do well to emulate.
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 the image only, 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. Quick View basically drops you into Playback mode, with all playback functions (zoom, scroll, index display, delete, voice annotate, etc) available, but with the camera able to switch back to Record mode instantly, whenever you half-press the shutter button.
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 step 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 the C-730's is one of the better implementations I've seen.
White balance options include Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, and Custom, to accommodate a variety of lighting situations. You can also adjust the white balance from -5 to +5 arbitrary unit, with positive values biasing the color in the red direction, and negative values moving it toward blue. This ability to "tweak" the white balance is very helpful when dealing with difficul light sources.
The C-730 Ultra 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.
There are also options on the record menu to set the in-camera image sharpening, contrast, and saturation. The contrast option is one that I personally find appealing. I find that I often want to decrease a camera's default contrast somewhat, to help preserve highlight detail on contrasty subjects. The "Low" contrast option provided by the C-730 is just right for that purpose, although I'd personally like to see the 730's default contrast a little lower, and the contrast-adjust control with a wider range. Small complaints though, the contrast-adjust function works pretty well as it stands, and is very valuable for serious photographers. In the same general realm, you can also record images in black-and-white or sepia tones, or capture text via the Whiteboard and Blackboard photo modes, as set via the camera's Function sub-menu..
Flash
The C-730 offers a built-in, pop-up 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 contract, reducing the occurrence of the Red-Eye Effect. Slow Sync allows more ambient light into the background, producing more natural lighting behind a flash-illuminated subject. Through the Record menu, you can set the Slow Sync flash to fire at either the beginning or end of the exposure. A button on top of the camera pops the flash up from its compartment, while the Flash / Protect button on the back panel controls the flash operating mode. You can also adjust the overall flash intensity from +/-2 EV through the Record menu.
New to the C-730 (and a feature I sorely missed on the C-720) is an external flash PC socket, on the side of the camera. Though there's no shoe for mounting the external flash, the ability to connect a more powerful flash unit is a definite improvement. The flash sync connector is in Olympus' proprietary four-pin format, but an adapter is available to allow connection of conventional PC-style sync cords.
Special Exposure Modes
Movie and Sound Recording Modes
The C-730's Movie mode is accessible via the Mode dial on top of the camera (marked with a small movie camera symbol), and is one of the most versatile and best executed I've seen. Once in Movie mode, you can record QuickTime movies either with or without sound, with the camera offering features appropriate to the sound mode you select. The length of movie clips depends on the resolution setting and the amount of memory card space. A number indicating the available seconds of movie storage on the memory card appears on the LCD and EVF monitors.
Sound recording with movies presents something of a dilemma for camera manufacturers. The problem with sound recording is that any camera-generated noises will be faithfully recorded along with the ambient sound, generally dominating since they're so close to the microphone. To avoid this problem, most cameras that offer sound recording in movie mode generally don't permit zooming of the lens while recording is in progress, since the sound of the lens motor would be so obtrusive.
With the C-730's movie mode, Olympus has taken a very intelligent approach, enabling or disabling lens zoom based on whether or not sound recording is enabled. In all circumstances though, digital zoom is available, and the lens zoom can always be adjusted to any position prior to the start of recording. (The previous C-720 forced the lens to wide-angle, so you lost the benefit of the ultra zoom capabilities. Kudos to Olympus for fixing this minor but annoying limitation.) Olympus' movie mode implementation makes a lot of sense, offering as many camera functions as possible, governed by whether or not sound is being recorded. Beyond the sound/zoom tradeoff, a wide range of recording options apply to Movie mode as well, including spot metering, exposure compensation, focus lock, self-timer, ISO, and white balance, all of which are also unusual features to find available in a digicam Movie option.
Two image resolutions are available in Movie mode, 320x240 and 160x120. Both resolutions record at approximately 15 frames per second, and recording time is limited only by the available space on the memory card.
In any record mode, you can record a short sound clip to accompany still images. The Sound option in the record menu activates the mode, and you can record a maximum of four seconds per image. Sound recording begins approximately half a second after the shutter is released. You can also record sound after the fact, through a menu option in Playback mode.
Panorama Mode
Like most Olympus digicams, the C-730 offers a Panorama exposure mode when using an Olympus brand panorama-enabled SmartMedia memory cards, and now the xD-Picture Card. 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. Once the sequence of images is downloaded to your computer, you can use the included Olympus software to assemble them into an extended panorama.
Note that the panorama function is only enabled by the built-in firmware found on Olympus brand memory cards, so this option isn't available when using third-party memory cards. (I have to say that I think this tying of the panorama function to Olympus-branded cards strikes me as one of the most ill-considered product decisions Olympus has made. - I can't imagine that the number of memory cards Olympus sells through this mechanism balances the camera sales they lose by having a crippled panorama function. On the other hand, for occasional panorama shots, most users can probably get by with the memory card included in the box with the camera.)
"2-in-1" Mode
Accessed through the Record menu, "2 in 1" photography mode records two vertically-oriented, half-sized images in a single frame of memory. 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 the shots.
Sequence Mode
The C-730 also offers three Sequence modes that mimic the motor drive on a film camera, recording images in rapid sequence for as long as the Shutter button is held down or until the memory card runs out of space (this varies with the image quality setting and available xD-Picture Card or SmartMedia space). Olympus rates the fastest cycle time as 11 total frames at 1.4 frames per second, and my own testing showed rates as high as 1.37 frames per second when recording in small/basic mode. As is usually the case though, the number of frames you can capture quickly is limited by the camera's buffer memory capacity, and sequence mode isn't available at all for the TIFF (uncompressed) image format. Hi-Sequence mode captures a maximum of three frames, at a slightly faster frame interval.AF Sequence mode also captures a continuous series of images, but adjusts the 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. A total of four different sets of My Mode settings can be saved. The C-730's 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
- Lens zoom setting
- Flash mode
- Macro/spot metering setting
- Drive setting (single, sequence, etc)
- ISO
- Flash exposure compensation
- Digital zoom enabled/disabled
- File size/quality
- White balance
- Sharpness
- Contrast
- LCD default (on/off)
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