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Olympus Camedia C-770 Zoom 4.0 megapixels, a sharp 10x zoom lens, a unique flash head, and loads more features! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet C-770 Photo Gallery! C-770 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 C-770 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:Viewfinder Review First Posted: 07/06/2004

Viewfinder

The C-770 Ultra Zoom has both a 0.44-inch electronic viewfinder and a rear panel, 1.8-inch, TFT color LCD screen. The EVF has approximately 240,000 pixels, while the rear panel screen sports 118,000. 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, although I did notice a little vignetting around the edges while wearing my own glasses. The tiny display is identical to that of the larger LCD monitor, complete with menus and exposure information. The EVF remains active only when the LCD monitor is switched off, as the Display button switches between the two views.

My regular readers will know that I'm no fan of electronic viewfinders. Unfortunately, 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 10x zoom to match the lens. EVFs do have the dual advantages of providing true "through the lens" (TTL) viewing, as well as the same information display as on rear-panel LCDs, but to my mind the negatives usually outweigh the positives. My biggest objection to EVFs is that they are generally useless for low light shooting, but the EVF on the C-770 Ultra Zoom seems to be one of a new generation that are doing much better in this respect. The display gets rather dark while the camera's autofocus was working, but at other times seem quite capable of providing at least a usable display, even under very dark conditions. (Depending, of course, on what you consider "usable:" I could actually see enough of my DaveBox target to aim the camera, even at the limit of my low-light test, a light level about 4 f-stops (16x) darker than that of typical city street lighting at night.)

On the C-770, the Display button located just off the LCD's lower right corner, toggles between the rear-panel LCD and 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. (Note though, that specific exposure parameters are not displayed in any of the "scene" modes.) Part of the information display disappears within a few seconds of half-pressing the Shutter button, and through the Record menu, you can set how much information remains in the display. 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 both of the selected f/stop and shutter speed values, while the right-hand set of numbers reports the amount by which the camera thinks the image will be under- or overexposed, up to +/- 3 EV units. (When you're more than three EV over or under, these numbers turn red and remain fixed at +/-3 EV.) The C-770 also features a optional live histogram display, which graphs the tonal distribution of the current composition. This is useful in determining any over- or underexposure that may occur with the current exposure settings, letting you correct the exposure before actually taking the shot.

When using the LCD monitor to review captured images, you can zoom in up to 4x 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 4, 9, or 16 images at a time, as selected in the Playback menu. A very handy "quick view" function lets you switch to playback mode by pressing the Quick View button. 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.

Like some other Olympus digicams, the C-770 also offers the ability to resize or crop your images post-exposure. This is very handy, as it's almost always possible to improve your photos by cropping (trimming) them a little. On the C-770, a cropping menu option lets you trim away as much as 30 percent or so of the image area, and even change the composition from horizontal to vertical, or vice versa. In cropping mode, a bold green outline indicates the current crop area, and the zoom toggle zooms the crop in or out, while the four arrow keys let you move it around the image. Once you've got the crop adjusted to your liking, the camera will save a new image onto the card, with just the cropped area in it. (Your original photo is left undisturbed.) Likewise, using another menu option, you can resize previously-shot photos, to create smaller versions more suitable for emailing.