Olympus C-8080 Wide ZoomOlympus enters the 8 megapixel arena with a feature-packed body and fast f/2.4-3.5 5x zoom lens.<<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 02/12/2004, Updated: 05/07/04 |
Viewfinder
The C-8080 Wide Zoom offers both an Electronic Viewfinder and a rear panel,
1.8-inch, 134,000 pixel, TFT color LCD screen. The Electronic Viewfinder seems
excellent as well, looking very sharp with a high 240,000 pixel resolution,
and nicely accommodates eyeglass wearers with a diopter correction adjustment
and a very high eyepoint. I don't have any way of measuring the range of dioptric
adjustments, but can say that the one on the 8080's eyepiece seems pretty balanced
in its coverage of both "farsighted" and "nearsighted" needs
- And at the nearsighted end of the range, it actually did surprisingly well
at being able to cope with my own 20/180 vision, which fairly few cameras do.
No exact figures were listed in the specifications we received from Olympus,
but the EVF and LCD both seem to have a very high refresh rate, giving a very
fluid image that will make it easier to track fast-moving objects.
Since this is an Electronic Viewfinder, it essentially mirrors whatever the
LCD screen would show were it enabled - all of the menus, histogram display,
zoom and focus indication, framing guides, focus targets, etc. can be seen through
the viewfinder. As you'd hope, viewfinder accuracy is nearly 100%, for both
the EVF and rear-panel LCD screen.
As described earlier, the C-8080 Zoom's LCD monitor pulls outwards slightly, and tilts upward 90 degrees or downwards 45 degrees. The tilt allows for photos from angles that might otherwise be difficult or impossible, such as holding the camera above a crowd of people, or down low to the ground, but it would be even nicer to have a tilt/swivel LCD as found on some other digicams. The addition of the swivel would allow the LCD to be turned to face the camera body (affording it some extra protection), as well as allowing for the LCD to point forwards for a self-portrait. Still, the tilt-only display is much better than the fixed LCDs found on most digital cameras. The LCD on the C-8080 deserves special commendation for its usability in bright lighting. Whereas most digicam LCD screens wash out and become unusable in bright daylight, the one on the 8080 is usable even in direct sunlight. Very nice, a display I wish more digicam manufacturers would adopt!
A detailed information overlay reports a number of exposure settings, including the currently selected f/stop, shutter speed, and exposure compensation adjustments across the top of the LCD screen, and the image resolution and quality settings plus the selected destination (CompactFlash or xD-Picture card) for new images. When first entering a record mode, a more detailed information display appears for a few seconds, showing the image attributes (contrast, sharpness, and saturation), flash exposure compensation, ISO, flash mode, drive mode, and focus mode settings. In Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, the chosen aperture or shutter speed appears as a constant, while the second, automatically determined exposure value changes whenever the Shutter button is half pressed (based on exposure compensation and changing light levels). The Manual mode displays both the selected f/stop and shutter speed values (adjustable with the left / right and up / down Arrow buttons, respectively), while the exposure compensation value is reported in the upper right corner, showing the amount of over- or underexposure. The exposure values flash red when the camera disagrees with the setting.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom's LCD monitor also offers a live histogram display with a couple of unusual options first seen on the C-5060 in record mode, which is helpful in determining any over- or underexposure, and for analyzing the tonal distribution in your images. Histogram displays are generally very useful for determining whether your overall exposure is over or under, but are less helpful in telling when you have small parts of the image that are outside the acceptable exposure range. - This is be because a small portion of the image represents relatively few pixels, and so won't produce a large (or even visible) spike on the histogram graph. To counter this, Olympus has added two innovative options to the C-8080's histogram function. The first of these introduces a small rectangle that you can scroll around the frame, to take histogram readings from a limited local area. This box is activated whenever you hit one of the arrow keys with the histogram active. A separate histogram of just the area covered by the rectangle appears in the display, highlighted in green. This amounts to the histogram equivalent of spot metering, and is very useful for examining exposure values in detail.
The second innovative display Olympus has built into the 8080's histogram function is a little more unusual. Called "Direct" mode, it overlays a red or blue grid on the LCD viewfinder image, showing areas that are in deep shadow (blue) or overexposed highlight (red). The resulting display (see inset above right) is unique, to say the least. It does do a pretty good job of giving you a heads-up as to where you might have exposure problems, without obscuring subject detail. I'd need to spend more time with it to know how I ultimately feel about it, but my initial reaction is that it's clever, but I really prefer the blinking highlight/shadow method of warning about exposure extremes.
Fortunately, the C-8080 offers a blinking highlight/shadow exposure warning display in playback mode. - Selecting the "Direct" option from the histogram menu item in playback mode produces the familiar animated display. Actually, while a number of prosumer digicams offer a blinking overexposure warning for lost highlight detail, I'm not offhand aware of any other than Olympus' own C-5060 that offer an underexposure warning for the shadows as the C-8080 does.
In Manual Focus mode, a distance display scale appears on the LCD monitor, a useful feature which helps to adjust focus in low-light situations. Depending on the current focus mode and distance, the scale runs from either 5cm to 20cm, 20cm to 80cm, or 80cm to infinity. Whilst focus is being adjusted, the center portion of the image is shown enlarged to assist in determining sharp focus. Another scale that is shown on the LCD monitor whilst zooming indicates visually the current zoom level, and whether the digital zoom is being used; note that this scale doesn't actually show figures for the focal length, however. The C-8080 also has a framing assist function with two modes that outline the shape of a person's head in the center of the LCD monitor, one for vertical alignment and the other for horizontal alignment, plus a third mode with a set of lines dividing the screen into thirds vertically and horizontally.
Pressing the Monitor button on the rear panel turns the LCD viewfinder on and off, as well as the information display. This button also optionally cycles through a position in which a detailed list of camera settings is shown in lieu of the viewfinder display. This display is very reminiscent of the back-panel display of Olympus' original E-10 and E-20 SLRs, and provides a wealth of information about the camera's settings and status. (This display is enabled by turning on the "Dual Control Panel" option in the camera's setup menu.)
When using the LCD monitor to review captured images, you can zoom in on displayed images up to 5x, 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 images at a time, as determined by a menu setting. A Playback histogram display shows the tonal distribution of the exposed image, with a list of basic exposure settings off to the right. The same histogram options are available in this mode, as well as the Frame Assist guides. A very handy "Quick View" function lets you check the last picture taken in Shooting mode by pressing the Quick View button on the camera's rear panel. The image will remain displayed on the LCD monitor until you revert back to Shooting mode by pressing the Quick View button again, or by half-pressing the shutter button.
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