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.<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 02/12/2004, Updated: 05/07/04 |
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The C-8080 Wide Zoom offers a lot of exposure control, including Program,
Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes, as well as four
preset Scene modes. All capture modes are set by rotating the Mode dial on the
top panel, which also accesses the My Mode and Movie mode. (My Mode lets you
create a custom setup for the camera, including virtually every exposure and
operating parameter, which can then be selected simply by rotating the Mode
Dial to the "My" position.) Additional exposure options include eleven ISO settings
(Auto, 50, 64, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320 and 400); exposure compensation,
auto bracketing, internal and external flash adjustment, four metering modes:
Spot, Multi-Spot, Center-Weighted, and ESP multi-pattern, and more.
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In Program mode, the camera selects both the aperture and shutter speed, while
you control the remaining exposure options such as ISO, Exposure Compensation,
White Balance, and metering mode selection. Aperture Priority lets you set the
aperture from f/2.8 to f/8.0 while the camera chooses the best corresponding
shutter speed. In Shutter Priority, you can select shutter speeds from 1/4,000
to 15 seconds, and the camera selects the best corresponding aperture setting.
(See the note in the second paragraph below about maximum shutter speed though.)
In Manual mode, you control both aperture and shutter speed with the addition
of much longer shutter times (as long as 15 seconds), plus a Bulb shutter setting
for manually-timed exposures as long as 8 minutes(!). A helpful feature of the
Manual mode is that, as you scroll through the various exposure combinations,
the camera indicates whether or not the current setting will produce a correct
exposure. It does this by showing the f/stop and shutter speed in green, and
the exposure differential (the difference between your settings and what the
camera meters as correct) in white, in exposure values (EV) within a range of
+3 to -3 EV. If you exceed a +/- 3 EV deviation from the camera's metered exposure,
the exposure variables flash red in the display. Additionally, you can activate
the live histogram display, which graphically shows the under- or overexposure,
or the Direct histogram display, which points out the under or overexposed areas
on the LCD monitor directly. (Overall, the 8080 is one of the more helpful
cameras when shooting in manual mode.)
For point-and-shoot convenience in what might otherwise be tricky shooting conditions,
the C-8080 also features four Scene modes. Portrait mode keeps the subject in
sharp focus but the background slightly blurred, by using a larger aperture
to reduce depth of field. Landscape mode instead uses a smaller aperture, to
capture sharp detail in the foreground and background. Sports mode biases the
exposure system toward higher shutter speeds, so you can "freeze" fast-paced
action. Finally, Night mode optimizes the camera for night shots and portraits,
using slower shutter speeds to increase the contribution of ambient light to
the exposure. The C-8080 Wide Zoom also allows you to apply specific Scenes
to the Program, Aperture, Shutter, Manual, My, and Movie modes. Through the
Shooting menu, the Scene option applies Portrait, Landscape, or Night presets
to the current image, giving you the benefit of a preset shooting mode while
maintaining full exposure control.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom provides unusually fine-grained control over ISO settings,
although the range itself is fairly standard. The default ISO 50 setting is
a bit lower than the more common minimum value of 100, although more cameras
are starting to offer it. The lower default ISO is welcome, as it will result
in lower image noise when shooting under bright conditions. (Higher ISO settings
are often useful for working in limited light conditions, but they result in
noisier images.) In addition, the available lower ISO is helpful when trying
for motion-blur effects in more brightly list surroundings. (Note: When ISO
is set to Auto in Program exposure mode, it automatically resets to 50 when
you switch to Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual exposure modes.
A specific ISO setting can be combined with any of the exposure modes via the
"MyCamera" option.) To combat the higher image noise that results
from longer shutter times when shooting in dark conditions, the C-8080 Wide
Zoom also offers a Noise Reduction mode, which uses dark-frame subtraction to
minimize image noise on long exposures. As you'd expect, the C-8080 Wide Zoom's
image noise levels are a bit higher than those of previous 5-megapixel cameras,
but not by nearly as much as I'd expected. And under low light conditions, the
C-8080'z Noise Reduction system seems to work very well indeed.
Four
metering patterns are available on the C-8080 Wide Zoom: Spot, Multi, Center-Weighted,
and ESP multi-patterned metering. All four are accessed by pressing the Metering
button on the left rear beveled panel and turning the Command dial. Under the
default ESP multi-patterned setting, the camera takes readings from a number
of areas in the viewfinder, evaluating both brightness and contrast to arrive
at the optimum exposure. Spot metering reads the exposure from the very center
of the image, so you can pinpoint the specific area of the photograph you want
properly exposed and lock in on that exposure by depressing the Shutter button
halfway and holding it down until you recompose the scene. Center-weighted reads
the exposure from the entire frame, but giving a particular weight to the reading
from the center spot. The unusual Multi Meter function lets you take up to eight
individual spot-meter readings from the center of the EVF or LCD monitor (inside
the exposure brackets) by repeatedly pressing the AE Lock (AEL) button. Each
reading is marked on a relative exposure scale across the bottom of the LCD
panel, and then averaged to produce the overall reading. You lock the Multi-Spot
reading by holding the AE Lock button down for one second (the word "Memo"
appears in the LCD display), and can cancel it by pressing and holding
the AEL button one last time. This is a very useful exposure option for advanced
photographers. The screen shot above right is "borrowed" from my review
of the earlier C-5050 model, the feature works the same on the 8080.)
Enabled through the Shooting menu (Setup sub-menu), a Record View function displays
the most recently captured image on the LCD screen while the image is being
recorded to the memory card. It's a great way to check your images without wasting
time switching back and forth between Playback and Shooting modes. The camera's
Quick View function also allows you to check previously captured images in Shooting
mode, by pressing the Quick View button. You can review the most recent image
(and opt to delete it if you wish), or scroll back through other stored files
until you return to the Shooting mode (by pressing the Quick View button a second
time).
In situations where exposure compensation is necessary, pressing the +/- button
on the left side of the camera and turning the Command dial increases or decreases
the exposure values (EV) in either one-third or one-half-step increments (selected
via a setup menu option), up to +/- 2 EV. If exposure compensation is currently
activated, the amount of adjustment appears in the LCD information display,
except in Manual mode, where there's no automatic exposure to be adjusted.
The C-8080's Auto Bracketing (BKT) function is selected through the Shooting
Mode Menu (Drive submenu), setting the camera to automatically bracket each
exposure by as much as +/- 2 EV in either three- or five-steps with increments
of 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 EV units each. The bracketing function centers its efforts
around whatever exposure you've chosen as the starting point, including any
exposure compensation adjustments you've made, and captures up to five sequential
shots with differing exposure while you hold the shutter button down. This is
a nice implementation of a useful exposure feature. The five-step option is
particularly welcome, as the three-step exposure bracketing offered by many
cameras often forces you to choose between a too-narrow bracketing range or
too-large exposure steps.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom's white balance menu offers a broader range of options
than I've seen on other high-end consumer digicams. No fewer than 11 options
are available, including Auto, Shade, Cloudy, Sunny, Evening Sun, Daylight Fluorescent,
Neutral Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, White Fluorescent, Incandescent,
and One-Touch / Custom. One-Touch is the manual setting, where white balance
is calculated by placing a white card in front of the lens and pressing the
Menu / OK button. The Custom mode lets you pick from four previously-saved white
balances, set manually in similar fashion to the One-Touch option. (I really
like this ability to save up to four separate custom settings. This lets you
switch back and forth rapidly, without having to re-shoot a fresh white card
test each time.) You can also fine-tune the white balance setting with the "WB+/-"
setting under the Picture submenu. An adjustment bar appears on the LCD screen,
with options to shift the color toward either the red or blue ends of the spectrum.
I've always appreciated the ability to fine-tune white balance like this. Most
digicams tend to have slight biases in their white balance systems under various
lighting conditions. Once you get used to how a particular camera shoots, it's
very helpful to have this sort of tweaking adjustment available to modify the
color balance. The 8080's large number of adjustment steps provide very fine-grained
control over a surprisingly broad range of color adjustment.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom has a 12-second Self-Timer for self-portraits or on those
occasions when you don't want to risk camera shake by pressing the Shutter button
to make the exposure. You can also use the included IR remote control to trigger
the shutter without the Self-Timer, which gives you either (more or less) immediate
actuation, or a three-second delay after pressing the remote's Shutter button,
before the shutter is fired. As noted earlier, the provision of optional immediate
shutter actuation via the remote is a huge improvement over the mandatory three-second
delay of previous Olympus digicams. (Maybe Olympus engineers do read
these reviews! ;-) The remote control is rated to work as far as 16.4 feet directly
in front of the camera, or as far as 9.8 feet when at a 15-degree angle from
the sensor window. My own usage indicated that these ratings are conservative,
although high ambient light levels can reduce the remote's range. As useful
as the 8080's remote is, this is one of the few areas where I had a complaint
about the 8080's performance: The mandatory three-second shutter delay when
using the remote can be frustrating when you're trying to capture a specific
moment. I'd really
The Function menu option enables you to capture images in Black & White
or Sepia modes. The C-8080 Wide Zoom also features sharpness, hue, saturation,
and contrast adjustments.
Like many high-end digicams, the has a "RAW" file format as an option.
If you're new to the world of high-end digital cameras, you may
not be familiar with the concept of the "RAW" file format.
Basically, a RAW file just captures the "raw" image data,
exactly as it comes from the camera's CCD or CMOS image sensor.
So why would you care about that? - RAW files let you manipulate
your images post-exposure without nearly as much loss of image quality
as you'd get with JPEG files. A full discussion of RAW file formats
is way beyond the scope of this article, but Charlotte Lowrie of
MSN Photo has written an excellent article describing the benefits
of the RAW format, titled A
Second Chance to Get It Right. Check it out, it's one of the
clearest tutorials on RAW formats I've seen yet.
What's up with RAW?
Flash
The C-8080 Wide Zoom has a fairly standard built-in pop-up flash unit, with five basic operating modes: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Flash Off, and Slow Synchro modes. As of this writing, the 8080's flash range hadn't officially been specified, but the prototype unit I had to look at seemed to show good brightness out to 15 feet or so, at ISO 100. The Slow Synchro mode combines a slow shutter speed with the flash to let more ambient light into the background, producing more natural lighting behind a flash-illuminated subject. When photographing moving subjects, Slow Synchro will record some motion blur because of the longer exposure time, with the initial or final image frozen by the flash exposure. Through the Shooting menu, three Slow Synchro modes are available. Slow 1 fires the flash at the beginning of the exposure (producing a blur in front of the subject), and Slow 2 fires the flash at the end of the exposure (producing a blur behind the subject). You can also opt to fire the Red-Eye Reduction pre-flash in conjunction with a Slow Synchro exposure.
An Olympus-configured hot shoe on top of the camera allows you to connect an external flash for more powerful flash needs. Olympus offers the FL-series external flash units as accessories, which couple with the camera to allow flash exposure compensation when using it. (The FL-50 is a fairly advanced unit with a power-zoom head that tracks the zoom setting of the camera lens, while the FL-20 is a very compact, less expensive unit of more modest capabilities.) The internal and external flash units can be used together or separately. Third-party flash units can also be used, although some units may not be able to synchronize with the camera, and Olympus warns that some flash units can damage the camera's circuitry. (Be sure to check the trigger voltage on your flash unit's hot shoe contacts, to insure that it doesn't present more than a few volts to the camera's flash contacts. If you measure more than 10 volts or so on the flash units contacts, don't risk connecting it to the 8080. Use a device like a Wein Safe-Sync(tm) to protect the 8080 against high trigger voltages in external flash units.) Assuming that they use a low trigger voltage, most third-party flash units should work fine with the 8080. The main limitation will be that the camera will have no control over the flash power, reducing you to manual flash exposure control via the camera's lens aperture setting and any power adjustment that might be available on the flash unit itself.
Another nice feature of the C-8080 Wide Zoom's internal flash system is its Flash Brightness adjustment, which allows you to change the flash brightness from +2 to -2 EV in one-third-step increments. When using the built-in flash with an external unit, you can use this feature to adjust the balance of light between the two, by dialing-down the intensity of the internal flash while controlling the power of the external unit manually.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom's flash also has good support for external "slave" flash units, letting it work with conventional slave trigger units. Like most digicams, the C-8080 normally uses a small metering pre-flash prior to the main exposure to set the flash power level. This pre-flash will falsely trigger conventional slave units, causing them to fire before the 8080 actually opens its shutter. Several third-party "smart" slave triggers are available that ignore the pre-flash, firing the slave strobe on the second pop of the camera's flash. The 8080 avoids the need for such special "smart" triggers though, by offering a special "slave" flash mode that causes its internal flash to fire only once per exposure. Olympus showed some welcome forethought in designing this flash mode, in that they give you a choice of ten different power levels for the internal flash when firing in single-pop mode. This lets you balance the amount of light coming from the 8080's internal flash with that coming from the slave unit(s). Very nice! (By the way, if you want no light to come from the camera's internal flash, you can tape a piece of exposed slide film over the camera's flash strobe, which will filter out most of the visible light, but let enough infrared pass to trigger a sensitive slave unit. - Be careful not to cycle the 8080's internal flash too quickly when doing this though, as it could overheat and possibly melt the slide film, making a mess.) The 8080's slave-flash option is only available when the camera is set to manual exposure mode. As an added bonus though, if you set the flash intensity in "slave" mode to a low value, you can actually use the on-camera flash during continuous shooting, although the maximum frame rate is limited to about 1 frame/second.
Special Exposure Modes
Movie Mode
The C-8080 Wide Zoom's Movie mode is accessed via the Mode dial on top of the camera (marked with a small movie camera symbol). Movies can be recorded at either 640 x 480; 320 x 240; or 160 x 120 pixels. The frame rate in all movie modes is 15 frames/second. Sound recording can be turned On or Off in the Movie menu. Thanks to the C-8080 Wide Zoom's huge buffer memory and fast internal processing, the maximum recording time appears to be limited only by memory card capacity, regardless of the movie resolution being recorded. (Although I suspect you'll need a fairly fast card to keep up with the camera's data rate.) The available seconds of recording time appear in the Electronic Viewfinder or LCD monitor, based on the quality mode selected and space remaining on the card.
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-8080's movie mode, Olympus has taken a very intelligent approach, enabling or disabling lens zoom (as well as continuous autofocus) based on whether or not sound recording is enabled. In all circumstances though, digital zoom is available (if it is enabled), and the lens zoom can always be adjusted to any position prior to the start of recording. 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.
First seen in the Camedia C-3030 (February 2000), the C-8080 Wide Zoom again offers in-camera "editing" of movies in Playback mode. This capability is accessed via the Playback menu, Movie Play submenu, and Edit option. Here, you can scroll forward and backward frame-by-frame through the movie, and set cut points at the beginning and end of the segment you're interested in. Movie content between the two cut points will be preserved, the rest discarded. In a nice touch though, Olympus allows you to choose whether to modify the original movie file, or just save the selected portion in a separate file - a feature that makes the Movie mode much more useful.
Audio Record Mode
The C-8080 Wide Zoom's Audio Record mode records up to four seconds of sound to accompany an image. Activated through the Shooting Menu (Camera sub-menu), the audio recording takes place immediately after you make an exposure. A status bar appears on the LCD monitor with the word "Busy" displayed. Green dots light up along the status bar to indicate how much time you have left until the recording is finished. You can also add audio clips after the image is recorded by selecting the Audio option in the Playback menu (Play sub-menu).
Panorama Mode
The C-8080 Wide Zoom offers a Panorama exposure mode when using an Olympus brand panorama-enabled xD-Picture Card. (The function is unavailable when using a CompactFlash memory card - even if an Olympus-brand xD-Picture Card is also in the camera - or when using any other brand 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 is accessed in the Shooting menu through the Camera submenu. When activated, it 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 do its job. Up to 10 shots can be taken in a panoramic series. Images are saved individually and then assembled on a computer after they've been downloaded.
Sequence Modes
Taking advantage of its large memory buffer, the C-8080 Wide Zoom offers several Sequence modes that mimic the motor drive on a film camera, continually recording images for as long as the Shutter button is held down, or until the memory runs out (this varies with the image quality and subject, as well as available card space).
The 8080 has a total of three sequence modes, varying in the time between shots, and the maximum number of shots that can be recorded without pausing. High-speed sequence mode captures five frames (regardless of resolution/quality setting) at a rate of approximately 1.6 frames per second. "Normal" sequence mode slows to about 1.0 frames/second, but permits much longer sequences to be captured. Depending somewhat on the speed of the memory card you're using, normal sequence mode can capture a large number of full-resolution "HQ" images. In AF sequence mode, the camera pauses to focus between shots, further slowing the frame rate, but insuring that moving subjects will remain in focus as they approach or recede from the camera. The slowest shutter speed available in all sequence modes is 1/30 second. With the exception of the High-speed sequence mode which allows the use of RAW files (with a buffer depth of 5 frames, at least in the prototype model this First Look is based on), the TIFF and RAW file formats aren't available in sequence modes. A notable limitation of the Sequence mode is that the camera's internal flash cannot be used, at least not in an automatic-metering mode. However, if you have an external flash capable of recycling at three frames per second, and you shoot in Aperture Priority mode, the external flash may work just fine. Likewise, using the 8080's "slave flash" option (available only in manual exposure mode), you can set the flash to fire at a lower, non-metered power level when shooting in sequence mode. The maximum frame rate is limited to about one frame/second, but most consumer digicams don't allow any combination of flash and continuous shooting at all.
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 settings. 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. The My Mode is very flexible, letting you preset the nearly all of the camera's parameters.
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