Olympus Camedia D-510 ZoomOlympus updates its popular 2.1 megapixel D-490 model with a new user interface and improved features.<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 6/18/2001 |
Exposure
The D-510 is great for consumers who want the uncomplicated ease of a point-and-shoot camera. Exposure control is almost entirely automatic, with the camera taking complete control of shutter speed and aperture settings. The user has the option of adjusting exposure by changing exposure compensation, white balance, metering, ISO, and image quality.
Exposure Compensation (EV adjustment)
Exposure compensation is controlled through the Shooting menu (Camera sub-menu), and is adjustable from -2 to +2 exposure value equivalents (EV) in one-half-step increments. (Each full EV unit corresponds to a doubling or halving of the exposure.) Once you've chosen the appropriate EV value, press the OK button to confirm the selection. You can cancel the adjustment through the same process or by closing the lens cover to power down the camera. Olympus warns that this setting may not be as effective when shooting with the flash. (We prefer to see an EV adjustment that doesn't rely on the LCD menu system, as with earlier D-400 models.)
Spot Metering Mode
The D-510 offers two metering options: Digital ESP and Spot metering. Both are accessible through the Shooting menu. The benefit of spot metering is that most metering systems that average the light reading from the entire picture area are easily fooled by backlit or high-contrast scenes. EV adjustments can help with these situations, but spot metering offers a better solution, since it only measures a tiny area in the center of the viewfinder. You can lock the exposure by holding down the shutter release button halfway once you've metered the area you want properly exposed, then move the camera to reframe the image before you fully depress the shutter.
White Balance
White Balance (WB) adjusts an exposure to compensate for differences in color temperatures from various light sources. The five White Balance options (located in the Shooting menu) are: Auto (automatically sets the white balance), Daylight (for sunny, outdoor scenes), Cloudy (for overcast days), Incandescent (for typical household lights), and Fluorescent (for offices or large areas that are illuminated by fluorescent tube lights). Once you've made your selection, press the OK button to confirm the setting, and the designated icon will appear on the LCD monitor. You can cancel the setting by reselecting Auto, or by closing the lens cover. We found the D-510's White Balance system worked quite well under moderate light changes, but had difficulty with the strong yellowish cast of household incandescent lighting.
FlashThe D-510's built-in flash automatically pops up when you slide the lens cover open. The default flash setting is Auto, which automatically triggers the flash if the camera's exposure meter determines that additional light is necessary to illuminate a subject (indicated by a slowly flashing orange LED lamp next to the optical viewfinder when you depress the shutter button halfway). If you want to change the flash setting, you can choose one of six flash modes by pressing the up arrow button on the Arrow Pad: Auto (no icon displayed), Red-Eye Reduction (eyeball icon), Fill-in Flash (lightning bolt), Off (lightning bolt with a slash), Night Scene (star and moon symbol), and Night Scene with Red-Eye Reduction (star and moon symbol with an eyeball icon). Night Scene is the same as a Slow Synchro (first curtain) flash setting. Olympus rates the D-510's flash power as having a maximum range of 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) in telephoto mode and 13 feet (4 meters) in wide angle mode. In our own tests, we found the flash was brightest at 8 feet and closer, but dimmed only slightly all the way out to 13 feet. We'd therefore say that Olympus' range rating is quite conservative.
Variable ISO
The D-510 provides variable ISO settings through the Shooting menu (Picture sub-menu). Options include: Auto, 100, 200 or 400 ISO settings. (ISO refers to the light sensitivity of the CCD. A higher ISO will enable you to shoot with faster shutter speeds and / or smaller apertures than a lower ISO, but the resulting image may appear grainy or noisy.)
Self-Timer
The Self-Timer is accessed by pressing the down arrow button until the self-timer clock icon appears on the LCD monitor. When you press the shutter button in Self-Timer mode, it activates a 12-second countdown, which is indicated by a glowing red lamp next to the viewfinder window above the camera lens. At two seconds, the red lamp starts flashing until the shutter fires.
Sequence Mode
The Sequence mode allows you to shoot multiple continuous frames at approximately 1.8 frames per second. The actual number will depend on the image quality chosen and storage space available. (We were able to record seven sequential frames.) Flash is not available in this mode and the shutter speed is fixed to go no slower than 1/30 second. In Sequence mode, the camera will snap pictures one after another as long as you hold down the shutter button.
Panorama
The camera’s Panorama option allows you to take panoramic images when a standard Olympus memory card is used. (This camera feature is the only one that requires an Olympus brand SmartMedia card. All other camera features work just fine with third-party cards.) Panorama mode is accessed through the Shooting menu (Camera sub-menu) with the LCD monitor turned on. As soon as you select the Panorama mode, blue cropping lines appear over the image to help you line up each subsequent image in the sequence. You can take as many exposures as you have room for on the card. All of the exposure settings are determined by the initial exposure to make "stitching" on the computer easier. Flash is not available in this mode and Olympus suggests maintaining the same lens focal length (zoom setting) after shooting the first picture to avoid problems when you assemble the pictures. The company also recommends shooting in SQ (standard quality) mode to save SmartMedia space. We just recommend buying a larger memory card, since you're likely to want one anyway!
QuickTime Movies
The QuickTime Movie feature is accessed by pressing the down arrow button on the Arrow Pad until the movie camera icon appears. When set in Movie mode, the D-510 offers two quality settings: High-Quality (HQ) resolution is 320 x 240-pixels and Standard Quality (SQ) resolution is 160 x 120-pixels. In HQ mode, the recording will last approximately 15 seconds. In SQ mode, it will last approximately 60 seconds, but the quality will be significantly lower than with HQ. To record a QuickTime movie, you select the Movie option with the Drive button (down arrow) and press the shutter button. The LCD monitor will turn on if it is not already activated. The recording will continue until you press the shutter button again or until the designated time is finished, or the memory runs out. The seconds count down on the screen and a green bar shows the movie's progress. To play back the movie, switch to Playback mode, press the Menu / OK button and select the movie camera icon in the Play menu. Press the right arrow button to start the movie.
Sharpness Setting
A Sharpness setting, accessed in the Shooting menu (Picture sub-menu), is identified by a circle with a solid and dotted edge and an "S" in the middle. Sharpness options include: Hard, Normal, and Soft. Olympus suggests using the Soft setting when photographing subjects that will be heavily manipulated on the computer, as in-camera sharpening tends to cause problems when working on images in the computer. (You're better off working with an unsharpened image and sharpening it at the end, after you're finished with all your manipulations.)
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