Equipped
with a 3X zoom (7-21mm) that looks like a twin of the lens used
on Sony's DSC-S70 but probably uses different glass, the PhotoPC 3000
provides a focal range of 34 to 102mm in 35mm equivalent. Capturing the
image is a 1/1.8" colour area CCD producing a maximum image size
of 2048 x 1536 pixels.
The zoom lens itself is very quiet in operation and provides a starting
aperture of f2.0 in wide angle, closing down to f2.5 at the telephoto
end.
Like
the PhotoPC 850 the PhotoPC 3000Z comes with a lens adapter, made to screw
inside the shiny trim around the lens. Made of black metal, the adapter
makes it possible to attach accessory lenses, or filters, with a 49mm
diameter. The adapter is designed to allow the lens to move unimpeded
back and forth during zooming.
The
PhotoPC 3000Z has four image quality settings:
Standard (JPEG) mode captures a 640 x 480 pixel image;
Fine
(JPEG)
produces
2048 x1536 pixel image with moderate compression;
Super
Fine (JPEG)
captures
a 2048 x 1536 photo with low compression;
and
HyPict/TIFF.
The
last image quality option can be set in the Setup menu to be either
HyPict, a JPEG mode that interpolates
the image up to 2544 x 1904 pixels, or — the first time Epson offers
this— a TIFF (uncompressed)
image format with an image size 2048 x 1536.
All the quality and images sizes can also be used in conjunction with
a Panorama mode that crops the top and bottom of the image, and a monochrome
(black and white) setting.
Three exposure
modes are available to capture still photos:
Full
Program
mode with 3 subprograms:
Sports,
Portrait,
Landscape,
Aperture
Priority:
offers a selection of f2, f2.3, f2.8, f5.6 or f8,
Manual
mode lets the user select both the shutter speed and the aperture,
with the shutter speeds adjustable from 8 seconds to 1/600 second.
In
addition to still photos, the PhotoPC 3000Z can also record in a continuous
mode, with a frame rate of 2 per second in Standard mode for up
to 37 standard images which are buffered in the camera's 16MB of internal
memory. This rate drops to 1 image per second if either the Fine or
Super Fine image quality is selected.
MPEG recordings (movie and sound), lasting up to 25 seconds at 15 frames
per second, can be done with a frame size of 320 x 240 pixels. One note
though, the zoom cannot be used while recording motion JPEG.
Exposure
compensation is possible in 2 distinct modes. In Manual mode, but
using auto exposure, the exposure can be adjusted over ±2EV in
0.2 EV increments, while in Program mode the same compensation range
(±2EV) is only possible in 0.5EV increments.
White balance
can also controlled. Besides the standard Auto mode, the white point
can be established by pointing the camera at a white surface under ambient
lighting, or be pre-set to "Fix" which establishes it at 5200°K
to shoot under fluorescent lighting. The User selected setting for establishing
the white point is done in the Setup menu, and can then be called up
from Manual recording mode. The option is not available if the camera
is used in Full Program mode.
The PhotoPC
3000Z provides 2 metering modes: matrix,
which samples various areas of the frame to establish the correct exposure,
and spot, which
uses a small centre area of the frame to decide the required exposure.
The sensitivity of the CCD can also be boosted from its default 100
ISO rating, to 200 ISO or 400 ISO. As is often the case, the noise content
of the image becomes more noticeable at 400 ISO.
The built-in flash of the camera has 5 modes: Auto, Forced on, Forced
off, Red-eye reduction and Slow Synchro. The slow synchro mode can also
be set to be leading or trailing in the Setup menu. The same part of the
Setup menu also allows the use of an external flash, which disables the
built-in flash.
The external flash can be mounted on flash hotshoe, which will
work with all flash units if these are used in manual mode. Epson recommends
one particular flash though: the Metz 32Z-2.
Epson
uses a bright and sharp LCD screen with a high refresh rate for the PhotoPC
3000z. In manual mode, all the camera settings appear as an overlay on
the screen and the buttons arranged along two of its sides make it easy
to change many of these settings. The overlay also indicates the metering
mode in use, flash mode, exposure compensation, etc. The lower left button
gives access to even more options by re-labelling the other buttons. Should
it be desirable, the round Menu On/Off button can clear the information
off the screen.
The
Playback mode works the same way. The buttons get labelled with
appropriate functions such as image magnification (2X only), delete, thumbnails,
slide show, sound (to add a sound bite to the image).
Adding sound can be done immediately post capture, or later when the image
is being viewed in the playback mode. A 10 second recording can be either
way.
A very accessible
CompactFlash slot Type I is protected by a solid door on the right side
of the camera. Epson provides a 16MB card as part of the camera kit,
which allows it to record:
1
full size TIFF image (9.2MB each), 3
panoramic TIFF mode photos, or 12 HyPict images.
15
Super Fine JPEG,
31
Fine JPEG,
155
Standard JPEG (640 x 480).
The
Epson PhotoPC provides both a USB and a Serial port along with all the
necessary cables.
Like many new cameras, the Audio/video out can be configured for either
NTSC or PAL video output in the camera's Setup menu.
An optional Universal AC adapter can also be plugged into the DC-in port,
which lessens the drain on the rechargeable Ni-MH batteries that Epson
includes in the kit, along with the charger.
