The C-60 is equipped with a 1/1.76
inch, 6.3 megapixel CCD of which 6 million pixels are
effective. The CCD can be either set to Auto ISO, allowing
the camera to increase sensitivity automatically, or manually
set to 64, 100, 200, or 400 ISO.
The Olympus 3X zoom lens, retained from the C-50, offers a focal length
of 7.8 to 23.4 mm, the equivalent of
a 38 to 114 mm in the 35mm film format.
At the wide angle end of the zoom, apertures begin at f2.8 and
f4.8 at the telephoto end, closing down to f8. While the fastest shutter
speed for the C-60 is 1/1000 sec in all modes, the slowest
shutter speed depends on the shooting mode. Auto Mode stops
at 1/8 sec; Program at 1 second; Shutter and Aperture Priority
extend this to 4 seconds; and only the Manual mode can capture
exposures up to 8 seconds.
As other Olympus cameras, the C-60 offers an excellent range of image sizes
and two formats, JPEG or TIFF:
2816 x 2112 :
TIFF (no compression),
SHQ (low compression,
HQ (high compression)
2560 x 1920:
2272 x 1704:
2048 x 1536:
1600 x 1200 :
TIFF (no compression),
SQ1 High (low compression)
SQ1 Normal (high compression)
1280 x 960:
1024 x 768:
640 x 480:
TIFF (no compression),
SQ2 High (low compression)
SQ2 Normal (high compression)
Image size and format is set in the C-60's menu, along with a number of
other settings. The menu, called up by pressing the MENU/OK button
in the middle of the arrow pad, starts by first displaying a Shortcut screen.
The screen consists of four shortcuts, two of which are default settings
that, if desired, can be reconfigured by the user to access other parts
of the menu.
is the shortcut to
the image size and quality section of
the menu. This shortcut can be reconfigured to access
another part of the menu.
accesses the section of
the menu that deals with the self-timer or remote
control settings. The remote control (at right) is
included with the camera. This shortcut can be reconfigured
to access another option in the menu.
MONITOR OFF/ON
turns the LCD monitor ON or OFF.
MODE MENU
is the access to the full menu of the
C-60Z.
The menu of the C-60Z presents options that relate the mode in use, and
all shooting modes, with the exception of the Auto mode, can access the
full menu. The full menu is composed of 4 sections: Camera, Picture, Card, Setup:
Scene: is only accessible when the C-60's Mode
Dial is set to the Scene position, and serves to
select a specific scene mode (Landscape, Landscape + Portrait,
Self-portrait, Sports).
Self-timer/Remote control: to use either the 12
second self-timer, or the wireless remote.
Drive: controls Single-frame shooting; Sequential
shooting which records 3 frames at 1 frame per second;
AF Sequential shooting which is similar but re-focuses
for each shot and is therefore slower; Auto bracketing
which can be performed over 3 or 5 frames with ±1EV.
ISO: 64, 100, 200, 400 ISO or Auto.
Flash Compensation: ±2EV in 1/3 EV increments.
Noise Reduction: On or Off.
Full Time AF: On or Off. When On,
the camera adjusts the focus continuously.
Accessory: Off or Underwater Housing.
Recording Sound with Still Pictures: On or Off.
When On, the C-60 records approximately 4 seconds of audio
after an image is captured.
Super Macro: On or Off. The Super
Macro mode allows the camera to focus on a subject 4cm
(1.6 inch) from the front of the lens at the wide angle
setting.
Panorama: Requires an Olympus Brand xD Picture
card. Places guides on the screen to overlap photos accurately,
and stitch them together with the included software once
the images are transferred to a computer.
2 in 1: Allows recording 2 shots which appear
side by side in a single horizontal frame.
Function: records the image as Black and White
or Sepia.
Info: displays the shooting information for 3
seconds immediately after the shot has been taken.
Histogram: displays a real time histogram on the
LCD monitor.
The next section of the menu is entitled Picture,
and is for settings directly affecting the image:
Resolution: Sets the record mode image size and
resolution (see above).
White Balance: Auto, Sun, Cloudy, Incandescent,
Fluorescent.
Sharpness: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2.
Contrast: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2.
Card, the third part of the C-60's menu, is to format
the memory card; while the fourth part, Setup, controls
basic camera settings such as the time and date (see the
Interface and Software section of this review for an overview
of this section).
As mentioned above, the Auto Mode cannot access the full menu unlike
all the other recording modes. The Auto Mode's menu appears as a shortcut screen
with four options: Self-Timer/Remote control; Card Setup; Resolution (only
JPEG formats are available); and Time and Date settings; but these options
cannot be modified and when called up are presented independently, without
any of the other menu options that normally surround them in the other
shooting modes.
The Playback menu continues the same concept as the menu used in
the Recording modes; however the options shown on what looks like the shortcut
screen of the Recording mode are simply options, and are not repeated in
the Playback menu. The four options displayed on this screen when a still
image is on the monitor are:
Slide show
INFO
Image info
Histogram
MODE MENU
The other options of the playback menu
But, when the first frame of a movie is what is shown on the monitor, the
shortcut screen only has 3 options — the Histogram function is absent — and
the first option is replaced by MOVIE PLAY which serves to start
the movie playback.
For still images, the Slide
show function starts playing back photos sequentially
at a fixed time interval, and turning off the slide show
is done by pressing the OK/Menu button.
The other two options, Info and Histogram apply to the way
the image is presented in playback. The info option displays the shooting
data for a few second when an image first appears. The histogram option
displays the image as a thumbnail with its histogram below and the shooting
data on the right.
The remaining options of the Playback menu
are displayed when the Mode Menu option is selected.
The Playback mode's menu is composed of 4 sections: Play, Edit, Card,
and Setup. As with the Recording menu, the Card section
serves to format the memory card or erase all images; while
the Setup section adds a few Playback-specific camera settings
and is covered in the Interface and Software section
of the review.
Rotate: allows rotating an image in 90° increments.
DPOF: allows selecting photos to be printed by
a DPOF compliant printer, or printing service. If desired,
Date and Time can printed atop the photo, and the number
of prints to make of each photo can be selected. The C-60
is also PictBridge compatible, and once photos have
been selected for printing, the camera can be connected
directly to a printer to print photos.
Sound: makes it possible to add a 4 second sound
bite to an already captured image.
The next section, Edit, offers a single option:
Resize: serves to make a smaller size copy of
a photo. Two sizes for the copy are available: 640 x 480
pixels, or 320 x 240 pixels.
The Olympus C-60 is supplied with an 32MB xD Picture
card, and the camera will accept cards up to the current
maximum capacity of 512MB.
The card slot is underneath the C-60Z, next to the rechargeable Lithium
ion battery. The card is ejected by pressing on its edge and the battery
is prevented from sliding out when the compartment door is opened by
an orange retaining clip.
With the supplied 32MB xD card, the C-60Z can store:
Resolution
TIFF
SHQ
HQ
SQ1
SQ2
2816 x 2112
1
7
21
—
—
2560 x 1920
2
—
—
8
—
2272 x 1704
2
—
—
11
—
2048 x 1536
3
—
—
13
—
1600 x 1200
5
—
—
22
—
1280 x 960
8
—
—
—
35
1024 x 768
13
—
—
—
55
640 x 480
34
—
—
—
142
(Note: SQ1 and SQ2 numbers shown here are for High,
the least compressed image quality.)
The C-60Z is powered by Lithium
ion rechargeable battery. The charger is included with the
camera, and a full charge takes about 2 hours. In addition,
a DC-IN is provided on the left side of the camera, for use
with the optional AC adapter (Olympus CAMEDIA brand).
All the external connections of the C-60 are behind a solid door on the
right side of the camera.
Upper most is the aforementioned
DC-IN; while the Audio Video Out jack is below. The C-60 can
be set to output either an NTSC signal or a PAL video signal,
and the selection is made in the Setup menu.
The
USB (1.1) port is below, and when plugged into a USB device,
the camera automatically displays a menu from which Mass Storage
(PC), or PictBridge (Print) can be selected,
according to the device to which the C-60 is connected.
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Characteristics
of
the menu that deals with the self-timer or remote
control settings. The remote control (at right) is
included with the camera. This shortcut can be reconfigured
to access another option in the menu.
The
USB (1.1) port is below, and when plugged into a USB device,
the camera automatically displays a menu from which Mass Storage
(PC), or PictBridge (Print) can be selected,
according to the device to which the C-60 is connected.
