Within Olympus' compact digital
line-up, the C-7000 (C-70 in Europe) is positioned near the top.
It offers 7 megapixel, higher than the C-60, and adds to this
a 5X zoom and a 2-inch LCD screen.
Moreover, the C-7000 also offers a more complete range of shooting modes
and image resolution. Indeed, the C-7000 is designed to fit between the
high-end C-8080, and the C-60.
Aperture: f4.0, shutter speed 1/400 sec., 80 ISO.
Aperture: f4.8, shutter speed 1/125 sec., 80 ISO.
Unlike many other manufacturers
that primarily rely on multi-zone metering patterns, Olympus
uses a metering system called iESP which functions much more
like a centre-weighted pattern. This centre-weighted pattern
however, is more advanced than the run-of-the-mill centre-weighted
systems as the "centre" metered by the pattern is
tied to the focus point because it is automatically established
by the camera, or as it is manually set by the user.
The system allows the camera to obtain
a correctly exposed subject, even when it is surrounded by bright
or dark zones.
Moreover, the camera is also equipped with a standard centre-weighted pattern,
a spot metering capability, and a Multi metering system that allows the
photographer to meter up to eight distinct areas of the subject, which
the camera then automatically combines to produce the most appropriate
exposure settings.
The zoom of the C-7000 has a focal length range that covers from 38mm to
190mm.
At the wide angle end of the
zoom, equivalent to 38mm, photos show some barrel distortion,
and the overall sharpness is a touch soft. The distortion disappears
quickly once the zoom moves past the widest angle, and the
image becomes tack sharp, just like the telephoto end which
produces images that are very sharp and show no overt distortion.
Still, at the maximum telephoto setting of the zoom, the brightest
aperture available to the camera is f4.8, a relatively small
aperture.
Aperture: f3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec., 80 ISO.
An aperture of f4.8 means that unless
the subject is very well lit, the camera needs to be stabilized
to avoid the image-blurring effect of camera shake.
Aperture: f3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec., 80 ISO.
Worth noting however is that,
as evidenced by photos, the C-7000 has a bit of chromatic aberration
which can become visible under harsh winter light which tends
to create very strong contrasts.
The C-7000 is capable of recording images at any of 8 image sizes, an excellent
feature. The fact that the C-7000 is able to save images in RAW, TIFF or
JPEG allows it to fit the needs of a wide variety of users.
And o f these, two of the formats
offered have the advantage of being uncompressed, meaning that
they provide the highest image quality of which the C-7000 is
capable as they do not use a lossy compression such as used with
JPEG.
While the TIFF format has the advantage of being immediately useable by
most applications, it has the disadvantage of requiring 15 seconds to store
the format's 20.3 MB on the memory card, a time during which the C-7000
cannot take another photo. The RAW is faster — recording 10.2 MB
files — and is more flexible as, when read by Olympus Master,
it allows modification to the shooting parameters.
Aperture: f3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec., 80 ISO.
Some functions are not memorized
from one shot to the next (the self-timer and the FlexiZone AF
for instance) and the prolonged use of the LCD screen tends to
diminish the autonomy of the camera by draining the battery.
Offering an excellent finishing
and a good design, the C-7000 is an attractive camera. Equipped
with a good range of shooting modes and a broad array of image
formats, the C-7000 is clearly aimed at photographers that want
something more than the basics, and are looking for some flexibility
from their camera, albeit in a compact format.
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