The C-770UZ captures images
with a 1/2.5 inch, 4.11 million pixel CCD of which 4.0 million
pixels are effective to produce a maximum image size of 2288
x 1712 pixels. CCD sensitivity starts at 64 ISO but
can be increased to 100, 200 or 400 ISO or left on Auto so
the camera adjusts it as required up to 320 ISO.
The 10X zoom lens of the C-770UZ was first introduced with the C-750UZ.
It has a focal length of 6.3 to 63mm which corresponds to a 38mm to
380mm lens in the 35mm film format. Composed of 11 elements in 7 groups,
it uses ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass to minimize chromatic aberrations
and improve colour and sharpness.
Aperture start at f2.8 at
the wide angle end and f3.7 at the maximum telephoto position,
and end at f8. Shutter speeds cover a range from 15 seconds
to 1/1000 sec. but only when the camera is in Manual mode.
The slowest shutter speed available for all other modes is
with the Night Scene mode which is capable of a 4 second
exposure; while Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program,
Self-Portrait, and Portrait modes are limited to 1 second
and Auto, Landscape, Landscape-Portrait, Sports are limited
to 1/2 second.
The C-770UZ continues the traditional (4X) digital
zoom which yields an effect comparable to a 40X zoom, but also degrades
the image quality since the cropped image is interpolated to the selected
image size. New with the C-770UZ, Olympus has added a non-interpolating
digital zoom which is called Super Zoom. The Super Zoom extends the
optical zoom to a combined total of 14X by cropping the full size (4
megapixel) image to 2 megapixel (1600 x 1200 pixel).
As usual, Olympus has provided a wide variety of image sizes and formats
for the C-770UZ user. Photos can be saved in either compressed JPEG format
or uncompressed TIFF, and 8 images sizes are available,
one of which is an interpolated image offered exclusively in the JPEG
format:
2288 x 1712: JPEG (SHQ or HQ) and TIFF.
2288 x 1520 (3:2): JPEG (SHQ or HQ) and TIFF.
2048 x 1536: JPEG SQ1 (High or Normal) and
TIFF.
1600 x 1200: JPEG SQ1 (High or Normal) and
TIFF.
1280 x 960: JPEG SQ1 (High or Normal) and TIFF.
1024 x 768: JPEG SQ2 (High or Normal) and TIFF.
640 x 480: JPEG SQ2 (High or Normal) and TIFF.
3200 x 2400 [interpolated]: JPEG (SHQ or HQ).
(SHQ/High = low compression, HQ/Normal = high compression).
Aside from its Mode Dial and the shooting modes it offers (see the Ergonomics
section of this review for an overview of the shooting modes that are available),
the C-770UZ has few external controls and most of its functions are found
in its menu. The Auto mode has simplest of all the menus of the
C-770UZ. Four options are offered:
Resolution: provides access to 4 resolution options
only:
SHQ: 2288 x 1712,
HQ: 2288 x 1712,
SQ1: 1280 x 960,
SQ2: 640 x 480
Drive: gives access to the sequential shooting
modes (see further).
Card Setup: serves to format the memory card
Time and Date: to set the time and date on the
C-770UZ.
But, with the Program, A/S/M and Subject modes,
the C-770UZ offers a much more complex menu that starts out,
as do many other Olympus cameras, with a shortcut menu.
The shortcut menu offers four choices, three of which can be reconfigured
to point to other functions while the fourth, Mode Menu cannot be
changed and is the access to the complete menu.
The complete menu of the C-770UZ is composed of 4 sections: Camera, Picture, Card,
and Setup. In most modes a wide variety of options are presented;
however, some options may be greyed-out if they are not applicable to the
mode currently selected by the Mode Dial.
In the first section, Camera, the options presented are for:
Metering: selects the metering mode:
ESP metering: an averaging pattern that evaluates multiple
areas in the frame to decide the exposure.
Spot metering: evaluates the exposure based on the frame
area encompassed by the AF brackets.
Multi-metering: meters the brightness of the subject
at up to 8 separate points.
Macro Mode: offers 2 options:
Standard Macro mode: lets the camera focus
from 7 to 60 cm (2.8 in. to 2.0 ft.) when the lens
is at the wide angle end, 1.2 m to 2m (3.9 to 6.6 ft.).
Super Macro mode: locks the lens at 10.9 mm
and cancels the flash. The camera is able to focus
on a subject 3 cm (1.17 in.) from the front of the
lens.
Drive: is used to switch from the Single shooting
mode to any of the sequential shooting modes:
Sequential
Shooting: approximately 9 sequential frames at
a maximum speed of approximately 1.6 frames/second
in SHQ mode. Focus, exposure and white balance are
set and locked with the first frame.
High
Speed Sequential Shooting: approximately 5 frames
at a maximum speed of approximately 2.1 frames per
second (SHQ mode). The speed varies according to
the resolution and compression setting.
AF
Sequential Shooting: focus is locked for each
frame. The AF sequential shooting speed is slower
than normal sequential shooting.
Auto
Bracketing: exposure bracketing over 3 or 5 frames,
depending on the image size selected, and with a
range of ±2EV in 0.3EV increments. Focus and
white balance are set and locked at the first frame.
ISO: selects the sensitivity setting of the C-770UZ. The options
are 64, 100, 200, 400 or Auto ISO which adjusts the sensitivity of
the C-770UZ over a range of 64 to 320 ISO.
A/S/M: used to select Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority
or Manual Mode. This setting is used to choose the default mode when
the dial is turned to the A/S/M position.
My Mode: to select and set any of 4 sets of shooting
preferences. (This option is only displayed in the Mode
Menu if the Mode Dial is set to My Mode.)
Flash Compensation: allows adjusting the flash
output by ±2EV in 0.3EV increments.
Slow (flash synchronization): 3 settings are available, Slow
1 (front curtain), Slow 2 (rear curtain), Slow
1 with Red-eye reduction.
Noise Reduction: On or Off. When set to On, after
a long exposure the C-770UZ captures a second exposure
of the same length without opening the shutter. The noise
captured during the second exposure is then used to identify
the noise contained in the first exposure, and eliminate
it.
Digital Zoom: turns On or Off the 4X digital zoom.
Note that this option is presented at the top of the Shortcut
screen when the camera is recording movies and that in
the movie mode the digital zoom is limited to 2.5X.
Full Time AF: On or Off. When On, the camera continuously
adjusts the focus as the subject moves, or the scene changes.
AF Mode:iESP is the default and
is a wide area focus system that will focus even if the
subject is outside the AF brackets. The alternative is Spot which
focuses on the subject within the AF brackets.
Panorama Mode: this options is only accessible
if the memory card in use is an Olympus Brand xD card.
When active, the LCD monitor, or the EVF of the C-770UZ,
displays guidelines to help overlap each succeeding image.
The guidelines are designed to ensure that each succeeding
image capture overlaps the previous one sufficiently to
create a seamless panoramic photo when the image series
is assembled later on a computer. The software to create
panoramic images is included with the camera.
2 in 1: Combines two pictures taken in succession
and stores them as a single picture, as a side-by-side
(horizontal) montage.
Function: provides options for recording images
in Black and White, Sepia, or as White Board (black letters
on a white background) or Black Board (white letters on
black background).
AF Area: allows changing the location of the Spot
AF area along the horizontal or vertical axis. (This
option requires the AF Mode option above to be set
to Spot to be accessible.)
Info: overlays the shooting data for the photo
in Playback or Quick View.
Histogram: displays a real-time histogram on the
screen or viewfinder, showing the distribution of brightness
and contrast.
Sound: allows recording a 4 second sound bite
immediately after the image is captured.
Super Zoom: On or Off. The Super zoom, a digital
zoom that does not interpolate the image but which crops
the full size 4 megapixel frame to a smaller size (1600
x 1200 pixels) to provide a field of view comparable to
an even longer focal length than the C-770UZ's 10X zoom.
Picture is the second section of the menu. It provides
settings for:
Resolution: to select the image size and quality. (See
above)
White Balance: presents 3 options: Auto, Presets,
and One-Touch. Presets offers white balance
settings for: Sun, Cloud, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1 (daylight),
Fluorescent 2 (warm), Fluorescent 3 (cool white). One-Touch serves
to set the white balance according to the ambient light
by aiming the camera at a white surface under the ambient
light and memorizing the white point.
White Balance adjustment: is to adjust the white
balance over a range of ±7 increments, shifting
the colour tone towards red, or blue.
Sharpness: to adjust image sharpness over ±5
increments.
Contrast: increase or decrease contrast over ±5
increments.
Saturation: to increase or decrease saturation
over ±5 increments.
The third section is entitled Card and deals with
the memory card. In the recording mode only 1 option is available:
Card Setup: Format.
But in the Playback mode the Card section
has an additional option:
Card Setup: All Erase, or Format.
Please note that the options offered in the fourth part of
the menu, Setup, are detailed in the Interface
and Software section of this review.
The Movie mode also offers a menu which contains many of the options listed
above. In addition, it provides an options specific to the movie mode Reduce
Flicker which can be used to lessen the monitor flicker when the camera
is used to record a video clip under fluorescent light.
The Playback mode also provides
a shortcut screen, but in this case, the shortcuts shown cannot
be reconfigured. When a still image is being displayed on the
screen (or on the EVF), the top option is to start a slide
show. However, when a movie is displayed on the screen when
the Menu button is pressed, the top option becomes Movie
Play.
The other 3 shortcuts are the same for both movies and still images.
Pressing the left arrow while
the shortcut screen is displayed adds additional information
about the image, overlaid on top of the photo. The information
remains visible for about 3 seconds then disappears.
Pressing the down arrow to select Switch Frame which controls
what photos are played back, All, or only those marked as Protected using
the button.
While pressing the right arrow enters Mode Menu and displays the
other options of the Playback menu.
For still images the playback mode menu is composed of
4 sections: Play, Edit, Card, Set, while
with a movie is on the screen at the time the menu is called-up only
the last two sections are shown. The first two sections contain options
specific to still images:
Print Settings: serves to select which photos
will be printed. The C-770UZ is compatible with DPOF
and PictBridge, allowing it to print directly to a PictBridge
compatible printer. The number of prints to make can
be decided and whether or not the time and date will
be imprinted on the images. In addition, the C-770UZ
provides a way of trimming images if needed.
Histogram: presents the image as a thumbnail with
all the shooting data to the right and a histogram below.
Sound: allows recording a 4 second sound bite
that will be attached to the image shown on the screen.
The next section, Edit, provides for:
Resize: makes a copy of an image at either 640
x 480 pixels or 320 x240 pixels.
Crop: allows zooming part of an image and saving
it as a new photo. The C-770UZ automatically interpolates
it to the selected image size.
The remaining two sections, Card and Set,
control card formatting (see above), and access the Setup menu (the
Setup menu is covered in the Interface and Software section
of this review).
The xD memory card slot of the C-770UZ is located underneath the
camera, in a compartment that also houses the battery.
A 16MB xD card is included with the C-770UZ,
allowing it to store:
Image Size
TIFF
SHQ/
High
HQ/
Normal
2288 x 1712
1
5
16
2288 x 1520
1
6
18
2048 x 1536
1
8
20
1600 x 1200
2
11
32
1280 x 960
4
17
49
1024 x 768
6
26
76
640 x 480
16
66
165
3200 x 2400 *
—
2
8
*
= Interpolated.
A rechargeable Lithium ion battery supplies the power for
the C-770UZ. The battery, as well as a charger are part of
the accessories supplied with the camera.
Although it shares the same compartment as the memory card, the battery
is held in place by a spring-loaded clip which prevents it from sliding
out when the door is opened.
Next is the USB (1.1) port. Every time the camera is connected through
the USB connection a screen is displayed offering a choice of PC (Mass
Storage) or Print (PictBridge to connect directly to a printer.)
At the bottom is the A/V (Audio
Video) out so the camera can be connected to a television.
The signal the C-770UZ outputs can be set to either NTSC or
PAL, in the Setup menu. Moreover, the A/V jack can be used
to connect anexternal microphone, useful when
recording movies.
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Characteristics
Sequential
Shooting: approximately 9 sequential frames at
a maximum speed of approximately 1.6 frames/second
in SHQ mode. Focus, exposure and white balance are
set and locked with the first frame.
High
Speed Sequential Shooting: approximately 5 frames
at a maximum speed of approximately 2.1 frames per
second (SHQ mode). The speed varies according to
the resolution and compression setting.
AF
Sequential Shooting: focus is locked for each
frame. The AF sequential shooting speed is slower
than normal sequential shooting.
Auto
Bracketing: exposure bracketing over 3 or 5 frames,
depending on the image size selected, and with a
range of ±2EV in 0.3EV increments. Focus and
white balance are set and locked at the first frame.
button.
While pressing the right arrow enters Mode Menu and displays the
other options of the Playback menu.
