The C-8080 is Olympus' first 8
megapixel camera. Equipped with a 2/3 inch, 8.31 million CCD
of which 8 million pixels are effective, the C-8080 yields
a maximum image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels.
The camera offers a wide range of CCD sensitivities which start at 50 ISO,
and extend to 64, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400 ISO. In addition,
the Auto ISO setting can be used when the camera is set to the Program
or Scene modes.
A 5X zoom lens with a focal length of 7.1 to 35.6mm, is composed of 14
elements in 5 groups, the equivalent of a 28 to 140mm zoom in the
35mm film format.
A 58mm filter can be
attached to the lens.
Apertures begin at f2.4 in wide
angle, and f3.5 at the maximum telephoto, extending to f8;
while shutter speed range from 1/4000 sec to 16 seconds in
all modes. In addition, the Manual mode offers a Bulb mode
that can extend exposure time to 8 minutes if the shutter
release is held down, or with the use of the optional Remote
cable which plugs into the Battery holder.
As explained in the first part of this review (Ergonomics) the
C-8080 is able to record images in a wide variety of sizes and in any
one of three formats: RAW, TIFF or JPEG TIFF and JPEG formats are
available for all image size, but the RAW format is only available
at the full 8 megapixel resolution. The RAW format saves the image without
any processing by Olympus' Truepic Turbo image processor. RAW images
have had none of the settings for white balance, sharpness, contrast,
colour conversion etc. applied. However the camera settings are recorded
with the image and can be applied, or modified, later using the software
included with the camera.
The C-8080 offers an excellent variety of image sizes, a flexibility
that has almost become an Olympus hallmark, and which should be emulated
by many other manufacturers:
3264 × 2448 pixels (RAW, TIFF, SHQ, HQ)
3264 × 2176 pixels (3:2, TIFF, SHQ, HQ)
2592 × 1944 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
2288 × 1712 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
2048 × 1536 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
1600 × 1200 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
1280 × 960 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
1024 × 768 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
640 × 480 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
The Mode Dial of the C-8080 provides 10 recording
modes, a Playback mode ,
and a special Setup mode:
Program Mode: the
camera sets the aperture and shutter speed. Other functions
can be adjusted.
Program Shift is
also available allowing the selection of alternate
combinations of aperture and shutter speeds using
the Up and Down arrows.
Aperture Priority:
lets the user set the aperture with the Control Dial
while the camera handles the shutter speed.
Shutter Priority:
lets the user set the shutter speed with the Control
Dial while the camera selects the aperture.
Manual Mode: provides
complete control over all camera settings. Apertures
are selected by holding down the button
while turning the Control Dial. Shutter speeds are selected
simply with the Control Dial.
My Mode: provides 8
memory locations in which complete sets of shooting
mode and setting preferences can be stored, and accessed
simply by turning the dial to the position.
Night Scene Shooting:
allows fuss-free night shots. The C-8080 selects an appropriate
shutter speed for the scene, noise reduction, and sets
the white balance appropriately.
Landscape Shooting:
is to record both foreground and a distant background
in focus. Blues and greens are slightly emphasized.
Sports Shooting: automatically
selects a high shutter speed to capture fast moving action.
Portrait Shooting:
uses a wide aperture to achieve a sharp subject and a
blurred background.
The Movie mode is next:
Video clips can be recorded at any 1
of 3 frame sizes: SHQ 640 x 480, HQ 320 x 240, or SQ 160 x 120. Videos
can be captured with or without sound. If sound is recorded the optical
zoom and continuous focusing are disabled, but the digital zoom can
be used. If sound is not recorded, then the optical zoom can be used,
and the autofocus can be set to be continuous. All video clips are
captured at 15 frames per second, and, unless the shutter release
is pressed a second time, the camera will record as long as there
is space on the memory card.
The C-8080 features a Setup position on the Mode Dial, which addresses
the basic settings of the camera (see the Interface and Software section
of the review) and which repeats some of the options found in the tab
of the menus (see further).
As with most Olympus cameras, pressing the OK button by itself calls
up a Shortcut menu appropriate to the Mode Dial position.
The Shortcut screen can be customized,
but by default is set-up to show 3 access points to specific
menu sections (Drive, ISO, and Digital Zoom) which can be reconfigured,
and a fourth permanent access to the full Mode Menu.
With the C-8080, the most extensive menu is reserved for the advanced shooting
modes (P/A/S/M), and a new tab is added which
regroups customizing functions, leaving the basic Setup options to the
Setup position on the Mode Dial.
Moreover, many of the functions
of the Mode Menu are those that can be accessed through
the Direct Buttons and their submenus (see the Ergonomics
section). The first tab of the Recording menu is labelled Camera:
Focus Mode (AF, Macro, Manual focus, Super Macro, Super
Macro Manual Focus).
AF Mode (iESP, or Spot)
Full Time AF (On or Off)
P-AF (On of Off).
Metering: ESP, Spot, Multi-spot, Centre-weighed.
Drive: provides the same options as are available
with the drive button near the shutter release:
Normal shooting, 1 photo each time the shutter
release is pressed.
High Speed Sequential Shooting captures 5 frames
at 1.6 frames per second, but the shooting speed will
vary according to the image size/quality and is only
available in RAW or JPEG mode.
Sequential Shooting locks focus, exposure and
white balance at the first frame and can capture up to
17 frames in HQ mode at a speed that varies according
to the recording mode.
AF Sequential Shooting adjusts the focus for
each frame, making the sequence slower than the other
modes.
Auto Bracketing captures 3 or 5 photos using
a pre selected increment of ± 0.3EV, or ±0.7EV,
or ±1.0EV. Focus and white balance are locked
at the first frame.
Self-timer/Remote starts the 12 second self timer
or sets the camera to receive the Remote control's shutter
release signal.
ISO: sets the CCD sensitivity (50, 64, 80, 100,
125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400 ISO, or Auto).
Digital Zoom: Off or On. Controls the 2.5X digital
zoom. The digital zoom crops the middle of the frame and
interpolates the cropped image to the pre-selected image
size.
Noise Reduction: On or Off. Controls the noise
reduction system.
Function: provides for Panorama(requires
the use of an Olympus xD memory card), Guideline
Shooting(overlays an outline — portrait
or landscape — to help compose a portrait), Black
and White, or Sepia, or Off.
Frame Assist: overlays a grid made of a dotted
line on the monitor or the EVF to help compose well-balanced
images.
Sound Recording with Still pictures: On or Off.
When On, 4 seconds of sound is captured after a still image.
My Mode: (accessible only when the Mode Dial is
set to My Mode) serves to save a group of settings
into any of 8 separate My Mode memories.
Histogram: overlays a histogram on the image of
the EVF or the LCD monitor. Three settings are available
or Off.
The second tab is entitled Picture and addresses
items that are directly to the image:
WB offers the same selection as the WB button:
Shade, Cloudy, Sun, Sunset, 4 types of Fluorescent, Incandescent,
One-Touch (user set).
Resolution: to set the image size and format. (See
the Ergonomics section.)
Scene Modes: allows applying the processing parameters
of any of 3 of the scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Night
Scene) to images captured with the P/A/S/M and modes.
Sharpness:± 5 increments.
Contrast: ± 5 increments.
Hue: ± 5 increments.
Saturation: ± 5 increments.
The third tab of the menu, is simply labelled Card and
contains a single option:
Card Setup: which serves to format a memory card,
either xD, or CompactFlash Type 1, or a 1 GB Microdrive.
We should note here that the camera manual indicates the
C-8080 as being incompatible with current 340MB
Microdrives. However, an older IBM 340MB worked
fine.
A fourth tab — new for a C-series camera — is
only labelled with an icon ,
and provides configuration options:
All Reset:Off or On. When On, the default,
most camera parameters are reset when the camera is turned
off.
Beep: Off, Sound 1 or Sound 2; Volume High or
Low.
Shutter Sound: Off, Sound 1 or Sound 2; Volume
High or Low.
Dial:controls the functions assigned to
the Control Dial and the Arrow pad. Normal is the default
but alternative arrangements are available, Custom 1, Custom
2 and Custom 3 and each of these are explained in the camera
manual.
EV Step: sets the increment used for compensation,
either 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV.
Custom Button: assigns any one of 22 other functions
to the button
near the Mode Dial.
Shortcut: determines the which menu options will
show in the three configurable options of the recording
mode's Shortcut menu.
My Mode Setup: assigns the current camera settings
to one of the 8 My Mode memories, or Resets any of the
8 memories, or customizes any of the 8 My Mode memories.
Control Panel: On or Off. When On, the button
displays a synopsis of the camera's current configuration,
cycling through EVF, current configuration, LCD monitor.
The Playback mode menu, like the Recording mode, first
presents a shortcut menu. With this one however, the shortcuts
are fixed, and cannot be modified by the user. The Shortcut
menu provides a quick access to the Slideshow function
or Movie playback depending on which of there is currently
on the screen (top arrow); the Guidelines display (left
arrow); and a 4 second Voice Annotation (down arrow);
while the right arrow accesses the entire Playback menu.
The Playback menu consists of three tabs, starting with EDIT:
RAW Data Edit: allows editing a RAW image (see
further).
Resize: allow resizing to a smaller image size
and saving it as a new image.
Crop: allows selecting part of an existing image
and resaving it as a new image.
Copy: pictures to and from cards. Allows selecting
all frames or only selected frames will be copied.
The second tab, Card, of
the Playback menu simply controls the erasing of images or
formatting a memory card. The third tab is another customization
menu identified with an icon []
as in the Recording menu:
All Reset: On or Off. Decides whether current camera
settings will be retained when the camera is turned off.
Beep: selects the sound for camera operations (Off,
Sound 1, Sound 2; Volume high or Low).
Volume: controls Playback volume of recorded sound.
Index display: controls the number of thumbnails that
are shown per screen in the index display (4, 9 or 16 thumbnails
per screen).
As mentioned above, the first tab of the Playback menu makes
it possible to edit a RAW image. RAW Data Edit allows
editing a RAW image and saving the edited image as a new image.
RAW images can be adjusted for:
Resolution and Size: images can be resaved as TIFF
or JPEG and at any of the sizes available on the C-8080.
Exposure Compensation: ±5 increments.
White Balance: any of the white balance settings can
be applied to the image.
White Balance Adjustment: over a range of Red
7 to Blue 7.
Scene Mode: the settings of any one of three of
the scene modes can be applied to the image.
Sharpness: ± 5 steps.
Contrast: ± 5 steps.
Hue: ± 5 steps.
Saturation: ± 5 steps.
Function: change the image to black and white,
or sepia.
Cropping: crop a section of the image.
In the Playback mode, the C-8080 can display
all the shooting data for any image and can also show a histogram
of the image's brightness.
Starting with a simple info screen that indicates the card on which the
image is located, and which briefly shows the image's number, a first press
of the INFO button will overlay all the basic shooting data for about 2
seconds; while a second press of the button will display the histogram,
the shooting data, and a thumbnail of the image.
Also in Playback, the C-8080 can
be used to select images that will be printed. The camera is
DPOF and PictBridge compatible which means that it can be connected
to a PictBridge compatible printer, and photos can be printed
directly.
The C-8080 is compatible with
both CompactFlash Type I and II (340 MB microdrives
are not supported) and xD Picture Cards. Both slots
are in the same compartment, on the right side of the camera.
The CompactFlash slot is closer to the front of the camera
while the xD slot is nearer the back.
The C-8080 is sold with a 32MB Olympus brand xD Picture card,
allowing it to store: (Note that SQ1 and SQ2 values are for the least
compressed format [High].)
Resolution
RAW
TIFF
SHQ
HQ
SQ1
SQ2
3265 x 2448
2
1
8
16
—
—
3264 x 2176 (3:2)
—
1
9
18
—
—
2592 x 1944
—
2
—
—
8
—
2288 x 1712
—
2
—
—
11
—
2048 x 1536
—
3
—
—
13
—
1600 x 1200
—
5
—
—
—
22
1280 x 960
—
8
—
—
—
34
1024 x 768
—
13
—
—
—
53
640 x 480
—
34
—
—
—
132
The external connections of the
C-8080 are on the lower right of the camera's back, and are
covered by two tethered, rigid plastic doors.
On the left is a DC-IN jack
which has it's own cover and provides a connection for the
optional Camedia Brand AC adapter. On the right the second
door covers the USB (1.1) port and the A/V Out jack.
The C-8080 is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (BLM-1). The
battery is recharged in a charger — supplied with the camera — and
a full charge takes approximately 5 hours.
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Characteristics
,
and a special Setup mode:
button
while turning the Control Dial. Shutter speeds are selected
simply with the Control Dial.
position.
tab
of the menus (see further).
button
near the Mode Dial.
button
displays a synopsis of the camera's current configuration,
cycling through EVF, current configuration, LCD monitor.
