The E-520's menu system is organized into
two shooting menus, two menus for customizing settings and a playback
menu.
The first shooting menu offers these choices.
· Card Setup
· Custom Reset
· Picture Mode
· Gradation
· Image size and quality
· White Balance
· ISO
· Noise Reduction
· Noise Filter
The Card Setup item is for formatting storage
cards used by the camera. If there are any images on a card, an additional
option will be available: Erase All. Burying the Erase All option in this
item seems counter-intuitive to me. Since trashing photos most commonly
takes place with an image on the display, it seems more logical to be
able to erase all pictures in the camera from the Playback mode.
Custom Reset allows the camera's settings to be returned to their factory
defaults. In addition, two custom resets can be defined. They let you
load a favorite batch of settings without having to define them individually.
For instance, you may have a favorite set you like to use outdoors on
a sunny day and another for indoor shots so when you move between those
situations, you can quickly configure the camera to accommodate the settings
without tediously changing them individually.
Picture Mode permits you to choose the tone of an image. You can mute
colors or make them more vivid. You can even shoot in black and white.
Each option can be customized, allowing you to change characteristics
like contrast, sharpness, saturation and such.
Movement through the menu system is done with the three o'clock key on
the Arrow Pad. Backing out of menus is done by pressing the Menu button.
This can take some getting used to, since there's an inclination to move
out of a menu by pressing the nine o'clock arrow key. In addition, there's
a tendency, at least initially, to press OK from a menu item to access
its options rather than the three o'clock key.
Gradation can be used to improve the dynamic range in a photo. Depending
on its setting, the camera will modify how it interprets the lighting
in a scene, allowing it to better balance the light and dark areas in
a frame.
With the Image Quality menu, you can choose
from a limited number of size and quality options. There's a RAW choice,
four customizable size and quality options, and four RAW-JPEG combinations.
The RAW-JPEG option writes two versions of an image to storage when the
shot is taken--one in RAW format and one in JPEG. The major problem with
this menu is that you have access to only four size-quality combinations
out of a possible 28
The second shooting menu has these options.
· Metering
· Remote Control Mode
· Flash Compensation
· AF Mode
· AF Area
· Anti-shock
· AE Bracketing
· WB Bracketing
· Flash Bracketing
Options in the second shooting menu cluster
control of the camera's metering, focusing and bracketing features.
From the E-520's Playback menu, you can display
slideshows of images in the camera on its LCD. As few as one or as many
100 images can be displayed on the screen at one time.
Also from Playback, you can toggle automatic image rotation and edit
images. In camera editing tools include shadow adjustment, red-eye fix,
cropping, black and white or sepia toning, saturation modification and
resizing.
Other choices available from Playback allow
you to set the order images are printed from the camera, copy images between
xD and CompactFlash media in the DSC and remove protection from all protected
images in the unit.
The first custom menu has nine options.
They permit you to
· make adjustments to the camera's focusing system, like turning
on AF illumination or Bulb focusing;
· redefine button functions and operations, such as redefine what
the function button does or how aperture and shutter speed change when
the control dial is rotated;
· fire the shutter while AF is activated or the flash is recharging;
· set sleep, backlighting off and face detection modes;
· choose exposure compensation steps, when Auto ISO is activiated,
how the AEL/AFL button functions and the maximum time the shutter stays
open in Bulb mode;
· modify operation of the built-in flash, such as turn auto pop-up
off or on and define shutter speed sync;
· set White Balance compensation values, color space (sRGB or Adobe
RGB); and pixel count for JPEG images;
· define erase operations; and
· choose cleaning options and redefine Sport and Night Portrait
scenes on the Mode Dial.
The second custom menu is a grab bag of
basic settings for the camera. With it, you can set the date and time;
choose between using an xD or CompactFlash card if you have both media
forms in the unit; set file naming conventions; adjust the LCD's brightness;
change the display language; choose a video signal type (NTSC or PAL);
customize how and when images are displayed on the LCD in shooting mode;
check and adjust the unit's sensor through pixel mapping; and display
firmware information.
The primary software program packaged with
the E-520 is Olympus Master 2. Both Windows (top photo) and OS X versions
of the application are included with the DSC. Master 2 is a notch above
most "freebies" boxed with digital cameras. It's a rich offering
for organizing photos, as well as editing, printing and e-mailing them.
It includes a panorama feature for stitching photos together and creating
super wide photo effects.
In addition to Master 2, Olympus includes
with the E-520 a trial version of its commercial grade editing program Olympus
Studio. The application, which sells for $99.95, contains many of the editing
and organizing features of Master 2, but its tools are more finely calibrated
for the professional photographer. It also allows operations to be performed
on batches of files and includes a "lightbox" for comparison of
similar images shot with varying settings.
Interface & Software
