Olympus C-3020 Zoom Review

Record mode screen showing onscreen data overlay. Starting in the upper left corner the "A" means Aperture Priority mode. It can also be "P" for Program, "S" for Shutter Priority or "M" for Manual record modes. The current aperture (F2.8) and shutter speed (1/30 sec). The upper right corner is the EV exposure compensation factor (0.0). The green "168" indicates the number of pictures remaining at the current size and quality setting.

This is the recording screen when you are in the Movie mode - note the little icon of the movie camera in the upper left. The flash is disabled and the default setting is for HQ quality. The green 15" indicates that there is enough memory on the card to record 15 seconds of video.

Main Record Screen showing options available during record mode. This menu is displayed by pressing the menu button next to the color LCD. Use the 4-way Navigation button to make your selections.

"DRIVE"(up), "Quality"(left) or "WB"(down) are short cuts to items that could be set in the MODE MENU choice.  Olympus gives you an option to change those icons to take you directly to any function so you don't have to go through the laborious MODE MENU sequence. This feature is accessed via the SHORTCUT option. The MODE MENU choice can't be changed in SHORTCUT.

The screen below appears when the right arrow option is selected on the 4-way navigation switch.

The Record Options under the Camera sub-menu are:

• DRIVE - Single, Sequential with AF and Exposure lock on 1st frame, Sequential mode with autofocus and exposure set inbetween every frame, Selftimer, Bracketed auto exposure mode.

• ISO - Auto, 100, 200, 400

• A / S / M / My Mode - Aperture priority mode, Shutter priority mode, Manual exposure mode, MyMode: customizable recording options

• Flash Exposure Compensation - -2 stops to +2 stops

• Flash slow Sync - Slow1(Front curtain flash), Red-eye reduction slow1, Slow2(rear curtain flash)

2nd page of camera functions (not shown in picture above)

• Noise Reduction - OFF(Default position) ON(Reduces the noise on images during long exposure)

• Digital Zoom - OFF(Default position) ON(crops into the image and uses a decreasingly smaller part of the chip to record a full image (significant loss of quality), up to 2.5X

• Fulltime AF - OFF or ON

• AF Mode - iESP or SPOT

• Panorama Mode - allows you to make panoramic images if using an Olympus brand SM card

• Function Mode - OFF,Black & White, Sepia, White Board, Black Board

The Options under the Picture sub-menu (not available in Movie Mode) are:

• Record Quality mode - TIFF, SHQ, HQ or SQ

• White balance - Automatic, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent and Manual Measure

• White Balance Adjust - slider scale that makes the overall picture bluer or redder

• Sharpness - adjusts the level of picture sharpness

• Contrast - adjusts the level of picture contrast

The Record Options under the SetUp sub-menu are:

• ALL RESET - Off, On (off keeps current camera settings during memory card or battery change

• Beep Sound - Off, Low or High

• REC VIEW - Off, On (if enabled brings up the confirmation screen before saving the picture)

• MY MODE SETUP - Current, Reset, Custom (adjust the function settings and saves it as MY MODE)

• FILE NAME - Reset or Auto (lets the camera sequentially number pictures no matter how many times the card is swapped or it can reset the numbering when a new card is inserted)

2nd PAGE OF SET-UP FUNCTIONS (NOT SHOWN IN PICTURE ABOVE)

• Monitor Brightness - Adjust the brightness of the LCD's backlight

• Date & Time - adjust date and time

• M / Ft. - Set the distance indication displayed in manual focus mode to feet or meters

• Short Cut - replace any of the 3 functions except MODE menu on the top menu with other functions

• Custom Button - assigns AE lock, any function in the CAMERA menu, White Balance, OR manual MEASURE white balance.