Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Review

Record mode screen showing onscreen data. Exposure mode is in the upper left corner, "A" indicates Aperture Priority, "P" for Program AE mode, "S" for Shutter Priority or "M" for Manual record mode.

Shown here is Program Shift "Ps" mode which is Program AE mode but with the shutter speed and/or aperture "shifted" from the normal automatic settings. The auto focus is locked (green dot icon), the flash is ready to fire (red lightning bolt icon), the shutter speed is 1/60s, the aperture is F2.8 and the EV exposure compensation factor is 0.0. The image quality is SHQ (Super High Quality) and the image size is 3264 x 2448 (8 megapixels). The green "49" indicates the number of pictures remaining at the current size and quality setting. The xD-Picture Card media is selected.

You can enable an onscreen realtime histogram if desired.

Or you can enable onscreen framing guide marks.

In Shutter-speed priority mode the user selects the desired shutter speed and the camera automatically selects the appropriate aperture value. If the shutter speed is too fast it will be displayed in red which tells you to select a slower speed. Slow shutter speeds allow for moving objects to "motion blur" and fast shutter speeds will "freeze" fast moving objects.

In Aperture priority mode the user selects the desired aperture value and the camera automatically selects the appropriate shutter speed. Small apertures (large F-stop number) increase the depth of field (range of focus) whereas large apertures (small F-stop numbers) decreases the depth of field.

In Manual mode the proper exposure value is determined by changing both the shutter speed and the aperture values manually until the exposure compensation indicator reads "0.0". The camera provides no automatic exposure control in this mode.

You can manually select the AF (auto focus) point by holding the focus mode button down and using the arrow keys to move AF target mark on the screen.

The C-8080's Macro Focus mode covers a range of 3.9" to 6.5' and the Super Macro allows for shooting as close as 2.0" (5cm) which yields a subject area of 1.9" x 1.4" (4.8 cm x 3.6 cm). The focus can be manually set in normal or macro modes.

The recording screen in Movie mode. The green 239" indicates that there is enough memory on the card to record a total of 239 seconds of video.

The C-8080 Wide Zoom can record SHQ (640x480) or HQ (320x240 pixel) resolution QuickTime motion JPEG with audio at 15 frames per second. The length is limited only by available memory. The optical zoom cannot be used during recording but you can use the digital zoom.

Pressing the MENU button while in any of the still image record modes will bring this shortcut menu. From here you can quickly jump to the DRIVE modes, ISO sensitivity or Digital zoom settings. Choosing the MODE MENU option brings up the entire menu of record options as shown in the next series of animated screens.

The shortcut menu options other than MODE MENU are user-assignable.

CAMERA menu options.

FLASH MODE -

Flash Mode - Auto, Red-eye, Forced On, Slow-sync, Forced Off
Flash Compensation - Adjust flash output level
Flash Control - Select internal+external, external or slave flash
Slow-sync - Slow-sync 1st curtain, Slow-sync 1st curtain + Red-eye, Slow-sync 2nd curtain

FOCUS MODE -
Focus Mode - AF, Macro, MF, Super Macro, Super Macro + MF
AF Mode - iESP = AF target moves automatically, Spot = AF target is fixed
Fulltime AF - On = continuous AF, Off = single AF (default)
P-AF - Focus system: Off = camera uses contrast detection only,
On = camera uses contrast detection + phase difference detection

Metering Mode - ESP, Spot, Multi (up to 8 points can be set), Center-weighted
Drive Mode - Single, Hi-Speed Sequential, Sequential, AF Sequential, AE Bracketing
Selftimer - Off, Selftimer, Remote
ISO - Sensitivity: Auto, 50,64,80,100,125,160,200,250,320,400
Digital Zoom - Enable/disable digital zoom
Noise Reduction - Enable noise reduction for long exposures
Function - Off, Panorama, Guideline Shooting, B&W, Sepia
Frame Assist - Enable overlay guide lines on LCD/EVF display
- Record 4-sec. sound clip after picture, On or Off
My Mode - Assign one of eight custom My Modes to the Mode Dial
Histogram - Off, Display when +/- button is pressed, Always On, Direct

PICTURE menu options.

WB - White balance: Auto, Preset 1, Preset 2, Custom. Also options for fine tuning the white balance (Red - Blue).
Image Quality - RAW (3264x2448) with optional JPEG save, TIFF (3264x2448, 3:2 3264x2176, 2592x1944, 2288x1712), SHQ (3264x2448, 3:2 3264x2176), HQ (3264x2448, 3:2 3264x2176), SQ1 (2592x1944, 2288x1712, 2048x1536 High or Normal), SQ2 (1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x768, 640x480 High or Normal)
Scene Modes - Normal, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene
Sharpness - 5 levels
Contrast - 5 levels
Hue - 5 levels
Saturation - 5 levels

CARD menu options.

Card Setup - Format the CF or xD card

Record SETUP menu options.

All Reset - Off, On: On resets all settings to default when power is turned off, the Off setting retains all current settings.
Rec View - Auto-review after capture: Off, Auto, 3, 5, 10 sec.
Beep - Button beep sound: Off, Sound 1 or 2 - Low, High
Shutter Sound - Shutter sound effect: Off, 1 or 2 - Low, High
Dial - Function of Command Dial: Normal, Custom 1, 2 or 3
EV Step - 1/2 or 1/3 EV step
Custom Button - Assign function: Flash mode, Exp Comp, Focus, Metering
Short Cut - Assign the desired items to the Record short-cut menu
My Mode Setup - Setup parameters for up to four custom My Modes
Dual Control Panel - Display camera/exposure info on color LCD

The Mode Dial SETUP options:

All Reset - Off, On: On resets all settings to default when power is turned off, the Off setting retains all current settings.
Rec View - Auto-review after capture: Off, Auto, 3, 5, 10 sec.
Beep - Button beep sound: Off, Sound 1 or 2 - Low, High
Shutter Sound - Shutter sound effect: Off, 1 or 2 - Low, High
Dial - Function of Command Dial: Normal, Custom 1, 2 or 3
EV Step - 1/2 or 1/3 EV step
Custom Button - Assign function: Flash mode, Exp Comp, Focus, Metering
Short Cut - Assign the desired items to the Record short-cut menu
My Mode Setup - Setup parameters for up to four custom My Modes
Dual Control Panel - Display camera/exposure info on color LCD
Volume - Speaker volume level 0 to 5
Thumbnails - Show 4, 9 or 16 images per page
Menu language - English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Portuguese
Time/Date - Set the time and date
Sleep - Go into sleep mode after 30s, 1,3,5,10 min.
File Name - Auto (sequentially numbers files) or Reset
Battery Save - On, Off
Pixel Mapping - Detect and map out bad pixels on the CCD imager
- Adjust LCD backlight intensity
m/ft - Manual focus indicator in feet or meters
VIDEO OUT - NTSC or PAL video standard
AF Illuminator - Enable/disable AF-assist lamp
USB - USB mode: Normal or Direct Print