When it was first announced at the end of 2003, the HP Photosmart 945 was at the cutting edge of digital camera design, with a 5 megapixel sensor, Adaptive Lighting Technology that balanced the contrast between darkness and light, an 8x optical zoom equivalent to 37-300mm on a 35mm camera, and a competitive price tag. Nearly one year on, in a rapidly changing market with 5, 6 and 7 megapixel cameras now common-place, how well does the HP Photosmart 945 stand up to the competition? Read my review to find out if this camera still deserves your attention

Features
The HP Photosmart 945 has a 5.3 megapixel, 1/1.8 inch CCD that delivers 5.08 megapixels. There are 2 image sizes available (2608 x 1952 (5 megapixel) and 1296 x 976 (1 megapixel)), which can be recorded as JPEGs in 3 different compression settings, giving a total of 6 different image settings. There are no RAW or TIFF formats. The camera features a Fuji Photo Optical 8X optical zoom lens that is equivalent to a 37–300mm lens on a 35mm format camera. There is also a 7x digital zoom should you feel the need to use it. The camera uses Secure Digital (SD) memory cards.

This camera offers a range of selectable exposure modes, with auto, aperture-priority and shutter-speed priority, as well as a number of scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Action). Sadly there is no fully manual mode. The HP Photosmart 945 has 3 exposure metering modes (centre-weighted (default setting), spot, average) and there are 2 different types of focusing available (Autofocus / Manual Focus). The aperture range is f2.8 – f11 and the shutter speed range is 16 sec. – 1/2000 sec. There are 3 ISO speeds ranging from 100 to 400. There are 4 different White Balance settings to choose from (Sun, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent), plus a Manual setting. The camera offers exposure compensation in ± 3 in 1/3 EV stops, but there is no autobracketing of either exposure or white balance available.

The HP Photosmart 945 has a normal shooting mode (single-shot), self-timer, self-timer – 2 shot mode and a burst mode, which allows you take up to 6 shots at roughly 0.5 second intervals. There are 3 different colour modes on offer - colour, black and white, and sepia. The built-in flash offers a range of different modes; Flash Off, Auto, Auto with red-eye reduction, Flash On, Flash On with red-eye reduction, Night, Night with red-eye reduction. The working distance at ISO 100 at the wide angle lens setting is: 2.4m, and at the telephoto setting 2.2m.

To compose your images, you can use the LCD monitor or the electronic viewfinder. The HP Photosmart 945 has a 2 inch colour TFT LCD monitor which has 180,468 pixels. There is also an electronic SLR-type microdisplay viewfinder with diopter control. The HP Photosmart 945 can record movies with sound at one setting; 320x240 pixels at 30 frames per second. This is recorded in the Motion JPEG format, a type of AVI format that can handle images and sound as a single file, and can be played back by QuickTime 3 or later. As well as recording movies, the HP Photosmart 945 also doubles up as a voice recorder, allowing you to attach an audio clip to an image that you have taken.

The camera's dimensions are 123mm (W) x 85mm (H) x 85mm (D), and it weighs 300g without batteries and storage cards fitted. The camera is powered by 4 x AA size alkaline batteries or 4 x Ni-MH rechargeable batteries.

Finally, the standard box kit contains a 32 MB Secure Digital (SD) memory card, 4 AA photo-lithium batteries, neck strap, CD containing HP Photo and Imaging software, user manual, USB cable, USB host cable to printer, warranty card, hp 8881 dock insert. You will need to invest in a few more SD Cards to store your images on, as the supplied 32Mb can only store approximately 12 images at the default 5M file quality setting. You will also have to budget for some rechargeable batteries and a recharger, as the supplied batteries don't last very long. HP have also been rather mean by not including either their camera dock or an A/V cable to connect the camera to a TV. This is because they want you to purchase the optional Photosmart 8881 camera dock, to "further enhance your experience" as the first page of the manual states! In my opinion they should have included this in the basic kit. The camera has a 1 year warranty.

Ease of use
Upon first sight the HP Photosmart 945 reminded me of the Fuji FinePix S7000 that I have previously reviewed, with a big lens that dominates the overall design, large hand grip and solid, well-built construction. The HP Photosmart 945 is is definitely not in the pocketable category of digital cameras, so you will need to carry it round in a camera bag. What can only be described as the chunky hand-grip on the right of the camera makes it very comfortable to hold with just one hand, although you will probably want to use your left hand to steady the camera, especially when using the telephoto end of the 8x zoom lens. Both the handgrip and lens are finished in a leatherette kind of plastic finish, making them easy to grip. The viewfinder protrudes both above and behind the camera, looking a little like a periscope! It seems awkward at first but actually works well, keeping your nose and face away from the LCD screen at the rear of the camera when you look through it.

The HP Photosmart 945 is quite a heavy digital camera, weighing 300g without batteries and storage cards fitted, but I think this actually counts in its favour, as it has a reassuring balance to it without being too heavy. Although it's not the smallest or lightest camera around, the HP Photosmart 945 instantly feels intuitive to hold and use. The zoom button is well positioned in a slightly raised area just where your right thumb naturally sits, although I felt it was a little on the small side. The exposure mode and aperture/shutter speed dial is positioned on the top-plate of the camera, with the small silver Flash release switch to one side. A nice touch is the ability to keep rotating the exposure mode dial in any direction to select an option.
HP have done a good job in designing a camera that doesn't have too many buttons and switches to confuse the new photographer, yet still feels accessible and quick to operate. There are around 15 external controls in total, but all of them are clearly labeled and most are common to mid-range digital cameras. If you have never used a digital camera before, or you're upgrading from a more basic model, reading the comprehensive and easy-to-follow manual before you start is a good idea. For more experienced users, a quick look through the manual for the few functions that are not so self-explanatory is all that's needed.

As well as the useful manual, HP have added something to the Photosmart 945 that I have never seen before on any other digital camera - a context sensitive help option built into the menu system. It perhaps doesn't sound like much, but if you're using a menu option for the first time and you're not quite sure what it means, having the option of reading an explanation in clear English (or whatever language you choose) on the camera's LCD screen is a great idea. You may not use the help system when you are more familiar with the camera, but in those first few weeks it could mean the difference between successfully taking a photo or not.

The menu system of the HP Photosmart 945 couldn't really be more straight-forward, as there is only ever a maximum of one menu with one submenu - when the camera is set to Auto, for example, pressing the OK button on the rear of the camera accesses the Capture menu. At the bottom is the Setup option, which opens the Setup submenu. All other options on the Capture menu deal solely with one setting, such as White Balance and ISO Speed. There is a useful symbol next to each menu option to help indicate what it does, and this combined with the help system ensures that the HP Photosmart 945 menus are extremely easy to access and use.

So the HP Photosmart 945 is easy to hold and operate and has a simple to use menu system, but what is it like to actually operate and take a photo? The start-up time from turning the camera on to being ready to take a photo is respectable enough at around 1.5 seconds, whilst it takes a similar amount of time to zoom from the widest focal length to the longest. Focusing is generally quick in good light, although the camera does tend to hunt for a second or two when the lens is at a long focal length indoors or in low-light situations. Both the refresh rate and visibility of the LCD screen are perfectly acceptable, and images are stored quickly, allowing you to keep shooting as they are being recorded onto the memory card. In continuous mode it takes around 1 second per shot to process each of the 5 photos that you can take - the camera doesn't allow you to do anything else until all 5 shots are processed. All in all the HP Photosmart 945 is about average in terms of operational speed.

Once you have captured a photo, the HP Photosmart 945 is a little disappointing when it comes to playing, reviewing and managing your images. You can scroll through the images that you have taken, add an audio clip to each image, delete an image, zoom in and out, and view info about the image. And that's about it. The HP Photosmart 945 shows its age by not having a histogram function, either before taking a photo or after, so evaluating the exposure of a photo can only be done by you looking at it onscreen. This is a feature that is now found on many low-end digicams, so the Photosmart 945 loses out in this respect. Also missing are nice-to-have features like locking images so that they can't be deleted, marking images to be printed using PrintBridge, and any options for manipulating images in-camera. The features that the Photosmart 945 does have work well enough - it is the omission of certain options that are now wide-spread that let it down.

On the whole the HP Photosmart 945 is a very well-built, easy to use digital camera that successfully mimics the feel of a 35mm film or digital SLR. The menu system is well-designed and very clear with a great Help function, perfect for both the beginners and more experienced photographers alike. Performance is fine when taking a photograph, although not so great when it comes to reviewing it. A very good attempt by HP to make a camera that is accessible to everyone.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 5 megapixels HP Digital cameras

HP Photosmart 945 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 05 Nov 2004 12:00:30 +0000

The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF is a stylish and compact 5 megapixel digital camera with a 1.8" TFT Color LCD display that offers a variety of exposure and focusing modes, all for around a mere $200. How have Concord Camera achieved this aggressive price-point? Well, one obvious cost-saving is the zoom lens - there isn't one, just a fixed lens that is equivalent to 48mm on a 35mm camera. So if you want a camera with a zoom lens, stop reading now. Otherwise, on paper at least, the Concord Eye-Q 5062AF seems to offer most if not all of the features that other digicams in this class offer, with the bonus of a 5 megapixel sensor. So are there are any other major drawbacks in addition to that fixed lens? Read my review to find out.

Features
The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF has a 1/1.8", 5 megapixel CCD sensor that delivers JPEG images up to 2560 x 1920 pixels in size. There are 6 different image sizes available (2560 x 1920 (5MP), 2272 x 1704 (4MP), 2048 x 1536 (3.1MP), 1600 x 1200 (2.0MP), 1280 x 960 (1.2MP), 640 x 480 (VGA)), all in the 4:3 image ratio, and 3 different levels of compression (Fine, Normal, Economy). The camera has a 10.0mm, f/3.0 -f/6.0 lens that is equivalent to a 48mm lens on a 35mm format camera. Zooming is achieved via the 6x digital zoom. The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF has 16MB of internal memory and only supports the SD Card format.

This camera offers two metering modes (Average and Spot) and one type of focusing (Autofocus). You can select Auto Focus (from 0.6m (1.96ft) to infinity) or Macro (from 15cm (0.48 ft.)) The aperture range is f3.0- f6.0 and the shutter speed range is 4 secs. - 1/2000 sec. There are 4 ISO speeds available - Auto, 100, 200, 400. There are 4 different White Balance settings to choose from (Auto, Sunny, Fluorescent, Tungsten).

The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF has a range of scene modes - Off, Beach/Snow, Party/Indoor, Sunset, Night Landscape, Fireworks, Night Portrait, Sport - and there are 4 different picture effects - Black & White, Solarize, Sepia. The built-in flash offers a range of different modes (Auto, Red Eye Reduction, Fill in, Fill in Red Eye Reduction, Flash off) and it has a guide number of 7.50.

There is a burst mode available, which allows you to take 7 frames in 2.3 sec with 2MP resolution. To compose your images, you can use both the LCD monitor and a traditional optical viewfinder. The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF has a 1.8 inch colour TFT LCD monitor which has 134,000 pixels, and is powered by 2 x AA size alkaline batteries / Ni-MH rechargeable batteries.

The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF can record movies in AVI format with audio at QVGA (320 x 240) resolution with 30 fps. Approximately 60 seconds of footage can be stored in 16MB storage space. The video-output socket allows you to connects the camera to your television.

The camera's dimensions are 100 x 61 x 30 mm (without protrusions) and it weighs 120g (excl. batteries and memory card). There is a standard 1/4" size tripod mount (plastic) and a 10 second self-timer function.

Finally, the box kit that I reviewed contains 2xAA batteries, Video Cable, USB cable with A and mini-B connectors, Pouch, Wrist Strap, CD Rom including User's Guide in PDF format, camera driver and applications, User's Guide, a Quick Start Guide and and warranty card. You will need to invest in a few more SD Cards to store your images on, as the internal 16Mb memory can only store approximately 10 images at the 5M file quality setting.

Ease of Use
The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF is a very conventional digital camera in terms of its overall design, whilst being very unconventional by offering the combination of a fixed lens with a 5 megapixel CCD sensor. Compromises have obviously had to be made to reach the $199 price point, and the most obvious one is the lack of a zoom lens. The other main compromise hits you as soon as you turn the camera on and look at the LCD screen. There is a visible timelag for the camera to update its display as you move it, so much so that you have to wait for about 0.5 seconds before you can evaluate the shot. It's easily the worst LCD screen that I have seen on any of the digital cameras that I have reviewed. The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF is also not very quick when focusing or taking the photo and showing it onscreen. This is not a camera that you could use for any kind of action photography, and even worse it may cause you to miss that important moment.

The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF is very much a plastic camera - the body, buttons and even the tripod mount are all made of plastic. Having said that, the camera is generally well-constructed, with no parts that look as though they will break off. The available controls are responsive and quite tactile, although I didn't like the fact that you have to hold down the power button for a couple of seconds before the camera turns on. The menu system is very straightforward to use, as there is only ever one menu with a maximum of 11 different options, whichever mode you are currently using.

So the Concord Eye-Q 5062AF on first sight is an approachable, well-constructed camera, but it unfortunately flatters to deceive because of its poor LCD screen and general lack of responsiveness. As a pocketable camera for non-action photography, it's fine, but as an all-round camera for family use the Concord Eye-Q 5062AF is not the best choice. 5 megapixels for $199 sounds too good to be true, and from an ease-of-use point of view this is certainly true.

Overall Image Quality
The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF delivered images of average quality during the review period. The 5 megapixel images were pretty soft out of the camera and require some post-processing before they can be printed up to A3 in size. Noise is only controlled well at the slowest ISO setting of 100, becoming very visible at ISO 200 and 400. The Concord Eye-Q 5062AF's best performance is with chromatic aberrations, which do appear in the form of purple fringing in high-contrast scenes, but are largely avoided in most situations. Overall a distinctly average performance from the Concord Eye-Q 5062AF.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 5 megapixels Concord Cameras Digital cameras

Concord Eye-Q 5062AF digital camera originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 11 Oct 2004 21:36:27 +0100

Launched at the start of May 2004, the Ricoh Caplio GX is the new flagship model in the Ricoh digital camera range. The Ricoh Caplio GX has gained a lot of attention because of its unique combination of a 5-megapixel CCD sensor, wide-angle 28mm lens, having the world's fastest shutter response and start-up times, and an affordable price-tag of £279.99. Previous Ricoh cameras that I've reviewed have offered great handling, but have been rather let down by the image-quality. So has the Caplio GX rectified this crucial problem? Read on to find out.

Features
The Caplio GX has a 5.13-megapixel CCD that includes a vastly improved image processor, making colours look sharper and cleaner than previous Ricoh models. The largest image size available is 2592 x 1944 pixels, big enough to print A3-size high resolution photos, and there are a total of 8 different file quality settings.
It has a 3x optical plus 4x digital zoom that delivers a combination of 12x zoom (equivalent to a telephoto range of 28-336mm on a regular 35mm camera). The Caplio GX's 28mm-85mm optical wide zoom lens gives an angle of view of 75 degrees, compared with just 62 degrees in conventional 35mm digital cameras. The lens design has 9 glass elements placed in 7 groups that help to supply a substantial amount of light to the edge of photos even in wide-angle operation. In addition, 4 aspherical lenses and 4 high refractive index- low dispersion lenses work to make corrections for aberration in all zooming areas in a controlled and balanced manner.
The Caplio GX features a convenient electronic dial intended for the index finger to manually control a variety of settings that include aperture, white balance, ISO sensitivity and exposure levels. The control dial you to select a specific f-stop with aperture-priority AE (automatic exposure) or manual exposure. This functionality helps the Caplio GX to meet the creative demands of serious photographers that require certain images to have a particular "depth of field" or other desired elements. Furthermore, its sleek, compact design is only 29mm thick and carries the trademark rubber handgrip that contours the right side of its lightweight 205-gram aluminum die-cast body.

The Caplio GX has a start-up time of just 1.2 seconds. The shutter response is the world's fastest in its class at just 0.12 seconds (May 2004). This time is calculated from the time the user presses the shutter button, rather than the time when focus lock is achieved.

The Caplio GX is able to capture objects of 18mm(H) x 24mm (W) at a distance of just 1cm. Keep the camera still at this distance and take advantage of its auto-focus target functionality that allows your to conveniently pan around the image in order to find the desired focus point. There is also a built-in flash for shots as close as 15cm that highlights objects while protecting against any unwanted whiteout effects.

The Caplio GX has added 64 and 100 to its ISO speeds for a total ISO light-sensitivity range of 64-1600. The Caplio GX comes equipped with six scene modes (portrait, sports, landscape, night scene, text and high-sensitivity) that are intended to help the photographer capture various shooting situations in their best light. In high-sensitivity mode, the screen automatically illuminates subjects to aid in framing the picture in dim lighting environments. In tricky lighting situations, the convenient auto-bracket function allows you to take three individual shots at one time at three different exposure settings. White balance bracket, on the other hand, applies tones of red, normal white, and blue to three separate images.

The Caplio GX has various continuous modes. In M-continuous mode, with the shutter button held down the camera memorises the last 16 shots in one file for two seconds of footage. In S-continuous mode, it can take a series of 16 shots in one file for two seconds of footage with just one press of the shutter button.

The Caplio GX allows you to take up to 400 shots between recharges when using the optional rechargeable lithium-ion battery, or you can take advantage of a nearby power source and use the optional AC adapter. The Caplio GX also has the ability to switch to two AA alkaline or nickel metal hydride batteries and a synchro monitor mode that conserves energy by turning the monitor on automatically only when the shutter button is pressed to preview a shot or operate the zoom.

The Caplio GX captures up to 120 seconds of AVI video action clips in a video size of 320x240 or 160x120 and can add "voice memo" stamps of up to eight seconds to photos. The Caplio GX can also be used as a multipurpose voice recorder.

The Caplio GX comes equipped with an 16mb internal memory chip and can use optional Secure Digital memory cards or Multimedia Cards. Transferring files to a PC is extremely easy. Simply turn off the camera and link the Caplio GX up via a USB cable. The Ricoh Gate software installed on the computer will then instantly start transferring images to an automatically created folder at a rate of three megabytes per second.

The Caplio GX kit that I reviewed contained very little in the way of accessories. In addition to the camera, there is a USB cable for downloading photos to your PC/MAC, a CD containing the Caplio GX software, a Video cable, 2 Alkaline batteries and a User Guide. There is no memory card supplied, which is very annoying as you can only fit a couple of images on the camera's built-in 16mb memory at the highest quality setting.

Ease of Use
The Ricoh Caplio GX is virtually identical to the Caplio RX that I have previously reviewed. The main external difference between the Caplio GX and the older Caplio RX is the addition of a dial next to the shutter button, which allows you to control a variety of settings that include aperture, white balance, ISO sensitivity and exposure levels, and also scroll through the camera's menu system. So Ricoh have finally added the option of being able to manually adjust the aperture and shutter-speed, which will please more creative photographers who like to have full control. The addition of the control dial has also resulted in the addition of a sculpted handgrip, which makes the Ricoh Caplio GX much more comfortable to hold than previous Ricoh digital cameras.

It's not all good news, however, as Ricoh's implementation doesn't quite allow "full" control. With the camera set to A/M mode, you can choose to set the aperture and let the camera work out the appropriate shutter-speed (aperture priority), or set both the shutter-speed and the aperture (full manual). You can't set the shutter-speed, however, and and let the camera work out the appropriate aperture (shutter-speed), which seems to be a major oversight for a camera that is geared towards action with its fast start-up and operating times.

Also, you can set the aperture yourself, but there are only actually 3 different values available at any time, which in turn depend upon the focal length that you are using. For example, at the wide-angle lens setting, you can choose from f/2.5, f4.7 and f/8.1, and at the telephoto-angle lens setting, you can choose from f/4.3, f8 and f/14. These are different enough values to allow a variety of depth-of-field effects in your photos, but maybe not quite different enough to allow you to fine-tune those effects.
In terms of handling, the Ricoh Caplio GX is a solidly built, pocketable camera that instantly feels "right" as soon as you pick it up and start using it for the first time. As with the RX, I really enjoyed using the GX during my 2 week review period from a handling point of view and was quite sad to have to send it back! It easily fits into a trouser or coat pocket, yet doesn't have tiny controls that you can't operate properly. For such a small and slim camera it actually feels quite heavy, but I prefer this to a lighter camera that feels more flimsy.

The Ricoh Caplio GX is an exceptionally easy to use digital camera that will not put off new users, whilst being very intuitive for anyone who has picked up a digital camera before. Its secret lies in not being too different from other brands on the market. The Caplio GX's interface, both software and the camera body, employs options and concepts that are an accepted part of the photographic industry.
Having said that, the Caplio GX does have a couple of neat touches of its own. The Adj. button on the rear of the camera is a particularly nice feature that allows you to quickly adjust 3 different settings that are commonly used. Press it once and you can alter exposure compensation; press it again and you can change the White Balance setting; press it once more and you can adjust the ISO speed. The other thing that I liked was the Power button. Unlike many digicams, the Caplio GX has a dedicated button that lets you turn the camera on and off, regardless of which setting (Play, Camera, A/M, Scene, Movie, Voice, Setup) the camera is currently set to. It's not the most radical feature in the world but a nice addition nevertheless.

Ricoh's claims about the speed of the Caplio GX in terms of starting up the camera and shutter-lag do seem to be accurate. With other digicams you can often wait 4 or 5 seconds for the camera to turn itself on, extend the lens and get ready to take a shot. And you often miss the shot anyway because the of the slow shutter lag. The Caplio GX seems to have solved both these issues and even improves on earlier Ricoh models like the speedy Capio G4.

Both the camera body and its menu system are logically laid out and the rear LCD screen is a good size. The optical viewfinder isn't very usable, however, especially at the wide-angle setting, as the lens is clearly visible in the bottom-left, therefore making accurate composition more difficult. Also the viewfinder is devoid of any markings or information of any kind - it is completely blank and doesn't provide any feedback on the picture-taking process. The most fiddly aspect of the camera's design is the Card/Battery cover. The memory card and the battery are both housed within one large cover on the right of the camera, which is difficult to fully open and then close again. This was an issue with the Caplio G4 and RX and one that I wish Ricoh had fixed by now.

In addition to the various N(normal) and F(fine) JPEG modes, you can select NC (non- compression)mode for recording in TIFF image format. Accroding to Ricoh, this is a flexible format that preserves all picture data allowing for a 'digital positive' as it represents a true image. Unfortunately, it's also a format that locks up the camera for 15-20 seconds as the TIFF file is recorded onto the memory card, which means that this mode is only useful when you aren't in any particular hurry. I resorted to using the highest-quality JPEG setting instead.

So overall, the Caplio GX's ease-of-use is a bit of a mixed bag. It's commendable to see Ricoh adding more control over the photo-taking process in terms of allowing you to control apertures and shutter-speeds, but the way they have implemented it seems to be something of a half-hearted attempt that doesn't follow photographic convention. If you typically set your camera to aperture-priority and forget about it (as I do), then you will like the Caplio GX a lot more than if you usually set your camera to shutter-speed priority. Even the implementation of full manual is unintuitive. Full marks for Ricoh for the intention, but only half-marks for the actual implementation. In all other areas, the Caplio GX has inherited the positive and negative aspects of the Caplio RX. Overall I really enjoyed using the Caplio GX, as is suited my particular way of working, but action photographers should definitely try and test it out before purchasing.

Overall Image Quality
The image quality of the Ricoh Caplio GX is quite disappointing. It's biggest achilles heel seems to be purple fringing, with more in evidence than other digital cameras that I've reviewed, even in photos where the sun is not in the frame. The images aren't particularly noisy at the lower ISO speeds of 64 and 100, but at faster speeds there is too much noise to be acceptable and I can't imagine ever using ISO 1600, or even ISO 400 and 800 for that matter. At the default sharpening setting of "Normal" the images are fairly sharp and won't require too much sharpening during post-processing. So overall not a great performance, which is doubly disappointing because the camera is such a joy to use.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 5 megapixels Ricoh

Ricoh Caplio GX originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Aug 2004 19:23:20 +0100

The Fuji FinePix S20 Pro currently sits at the top of the Fuji compact digital camera lineup. It's aimed firmly at the professional photographer, with an SLR-style body, full manual control, external flash option via PC sync socket or hot-shoe, a Firewire connection and bundled Hyper Utility HS-V2 software which allows RAW file data to be fine tuned. The FinePix S20 Pro also features Fuji's new Super CCD SR sensor, which enables the user to capture highlight and shadow detail missed by conventional digital cameras, resulting in images of stunning quality. It is supposed to offer a four-fold increase in dynamic range when compared to other conventional digital cameras. So is the Fuji FinePix S20 Pro a viable option for the professional photographer that it's aimed at? Read my review to find out.

Features
The FinePix S20 Pro has a 3.1 megapixel CCD that delivers more than 6.03 million recorded pixels. There are 4 image sizes available (2832 x 2128, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960), which can be recorded as JPEGs or in the RAW format. The camera features a Super EBC Fujinon 6X optical zoom lens that is equivalent to a 35-210mm lens on a 35mm format camera. The xD-Picture Card and Microdrive memory card formats are supported via 2 different card slots (some CompactFlash cards can be used in the Microdrive slot).

This camera offers a full range of selectable exposure modes, with Programmed AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE and Manual, as well as a number of scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene). The FinePix S20 Pro has 3 exposure metering modes (64-zone TTL metering - multi, spot, average) and there are 3 different types of focusing available (TTL-contrast type, Auto focus, Manual focus). The aperture range is f2.8 - f11 and the shutter speed range is 30 sec. - 1/10000 sec in Manual mode. There are 2 macro modes available - Macro, which allows you to shoot approximately 10cm - 80cms away from your subject, and Super
Macro, which allows you to shoot approximately 1cm - 20cms away.
ISO speeds range from 160 to 1600. Unfortunately 160 is only available in Auto mode and 1600 is only available when the camera is set to record 1M files, and not for the larger image sizes. There are 10 different White Balance settings to choose from.
The FinePix S20 Pro has a continuous shooting mode with various options. Top 10 allows you to take 4.5 frames/sec. up to 10 frames and keep the first 10 frames of the sequence. Final 10 allows you to take 4.5 frames/sec. up to 10 frames and keep the last 10 frames of the sequence. Long-period continuous takes up to 40 shots at up to 1 frame per second, but only using the 1M file quality setting. The The FinePix S20 Pro features a self-timer which can be set to either a 2 or 10 second delay.

The built-in flash offers a range of different modes; Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro. The effective range at the wide angle lens setting is: 0.3m to 8.5m, and at the telephoto setting 0.9m to 7.9m. If the built-in flash doesn't meet your needs, there is a non-dedicated hot-shoe and a

PC sync socket for connection to studio and external flash systems.
The FinePix S20 Pro Zoom has a traditional threaded cable release socket which avoids the expense of having to use a proprietary cable release. It also sports both USB 2.0 and Firewire connections, allowing rapid transfer of images from camera to PC. Like most recent digital cameras the FinePix S20 Pro Zoom is PictBridge compatible.

To compose your images, you can use the LCD monitor or the electronic viewfinder. The FinePix S20 Pro has a 1.8 inch colour TFT LCD monitor which has 118,000 pixels. The electronic viewfinder is .44 inches in size, has 235,000 pixels and features built-in dioptre adjustment. The camera is powered by 4 x AA size alkaline batteries or 4 x Ni-MH rechargeable batteries.

The FinePix S20 Pro can record movies at 2 different settings; 640x480 pixels at 30 frames per second and 320x240 pixels at 30 frames per second. Both settings are recorded in the Motion JPEG format, a type of AVI format that can handle images and sound as a single file, and can be played back by QuickTime 3 or later. As well as recording movies with sound, the FinePix S20 Pro also doubles up as a voice recorder, allowing you to record 30-second long voice memos in the WAV format.
The camera's dimensions are 121mm (W) x 81.5mm (H) x 97mm (D), and it weighs approximately 500g without batteries and storage cards fitted.

Finally, the standard box kit contains a 16Mb xD-Picture Card, USB cable, Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable, AV cable, 4 x AA type alkaline batteries, shoulder strap, lens cap and holder, PC Sync socket cap, manuals, a CD-ROM containing various software and the HS-V2 Hyper Utility Software (worth £149.99). This is a a new software tool that enables you to fine-tune aspects of a image such as sharpness, colour balance, and the full extent of the camera's dynamic range. You will need to invest in a few more xD-Picture Cards to store your images on, as the supplied 16Mb can only store approximately 5 images at the default 6M Fine file quality setting. You will also have to budget for some rechargeable batteries and a recharger, as the supplied alkaline batteries don't last very long.

Ease of Use
The FinePix S20 Pro is virtually identical to the FinePix S7000 Zoom in terms of its design, so most of the comments that I made about the S7000 apply equally to the S20 Pro. It is definitely not in the pocketable category of digital cameras - you will need to carry it in a camera bag. What can only be described as the chunky hand-grip on the right of the camera makes it very comfortable to hold with just one hand, although you may want to use your left hand to steady things. The zoom buttons are very well positioned in a recessed area just where your right thumb naturally sits, with the exposure mode and aperture/shutter speed dials handily positioned above. The FinePix S20 Pro is one of the heavier digital cameras on the market, weighing 500g without batteries and storage cards fitted, but this I think this actually counts in its favour, as it has a reassuring balance to it without being too heavy. Although it's not the smallest or lightest camera around, the FinePix S20 Pro instantly feels intuitive to hold and use.

There are quite a lot number of external controls and buttons on the camera (around 20), but most of them are clearly labeled and common to most mid-range digital cameras. If you have never used a digital camera before, or you're upgrading from a more basic model, reading the manual before you start is a good idea. For more experienced users, a quick look through the manual for the few functions that are not so self-explanatory is all that's needed. There's a fairly traditional dial on the top of the camera that lets you select the different exposure modes; Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual. This dial is a typical feature of SLR cameras, and enables you to quickly change between the various modes. Fuji have wisely integrated all of the scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene) into one option on the dial, called SP. Choosing this brings up an on-screen menu, from which you can select a particular scene mode. The other two options are Movie and Set, which allows you to change various functional settings of the camera, such as date/time and whether RAW mode is on or off.

As with a lot of Fuji's other digital cameras, the FinePix S20 Pro has a Menu button on the rear of the camera which, as you would expect, gives you access to the software menu system. This lets you set various parameters including focusing, sharpness and white balance. There is also a small silver button with an F on it which opens the Photo Mode menu and allows you to control the file quality setting, ISO speed and colour settings (B&W, Chrome or Standard). I'm not really sure why these 3 settings alone should fall under the heading of Photo Mode, and things like white balance and sharpening are just part of the standard menu. And I'm undecided about whether it is a good idea or not. The F button does give quick access to certain features, but you do have to memorise what another button does.

One of the issues that I had with the FinePix S20 Pro is linked to the EVF and LCD displays. The camera makes a distinct mechanical noise when you move it around, as it tries to focus on whatever you are pointing it at, until it has locked on the subject. This noise is loud enough to catch someone's attention and spoil a candid moment at close quarters, although in most situations it will probably annoy you more than the subject! It's definitely one of the noisier auto-focusing systems that I've used and is especially annoying if you leave the camera turned on all the time.

On the whole the FinePix S20 Pro is a very well-built, easy to use digital camera that successfully mimics the feel of a 35mm film or digital SLR. The menu system is well-designed and very clear, perfect for both the beginners and more experienced photographers alike that will be interested in buying it. I would have no hesitation in highly recommending this camera from an ease-of-use point of view.

Overall Image Quality
The FinePix S20 Pro's new Super CCD HR sensor has delivered a slightly disappointing set of images. The bright sunny conditions of the review period have ensured that the sample photos have great colour, with deep blues in the sky. Unfortunately the same bright conditions have caused chromatic aberrations to appear, both where you would normally expect them and where you wouldn't. The 6M 2832 x 2128 pixel images can be printed up to A3 in size, although you will need to sharpen them first in Photoshop or set the sharpness option in-camera to "Hard". Noise is well controlled at the slowest ISO setting of 200, but starts to appear at ISO 400 and is very visible at ISO 800. I'm still not convinced about the 4th Generation CCD SR sensor, which doesn't seem to offer any great advantages over other digital cameras in terms of dynamic range. So overall only an average performance from the FinePix S20 Pro.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 3 megapixels Fujifilm

Fuji FinePix S20 Pro originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 06 Jul 2004 19:44:48 +0100

The Fuji FinePix S5000 Zoom is one of the more distinctive digital cameras on the market at the moment. It looks very much like a traditional SLR camera in terms of styling, but it is actually more like a compact camera in size and weight. Despite its diminutive dimensions, the Fuji FinePix S5000 Zoom has a massive 10x optical zoom which is equivalent to 37-370mm on a 35mm camera. It also features Fuji's new 4th Generation Super CCD HR sensor and can record images in RAW mode as well as the JPEG file format. And all of this is available for just over £200! So is the FinePix S5000 Zoom a bit of a bargain? Find out in my review.

Features
The FinePix S5000 Zoom has a 3.1 megapixel CCD that delivers 6 million recorded pixels. There are 4 image sizes available (2,816 x 2,120 (6.0 million), 2,048 x 1,536, 1,600 x 1,200, 1,280 x 960), which can be recorded as JPEGs in a range of different quality settings or in the RAW format. The camera features a 10X optical zoom lens that is equivalent to a 37 - 370mm lens on a 35mm format camera. The FinePix S5000 Zoom uses the xD-Picture Card memory card format.

This camera offers four selectable exposure modes - Programmed AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE and Manual - plus 4 scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene). The FinePix S3000 Zoom has 3 exposure metering modes, 64-zone TTL metering-multi, spot and average. There are four types of focusing available, Autofocus, AF Area Focus, AF (Centre) Focus and Manual Focus, and the aperture range is f2.8 to f8. Shutter speeds range from 2 seconds to 1/2000 second. The camera has a Macro setting which allows you focus as close as 10cm from your subject.

There are 3 selectable ISO speeds available (equivalent to IS0 200, 400, 800), but ISO 800 is only available at the 1M resolution. There are 7 different White Balance settings to choose from (Automatic, Manual (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light).

The FinePix S5000 Zoom has a continuous shooting mode with various options. Top 5 allows you to take 5 frames/sec. up to 5 frames and keep the first 5 frames of the sequence. Final 5 allows you to take 5 frames/sec. up to 5 frames and keep the last 5 frames of the sequence. Long-period continuous takes up to 40 shots at up to 1.8 frame per second, but only using the 1,280 x 960 pixels image size.
The built-in flash offers a range of different modes; Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash and Slow Synchro, Red-eye Reduction and Slow Synchro. The effective range is 0.3m to 6m.

To compose your images, you can use the LCD monitor or the electronic viewfinder. The FinePix S3000 Zoom has a 1.5 inch colour TFT LCD monitor which has 114,000 pixels, and a 0.33 inches 110,000 pixels electronic viewfinder. The camera is powered by 4 x AA size alkaline batteries or 4 x Ni-MH rechargeable batteries.
The FinePix S3000 Zoom can record movies at 320x240 pixels at 10 frames per second, recorded in the Motion JPEG format and can be played back by QuickTime 3 or later.

The camera's dimensions are 112.7mm (W) x 81.1mm (H) x 79.3mm (D), and it weighs 337g without batteries and storage card fitted.

Finally, the standard box kit contains a 16Mb xD-Picture Card, USB cable, AV cable, 4 x AA type alkaline batteries, shoulder strap, lens adapter ring, lens cap and a CD-ROM containing various software. As usual you will need to invest in a few more xD-Picture Cards to store your images on, as the supplied 16Mb can only store approximately 10 JPEG images at the default 6M file quality setting. You will also have to budget for some rechargeable batteries and a recharger, as the supplied alkaline batteries don't last very long.

Ease of Use
The FinePix S5000 Zoom looks like a more traditional version of the FinePix S3000 Zoom that I reviewed a few weeks ago. The hi-tech silver styling of the S3000 is replaced by a more reserved all-black appearance, with the S5000 feeling very much like a minature-SLR camera. If you are accustomed to using a small film or digital SLR camera that you will be instantly at home with the S5000 - it's definitely a refreshing change to the many box-like digital cameras on the market. However, the SLR-styling does come at a price, as the S5000 isn't a pocketable camera, despite being quite compact and not weighing too much. It falls between a compact digicam like the Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital and a bigger SLR-type camera like the FinePix S7000 Zoom. On the other hand, the the chunky hand-grip ensures that the camera that be held comfortably with either one hand or two. Personally I found the FinePix S5000 Zoom a joy to use due to its combination of weight, size and SLR styling.
As with the FinePix S3000 Zoom, Fuji have ensured that the build quality of the FinePix S3000 Zoom is up-to-scratch. Despite that competitive price tag, Fuji haven't cut any corners, with all of the various buttons and switches being well-fitted, and even the battery compartment and memory card door, both typically weak parts of a digital camera, work well despite their plastic construction. A large part of the camera is covered in a rubbery compound which again makes it feel more expensive than it actually is, as well as improving the handling and grip. Due to its diminutive stature, the buttons on the rear of the camera are a little on the small size, especially the button for switching between the EVF and LCD displays and the "F" button, but Fuji have cleverly raised them slightly so that they are still easy to operate. The FinePix S5000 Zoom has a few more options, switches and buttons than the FinePix S3000 Zoom, but it still has an easy to understand layout, both in terms of its menu system and the external controls on the body of the camera.

There's a fairly traditional dial on the top of the camera that lets you select the different exposure modes; Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual. This dial is a typical feature of SLR cameras, and enables you to quickly change between the various modes. Fuji have wisely integrated all of the scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene) into one option on the dial, called SP. Choosing this brings up an on-screen menu, from which you can select a particular scene mode. The last option is Movie. As with a number of Fuji's other digital cameras, the FinePix S5000 Zoom has a Menu button on the rear of the camera which, as you would expect, gives you access to the software menu system. This lets you set various parameters including focusing, sharpness and white balance. There is also a small silver button with an F on it, which opens the Photo Mode menu and allows you to control the file quality setting, ISO speed and colour settings (B&W, Chrome or Standard). I'm not really sure why these 3 settings alone should fall under the heading of Photo Mode, and things like white balance and sharpening are just part of the standard menu. And I'm undecided about whether it is a good idea or not. The F button does give quick access to certain features, but you do have to memorise what another button does.

Thankfully Fuji have solved one of the major problems that I found with the FinePix S7000 Zoom that I reviewed a few weeks ago. On that camera, when you wanted to switch from Camera mode to Play mode, or vice versa, you had to press the EVF/LCD button on the back of the camera to switch between the EVF and LCD displays. This problem didn't arise if you exclusively used the LCD, but if like me you use the EVF and hold the camera up to your eye to take a photo, and then switch to the LCD to review what you have just taken, you had to press the EVF/LCD button EVERY time to switch between the two displays. On the S5000 Zoom, the display automatically changes from EVF to LCD when you switch from Camera mode to Play mode, and vice-versa. I'm not sure why this wasn't implemented on the much more expensive FinePix S7000 Zoom, but I'm glad that it has been corrected on the FinePix S5000 Zoom.

So overall the FinePix S5000 Zoom is an extremely well-built digital camera that is very easy to operate, well-designed ergonomically, and doesn't just feel like a box with a lens, a few buttons and a menu system. Whether the FinePix S5000 Zoom is too much of a compromise between a more compact, pocketable digital camera and a larger, more advanced digicam is something that you will have to decide for yourselves.

Overall Image Quality
In bright sunny conditions the FinePix S5000 Zoom delivered very punchy, colourful images, as you can see from the samples in the next section. They don't require much post-processing or sharpening in a photo editing application like Photoshop. The default 6M 2,816 x 2,120 pixel image size allows you to create prints up to A3 in size. Noise is visible at the slowest ISO setting of 200, whilst ISO 400 and 800 should only be used if you don't have a tripod handy. Chromatic aberrations in the form of purple fringing are largely avoided, although in high-contrast situations they did appear. Overall a fairly pleasing performance from the FinePix S5000 Zoom in terms of image quality.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 3 megapixels Fujifilm Digital cameras

Fuji FinePix S5000 Zoom originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 17 Jun 2004 16:51:54 +0100

The Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom is currently the most advanced compact digital camera in the Olympus range. First announced at the PMA photography trade show in February, it is one of a new breed of 8-megapixel digital cameras and competes with the likes of the Sony DSC-F828, Canon PowerShot Pro1, Nikon Coolpix 8700 and the Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2. As well as providing 8 megapixels, the C-8080 Wide Zoom also offers a fast and wide f/2.4-3.5, 28-140mm integrated lens in a tough magnesium body, complete with a tilting LCD monitor and a host of photographic options that make it most suitable for the advanced amateur or professional photographer. So is the C-8080 Wide Zoom a better option than a DSLR like the Canon EOS 300D or Nikon D70? And are 8 megapixels really necessary? Read on to find out.

Features
The C-8080 Wide Zoom features an 8-megapixel CCD which will allow you to create great-looking prints up to A3 in size. The camera has a bright f/2.4-3.5, 5x optical zoom lens which gives a zoom range equivalent to 28-140mm on a 35mm camera. It comprises 14 high quality lenses arranged in five groups and includes two aspherical lenses to reduce distortion. In addition, three ED elements help minimise chromatic aberrations. The lens has a 58mm filter thread to allow you to attach conversion lenses via the optional CLA-8 accessory. There is a 1x – 3x digital zoom available, which provides a 15x seamless zoom when combined with the optical zoom.

The LCD monitor is a 1.8 inch sunshine colour TFT LCD monitor with 134,000 pixels, whilst the electronic viewfinder has an impressive 240,000 pixels. The tilting LCD monitor helps you to frame scenes when shooting from difficult angles, such as from the floor or above the head. Great for macro or candid photography, as you don't actually have to lift the camera to your eye to be able to frame the subject successfully. The LCD can be tilted down 20 and up 90 degrees in 4 positions that click into place. You can't rotate it left or right, as in some more recent cameras, as the monitor pivots on a large hinge that extends along its width. The C-8080 Wide Zoom also has a 240,000 pixel EVF, which replaces the small and dim optical viewfinder on earlier models like the C-5050 Zoom.

The C-8080 Wide Zoom uses a dual autofocus system - TTL autofocus with contrast detection and passive AF by phase detection. The TTL contrast detection system is combined with the passive metering system, which uses a second sensor to calculate the phase difference and thereby the subject's distance. The camera then fine-tunes the readings for optimum sharpness. The working range is 0.8m – infinity in standard mode, 0.2 – 0.8m in macro mode and from as close as 5cm in super macro mode.
The main exposure mode is Olympus' Digital ESP (Electro Selective Pattern), which is used throughout their range of digital cameras. If that fails to give a well-exposed image, there is also spot metering, multi-spot metering and centre-weighted metering available. There is a very useful histogram function that you can enable to check the exposure of your photographs, either before the photo is taken or afterwards, and the camera also offers AE lock and exposure area selection functions. Images are recorded as JPEGs in a range of different quality and size settings; TIFF and RAW formats are also available.

The C-8080 Wide Zoom offers the usual four main exposure modes - Programmed auto exposure, Aperture Priority Auto and Shutter Priority Auto and Manual, plus four different scene programs to help the beginner - Normal, Portrait, Night Scene and Landscape. The shutter speed range is 16 seconds – 1/4000 sec. (bulb 8 minutes), depending on the selected exposure mode. Exposure Compensation is available ±2 EV in 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV steps (selectable) and you can auto bracket either 3 or 5 images (except TIFF).

There is a wide range of white balance settings including Auto and nine different presets (Shade, overcast, sunlight, evening sun, tungsten light, fluorescent light 1,2,3,4). You can also tweak the white balance adjustment (Red) -7 – +7 (blue) and create your own custom white balance setting. The C-8080 Wide Zoom has a short shutter release time lag of 0.3 seconds and a fast startup time.

The built-in flash features numerous modes including Auto (automatic activation in low and backlight), Red-eye reduction, Fill-in (forced activation), Slow synchronisation, Off (no flash) and slave mode. It has a guide number of 9 and a range of 0.8 m – 5.3 m when the lens is at its widest setting, and 0.2 m – 3.6 m at its longest setting. Recycle time is 6 seconds. The C-8080 Wide Zoom also incorporates a hot shoe for connecting a compatible external flash unit.

There are a large number of ISO speeds available on the C-8080 Wide Zoom, although the actual range isn't that great. You can either choose the Automatic setting and leave it up to the camera to pick what it thinks is the best setting, or set the camera to Manual and choose from ISO 50, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320 and 400.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom has two different continuous shooting modes. In the high speed setting you can take up to 1.6 shots per second in any JPEG mode (maximum of 5 images). In the normal setting you can take up to 1.0 shots per second in any HQ mode (maximum of 26 images). The C-8080 Wide Zoom has a motion picture mode which allows you to record QuickTime Motion JPEG movies with sound until the memory card capacity is reached. Using the supplied 32MB xD-Picture Card, this is either 34 seconds at SHQ (640 x 480 pixels) with audio, or 93 seconds at (320 x 240 pixels) without audio.

The C-8080 Wide Zoom uses Olympus' new TruePic Turbo image processor and also employs proper gamma technology, noise reduction, advanced noise filter, noise canceller and pixel mapping. Various adjustments can be made to the image quality within a range of -5 – +5, including Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation and Color Phase. There are a few shooting functions available (sepia mode, black & white mode, guide line).

PictBridge support allows direct printing with compatible printers, whilst the camera can be controlled by a PC (using the Software Development Kit). The camera can store and memorise up to 8 custom settings, allowing you to cutomize the operation of the camera to your own needs. There is also a self-timer, DC input terminal, USB 2.0 high speed AutoConnect interface and an A/V output.

The C-8080 Wide Zoom is compatible with three different memory card formats - xD-Picture Card (16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512MB), CompactFlash Type I/II and Microdrive (except 320MB). The camera is powered by a rechargeable 7.2V Li-ion battery. Dimensions are 124 (w) x 84.5 (h) x 99 (d) mm and the camera weighs approx. 660g without the battery or memory card fitted.

Olympus has been quite generous with what they supply with the C-8080 Wide Zoom camera. A neckstrap, remote control (RM-2), audio/video cable, USB cable, Li-ion battery BLM-1, battery charger BCM-2, lens hood, lens cap, 32MB xD-Picture Card, instruction manual, warranty card and a software CD-ROM are all included in the box. Like most other digital camera manufacturers, Olympus have chosen to supply a memory card that is far too small - only 2 RAW files or 8 SHQ JPEG files can be stored on the 32Mb card. You will have to buy at least two 512Mb xD-Picture Cards to provide sufficient storage for the 8-megapixel files, especially if you are primarily shooting in RAW mode.

Ease of Use
The C-8080 Wide Zoom carries on the tradition of rather strange camera design from Olympus, as it's loosely based on the C-5050 and C-5060 digital cameras. The body still looks as if extra bits and pieces were added to it over a prolonged period of time, rather than being designed in one go. There aren't too many flowing lines in this camera, and when you first pick it up the C-8080 Zoom feels quite cluttered and confusing. There are a lot of external buttons and controls, which require you to read the manual, experiment, and then read the manual again!

Once you've spent a couple of hours figuring out what all those buttons do, you soon realize that they are the reason for the C-8080 Zoom being such an accessible digital camera. Instead of having to browse through endless submenus via the LCD, virtually all of the important photographic controls are accessed externally by some kind of button, switch or dial, and most of these controls are located on the left-hand side of the camera next to the LCD screen. This ultimately makes it much faster and easier to operate, as a button press is always a lot quicker than remembering which menus to open. You can control about 75% of the cameras settings without ever having to resort to the menu system. The initially awkward and ugly design of the C-8080 Zoom makes perfect sense when you have used it for a while.

When you do have to resort to the menu system to select something, it is quick and easy to access. Simply press the OK button that is positioned on the back of the camera at the centre of the four arrow buttons, then use those arrow buttons to navigate through the menu interface. The C-8080 Zoom uses a very similar menu system to other Olympus digital cameras and will be instantly familiar if you have used one before.

The large and bright LCD monitor on the C-8080 Wide Zoom is excellent and a joy to use. Even very bright sunlight causes few difficulties when viewing it - Olympus' new sunshine LCD screen does actually work! The monitor gives 100% coverage of the subject that you are framing and the different tilting angles mean that you can use the camera in awkward positions or for candid photography. Being able to take a photograph without actually looking like you are doing so can result in some great candid shots that might otherwise never have happened. The C-8080 Wide Zoom has a 240,000 pixel Electronic View Finder (EVF), which replaces the small and dim optical viewfinder found on earlier models like the C-5050. The EVF is surprisingly large and clear and is enjoyable to use when you want to hold the camera up to your eye - certainly a big improvement over the C-5050's viewfinder.

Internally Olympus have added a new TruePic Turbo image processor to the C-8080 Wide Zoom, which is supposed to deliver more image clarity, contrast and brilliant colour and also increase the camera's processing speed by up to 30%. More about image quality later - the C-8080 Wide Zoom does feel a little faster in general use than previous Olympus cameras like the C-5050 Zoom, although not enough to make you go "Wow!". RAW and TIFF mode are still virtually unusable, however, as the C-8080 Wide Zoom takes so long to write the file to the memory card. It takes 15 seconds to write a RAW file and 20 seconds to write a TIFF file, during which time you can't take a picture or do anything else with the camera. This makes those file types only suitable for situations where you can take your time, like landscape or building photography. Otherwise you will have to choose from the 4 JPEG settings.

A special mention must go the handgrip and thumbgrip on the right-hand side of the C-8080 Wide Zoom. Olympus have obviously spent a lot of time on this aspect of the camera, because the handgrip is very well sculpted and finished in a rubber compound, whilst the thumbgrip on the back of the camera fitted my thumb perfectly.

It's important that Olympus got this part of the overall design right, as the C-8080 Wide Zoom is quite a lot bigger and heavier than the C-5050 Zoom, maybe due to the magnesium alloy body, with the 5x optical zoom lens domintaing the front of the camera. You really need to use two hands to support it during use. On the other hand, that magnesium body gives the camera a very robust and professional feel.

Overall the C-8080 Zoom carries on not just the Olympus tradition of strange design, but also that of fantastic ease-of-use. Its quality construction and finish makes it feel like a professional product rather than a consumer one. More importantly it feels as if it was designed for a photographer who wants to take complete control of the picture-making process. There really isn't too much that I disliked about this camera. The operation of the zoom is quite noisy, especially when the camera is turned on or off but also in general operation when zooming from wide to tele and vice versa. The plastic button that releases the buil-in flash feels a little plasticky compared to the rest of the camera. But now I'm just being picky! I thoroughly enjoyed using the C-8080 Zoom and I really didn't want to send it back to Olympus.

Overall Image Quality
The C-8080 Wide Zoom produces very large file sizes that will enable you to create A4 prints at 300dpi, and A3 prints at a very acceptable 200dpi. If you want to print at A3 without having to interpolate your images, then an 8 megapixel camera like the C-8080 Wide Zoom will allow you to do so. What it won't allow you to do is take photos that require high ISO speeds. Indoor, action and sports photography all spring to mind as subjects that aren't well-suited to the C-8080 Wide Zoom, simply because of the already limited highest ISO speed of 400, and the fact that noise is very apparent in images taken at ISO 200 and faster. The default sharpening level of 0 is a little soft, but you can increase the sharpening by up to 5 levels if you wish, or just use a photo editing application on your computer. The C-8080 Wide Zoom excels at controlling chromatic aberrations, with one of the best performances that I've yet seen from a digital camera. Overall the C-8080 Wide Zoom produced a vibrant set of images with saturated colours, little noise at the slow ISO settings and very few unwanted image effects. The only downside is the limited effective ISO range.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 8 megapixels Olympus Digital cameras

Olympus C-8080 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:38:12 +0100

The Ricoh Caplio RX is the successor to the Caplio G4wide, with Ricoh claiming that the new model is quicker, slimmer, lighter and even easier to use. The Caplio G4wide was released in September of 2003, so it has effectively been replaced by the Caplio RX after only 6 months. Such is the nature of the digital camera market at the moment, with newer and better models being released at least twice a year. The Ricoh Caplio RX stands out from the rest of the market because of its wide-angle 28mm lens, and because it has the world's fastest shutter response and start-up times (at least according to Ricoh when it was first announced in March 2004). Other features, such as the 3 megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom, are standard for this class of camera, so does the Caplio RX have what it takes to catch your attention? Find out in my review.

Features
The Caplio RX has a 3.24-megapixel CCD that includes a vastly improved image processor, making colours look sharper and cleaner even in large printed formats. It has a 3.6x optical plus 3.4x digital zoom that delivers a combination of 12.2x zoom (equivalent to a telephoto range of 28-340mm on a regular 35mm camera). The Caplio RX's 28mm-100mm optical wide zoom lens gives an angle of view of 75 degrees, compared with just 62 degrees in conventional 35mm digital cameras. The Caplio RX has added 64 and 100 to its ISO speeds for a total ISO light-sensitivity range of 64-800.

In one second or less the Caplio RX is able to turn on and snap a photo. The shutter response is the world's fastest in its class at just 0.12 seconds (March 2004). This time is calculated from the time the user presses the shutter button, rather than the time when focus lock is achieved. It also has the world's fastest start-up time of a mere 0.9 seconds, a 50% improvement from the Caplio G4wide's 1.8sec start-up ability.

The Caplio RX comes equipped with six scene modes (portrait, sports, landscape, night scene, text and high-sensitivity) that are intended to help the photographer capture various shooting situations in their best light. In high-sensitivity mode, the screen automatically illuminates subjects to aid in framing the picture in dim lighting environments.

In tricky lighting situations, the convenient auto-bracket function allows you to take three individual shots at one time at three different exposure settings. White balance bracket, on the other hand, applies tones of red, normal white, and blue to three separate images.

The Caplio RX has various continuous modes. In M-continuous mode, with the shutter button held down the camera memorises the last 16 shots in one file for two seconds of footage. In S-continuous mode, it can take a series of 16 shots in one file for two seconds of footage with just one press of the shutter button.

The Caplio RX has the ability to capture objects of 18mm(H) x 24mm (W) at a distance of just 1cm. Keep the camera still at this distance and take advantage of its auto-focus target functionality that allows you to conveniently pan around the image in order to find the desired focus point. There is a built-in flash for shots as close as 9cm that highlights objects while protecting against any unwanted whiteout effects.

The Caplio RX allows you to take up to 400 shots between recharges when using the optional rechargeable lithium-ion battery, or you can take advantage of a nearby power source and use the optional AC adapter. The Caplio RX also has the ability to switch to two AA alkaline (included) or nickel metal hydride batteries and a synchro monitor mode that conserves energy by turning the monitor on automatically only when the shutter button is pressed to preview a shot or operate the zoom.

At just 29mm thick, the Caplio RX's curved aluminium-alloy body is designed to fit perfectly in a shirt pocket and perfectly in the hand. The Ricoh trademark "Quick Review" function, positioned next to the bright 1.8 TFT LCD monitor, conveniently displays the most recent picture taken at a simple press of a button.

The Caplio RX captures up to 120 seconds of AVI video action clips in a video size of 320x240 or 160x120 and can add "voice memo" stamps of up to eight seconds to photos. Caplio RX can also be used as a multipurpose voice recorder.
The Caplio RX comes equipped with an 8MB internal memory chip and can use optional Secure Digital memory cards. The Caplio RX is also compatible with Multimedia Cards. Transferring files to a PC is extremely easy. Simply turn off the camera and link the Caplio RX up via a USB cable. The Ricoh Gate software installed on the computer will then instantly start transferring images to an automatically created folder at a rate of three megabytes per second.
The Caplio RX kit that I reviewed contained very little in the way of accessories. In addition to the camera, there is a USB cable for downloading photos to your PC/MAC, a CD containing the Caplio RX software, a Video cable, 2 Alkaline batteries and a User Guide. There is no memory card supplied, which is pretty annoying as you can only fit 5 images on the camera's built-in 8Mb memory at the highest quality setting.

Ease of Use
The Ricoh Caplio RX is a solidly built yet pocketable camera that instantly feels "right" as soon as you pick it up and start using it for the first time. I really enjoyed using the RX during my 2 week review period from a handling point of view and was quite sad to have to send it back! It easily fits into a trouser or coat pocket, yet doesn't have tiny controls that you can't operate properly. For such a small and slim camera it actually feels quite heavy, but I prefer this to a lighter camera that feels more flimsy.

The Ricoh Caplio RX is an exceptionally easy to use digital camera that will not put off new users, whilst being very intuitive to use for anyone who has picked up a digital camera before. Its secret lies in not being too different from other brands on the market. The Caplio RX's interface, both software and the camera body, employs options and concepts that are an accepted part of the photographic industry.

Having said that, the Caplio RX does have a couple of neat touches of its own. The Adj. button on the rear of the camera is a particularly nice feature that allows you to quickly adjust 3 different settings that are commonly used. Press it once and you can alter exposure compensation; press it again and you can change the White Balance setting; press it once more and you can adjust the ISO speed.

The other thing that I liked was the Power button. Unlike many digicams, the Caplio RX has its very own button which lets you turn the camera on and off, regardless of which setting (Play, Camera, Movie) the camera is currently set to. Not the most radical feature in the world but a nice addition nevertheless.
Both the camera body and its menu system are logically laid out. The rear LCD screen is a good size and the optical viewfinder is small but perfectly usable. The most fiddly aspect of the camera's design is the Card/Battery cover. The memory card and the battery are both housed within one large cover on the right of the camera, which is very fiddly to fully open and then close again. This was an issue with the Caplio G4 and one that I wish Ricoh had fixed by now.
Ricoh's claims about the speed of the Caplio RX in terms of starting up the camera and shutter-lag do seem to be accurate. With other digicams you can often wait 4 or 5 seconds for the camera to turn itself on, extend the lens and get ready to take a shot. And you often miss the shot anyway because the of the slow shutter lag. The Caplio RX seems to have solved both these issues and even improves on earlier Ricoh models like the Capio G4.

One of the reasons that I enjoyed using the Caplio RX so much is that it is largely automatic. Whilst you can alter settings like White Balance, ISO speed and exposure compensation, you can't actually set the aperture or shutter speed yourself - this is all handled by the camera. I would place the Caplio RX in the semi-automatic category of digicams. For many people this will allow them to get on with composing and taking photos. Just don't expect to be able to control depth of field and blurring/freezing motion. The Caplio RX borrows a lot of features from the Caplio G4 that I've previously reviewed, whilst slimming down the camera body, adding a wide lens and making it even quicker to use. I enjoyed using the Caplio G4 and I enjoyed using the Caplio RX even more.
Overall Image Quality
The image quality of the Ricoh Caplio RX is quite disappointing. It's biggest achilles heel seems to be purple fringing, with more in evidence than other digital cameras that I've reviewed, even in photos where the sun is not in the frame. The images aren't particularly noisy at the lower ISO speeds of 64 and 100, but at faster speeds there is too much noise to be acceptable and I can't imagine ever using ISo 800. At the default sharpening setting of "Normal" the images are fairly sharp and won't require too much sharpening during post-processing. So overall not a great performance, which is doubly disappointing because the camera is so nice to use.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 3 megapixels Ricoh Digital cameras

Ricoh Caplio RX originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 10 Jun 2004 18:02:57 +0100

The compact Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital camera is an updated version of the popular Olympus µ[mju:] 400 Digital, which was the first ever product that I reviewed on PhotographyBLOG. Olympus have added a number of new features and improvements to this new model. The µ[mju:] 410 Digital gets a new TruePic Turbo image processor, sunshine LCD screen, wider ISO range, more scene program exposure modes, movie recording function with sound and PictBridge support, all for only about £40 more than its slightly older predecessor. So is the new Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital the ideal compact digital camera for you? Read my review to find out.

Features
The Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital is the top-of-the-range camera in what Olympus call their "Stylish" category. It has a 4-megapixel CCD and a 3x optical zoom that is equivalent to a 35-105mm lens on a 35mm format camera. The lens has a respectable aperture range of f3.1 at the widest setting of 35mm and f5.2 at the longest setting of 105mm. The shutter speed range is 1/2 - 1/1000 sec, with the longest available shutter speed being 4 seconds in the Night Scene exposure mode.

The µ[mju:] 410 Digital uses the xD-Picture Card format, which is tiny and allows the camera to be physically small (99 (W) x 56 (H) 33.5 (D) mm to be precise) and weigh very little (159g without battery and memory card). The µ[mju:] 410 Digital has a weatherproof full-metal body, which means that the camera is not damaged by water spray from any direction.

This camera doesn't have conventional exposure modes like aperture-priority, shutter-speed priority or manual. Instead it offers a range of scene modes, starting with Programme AE (basically a full-auto mode), then Portrait, Night Scene, Landscape, Self Portrait, Beach and Snow, Cuisine, Indoor and Landscape with Portrait. The µ[mju:] 410 Digital also has a panoramic mode, 2 in 1 mode sepia mode, black & white mode and it allows you to record short movies with sound in the QuickTime Motion JPEG format. There are two movie modes: HQ (320 x 240 pixels): up to 20 sec. (15 frames/sec.) and HQ (160 x 120 pixels): up to 90 sec. (15 frames/sec.).

Surprisingly for a compact camera, the µ[mju:] 410 Digital has a spot metering mode (something that my Canon EOS 10D DSLR lacks!), or you can use the Digital ESP metering system which takes an average reading from the scene. ISO speeds range from 64 to 500 (this was 64-250 on the µ[mju:] 400 Digital), but unfortunately you can't actually choose the speed - instead the camera selects the most suitable setting for you. White Balance can be set automatically by the camera, or you can choose from sunlight, overcast, tungsten light and fluorescent light presets.

The focusing system used is TTL autofocus with contrast detection. The working range in Standard mode is 0.5m - infinity. There are also two different macro modes available - Macro mode alllows you to focus as close as 0.2m, and Super macro mode as close as 9cm. The built-in flash has a guide number of 7.8 and offers a range of different modes; Auto (automatic activation in low and backlight), Red-eye Reduction, Fill-in (forced activation) and Off (no flash).

Images are recorded as JPEGs in a range of different quality and size settings; there are no TIFF or RAW formats. To compose your images, you can either use the small optical viewfinder or the new 1.5 inch sunshine colour TFT LCD monitor which has 134,000 pixels. The µ[mju:] 410 Digital features Olympus' new TruePic Turbo technology, which delivers more image clarity, contrast and brilliant colour and also increases the camera's processing speed by up to 30%.

The µ[mju:] 410 Digital is powered by a proprietary rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which takes a couple of hours to fully charge. PictBridge support allows direct printing with compatible printers, and there is a USB 2.0 Full Speed Auto Connect interface to connect the camera to your computer.

Finally, the box kit includes a camera strap, 32 MB xD-Picture Card, USB cable, audio/video cable, one lithium-ion rechargeable battery (Li-10B), battery charger, remote controller RM-2, instruction manual and the CAMEDIA Master 4.2 software package. It's very nice to see the inclusion of the remote controller in the basic kit, but you will need to invest in a few more xD-Picture Cards to store your images on.

Easy of use
The Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital is virtually identical to its predecessor the µ[mju:] 400 Digital in terms of design, so most of the comments that I made in my review of the latter camera also apply to the former. The main difference externally is a change to the handgrip on the rear of the newer model, which is now round in shape, dimpled and is postioned just where your right thumb grips the camera. This has replaced the slightly raised area on the µ[mju:] 400 Digital which served as a handgrip. The newer version is slightly more comfortable than the old one.

The other major change on the Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital is the new sunshine LCD screen. I didn't actually find the original LCD screen on the µ[mju:] 400 Digital difficult to use, and without looking at the 2 models side by side it's impossible to say if the new screen is markedly better. Let's just say that I had no problems with viewing either LCD screen in bright sunlight.

Internally Olympus have added a new TruePic Turbo image processor to the µ[mju:] 410 Digital, which is supposed to deliver more image clarity, contrast and brilliant colour and also increase the camera's processing speed by up to 30%. More about image quality later - the new µ[mju:] 410 Digital does feel a little faster in general use, although not enough to make you go "Wow!".

Perhaps the most immediate and striking thing about the Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital camera is its shiny metal body. People who see this camera for the first time usually say something like "Oooh, look at that"; the µ[mju:] 410 Digital is definitely a head-turner and ideal for impressing your friends, although it has lost the gold finish on the lens cover of the µ[mju:] 400 Digital.

The metal body has a greater purpose, however, than simply being good to look at. According to Olympus, the µ[mju:] 410 Digital has a weather-proof metal body, so shooting can continue even after the rain has started. It didn't rain during my test period, and I didn't want to risk pouring water over the camera to test out how weatherproof it actually is. Even Olympus qualify their own statement by saying "weather-proof equivalent to the IEC standard publication 529 IPX4". I have no idea what that standard is or what it states, but it probably says somewhere that you shouldn't pour water over an Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital camera!
The µ[mju:] 410 Digital is the kind of camera that you can pick up and work out how to use within an hour or so, thanks to the uncluttered and logical design of both the camera body and its menu system.

The camera body is very well thought out. You will notice straight away that there is no traditional D-pad on the rear of the µ[mju:] 400 Digital. Instead there are four buttons that perform the same functions as a D-pad, allowing you to scroll through images and the menu system, but which also have their own specific functions as well. For example, the top button of the four allows you to select the exposure mode, whilst the bottom one turns the self-timer on and off. This ensures that a lot of the controls are available by pressing buttons rather than scrolling through menus, which makes using the camera quicker and more immediate.

This clever placement of so many controls on the exterior of the µ[mju:] 400 Digital means in turn that its menu system is uncomplicated and easy to navigate. As mentioned above, the four buttons that form the D-pad have their own particular purpose, whilst pressing the OK button accesses the rest of the menus. These include setting the image quality, white balance, exposure compensation and a sub-menu called the Mode Menu, which contains settings like the metering mode and formatting the memory card. So the less commonly used options are accessed through the menu system, whilst the more commonly used options are available via the press of a button.

The µ[mju:] 410 Digital fixes most of the minor handling quibbles found on its predecessor. The zoom lens is still a little noisy in operation (I wouldn't try any close-range candid street photography with this camera) and the optical viewfinder is still too small to use effectively - I used the LCD screen to compose all the shots that I took. The new LCD screen, TruePic Turbo image processor and handgrip, plus the other handling improvements, all add up to a very well-built, easy to use and pocketable digital camera.

Image Quality
The Olympus µ[mju:] 410 Digital delivers punchy, well-saturated images straight out of the camera. ISO 64 produces photos with very little noise, whilst photos taken at the higher ISOs are noticeably noisier but still acceptable. The images could benefit from a little more in-camera sharpening, but unfortunately this can't be changed, so it will have to be done on your computer using Photoshop or an equivalent software package. Chromatic aberrations are virtuall non-existent and when they do appear they are better controlled than on many other digital cameras. Overall I was very impressed with the images that the camera delivered during the review period.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras 4 megapixels Olympus Digital cameras

Olympus Mju 410 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 10 Jun 2004 12:17:20 +0100