Olympus C-3020 ZoomA bargain-priced, full featured 3 megapixel model from Olympus!<<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 2/16/2002 |
Viewfinder
For
composing images, the C-3020 offers the choice of a real-image optical viewfinder
or 1.8-inch color LCD monitor. The optical viewfinder zooms along with the lens,
but doesn't show the effect of digital zoom, which requires the LCD monitor to
be active. An autofocus crosshair is in the center of the viewfinder display,
useful for lining up shots, particularly with Spot Metering or Spot AF enabled.
A diopter adjustment dial on the side of the eyepiece adjusts the view for eyeglass
wearers. I also noticed that the viewfinder eyepiece has a fairly high eyepoint,
as I could (just barely) see the entirety of the viewfinder image with the rear
element of the viewfinder touching my eyeglass lenses. - I'd like a bit more eye
relief, but the 3020 is definitely usable with typical eyeglasses. Two LED lamps
on the right side of the eyepiece report the camera's current status. For example,
the top LED lamp lights solid orange whenever the flash is charged, or flashes
when the flash is still charging and the Shutter button is halfway pressed. The
bottom LED lights green whenever focus is set, and flashes to report a problem
focusing. I found the optical viewfinder's very to be pretty tight in my testing,
showing only 78 percent of the image area with the lens at full wide angle. At
full telephoto, the viewfinder showed only 79 percent of the final image area.
Overly tight viewfinder displays are a pet peeve of mine, so I'd really like to
see a more accurate optical viewfinder on the 3020 Zoom. (The very accurate LCD
display saves the day, but the 3020's excellent power consumption with the LCD
off is compromised by the need to refer to the LCD for accurate framing.)
The
1.8-inch TFT color LCD monitor has approximately 123,000 pixels in its display.
The Display button just adjacent to it serves as the monitor's "power"
button, turning it on or off. In all record modes, the LCD monitor reports the
current camera settings, as well as the shutter speed and aperture values selected.
Through the settings menu, you can adjust the overall brightness of the LCD
monitor, as well as determine whether or not an image is displayed for a short
time immediately after capture. Thanks to the inclusion of the small status
display panel on top of the camera, you can pretty well operate without the
LCD monitor, using the optical viewfinder for composition (saving a great deal
of battery power), but as noted the optical viewfinder isn't terribly accurate.
I was impressed with the LCD monitor's frame accuracy, which was approximately
98 percent at both the wide-angle and telephoto lens positions. I like to see
LCD monitors with frame accuracy as close to 100% as possible, so the 98 percent
the 3020's LCD viewfinder offers is pretty good.
In
Playback mode, the LCD monitor reports the quality setting, date, time, and
the number of images on the memory card. This display shows up for a few seconds
and then disappears. Through the Playback menu, you can change the Info page
to include more exposure details. (The Display button serves no function in
this mode.) My only complaint with these information displays is the short time
the display appears, and that there seems to be no way of extending the display
time. That said, I do appreciate the ability to double-check the exposure settings
of previously acquired images. The LCD also offers an index display (of 4, 9,
or 16 images), as well as an image enlargement tool.
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