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The sharpness and color richness of the E-20N came to the
fore in shots such as this. The light here was low, but
the CCD pulled out every detail in the scene. This and every
other shot shown here is unretouched. The bright highlights
in the background can easily be corrected. |
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Confirming Settings
There's an OK button on the back. You use this to confirm settings you
make that differ from the default settings of the camera. So you have
to open up the menu, make your changes (for example, switching to a higher
ISO) and then hit the OK button to keep it. There are four menus to peruse--the
shooting mode, playback mode, connection mode, and print reserve mode,
the last being the one for making a print order right in the camera and
keeping it with the images as they go through the connection to printer
route. I would have liked a memory mode save for a couple of different
setups, ones that you could dial in as you shoot. But there are plenty
of options for a number of corrective and creative controls.
Drive And Self-Timer
On the left side of the penta-prism head there are two indented push buttons.
The Drive button allows you to set up sequential shooting--the ability
to keep shooting as long as you keep pressure on the release button. In
IS mode you can take three or four frames in a burst (depending on the
record mode) and in PS mode you can get up to seven. So, in shutter priority
mode you can get seven straight shots each at 1/8000 sec. That's pretty
impressive. The button also acts as a self-timer activator, and the delay
is 12 sec.
The top button of the two allows
you to set the metering mode, or how the exposure system reads light.
The metering pattern set is conditional on the subject and lighting in
the scene. ESP is an evaluative mode and reads all the brightness values
in the scene to arrive at an exposure. This is the full auto setting and
is very good at what it does. The other two choices are center-weighted
averaging and spot metering. Use center-weighted and exposure lock (the
AEL button on the upper right back of the camera) for reading then placing
brightly lit subjects off-center to have the exposure biased for that
subject. Use spot for very selective readings, indicated by the circle
surrounding the AF mark in the finder.
For a sort of "real time" view
of the effect of exposure changes you can switch to manual exposure mode
and use the monitor. As you toggle through shutter speed changes you see
the monitor get darker or brighter. The most effective use of this is
when you want to play with exposure compensation. As you toggle through
in manual the exposure compensation off the recommended exposure is shown
on the finder as plus and minus values.
The monitor, however, does
not always correlate directly with results, as the brightness of the monitor
itself may or may not be exactly what records. I found this particularly
true with flash exposures. Many looked washed out and overexposed, but
when I downloaded them later they came up as perfect exposures. This can
be befuddling, and I often took more pictures than I needed to, thinking
that I blew the initial shot. It's just something you have to get used
to and, again, this is not rare with digicams. Underexposed images on
the preview were closer to what came up when downloading. In both cases,
slight adjustment seemed to fix the images.
Recording Mode Selection
You can select the recording mode in two ways. The choices are RAW, TIFF,
and JPEG, with the last in the list having three options: SHQ (2560x1920
at 1.27 compression ratio); HQ (2560x1920 at 1:8); and SQ (1280x960 at
1:8). There's no VGA mode, so those shooting for the web might have to
resize later. You select from these by going to the menu on the monitor
and toggling through the recording mode choices and hitting the OK button,
or more easily, hitting the record mode button on the top of the camera
and turning the main or sub-command dial until the choice appears in the
LCD panel. The former is fine when you know what mode you want to use
for the whole session while the latter is best when you want to change
modes on the fly.
There are two sockets on the
upper middle left of the camera body that can take connectors. One is
a PC terminal for an external flash while the other takes the remote cable
jack for the optional Remote Cable RM-CB1. A push button remote (cable-less)
comes with the camera.
Most other controls on the
camera are self-evident, such as WB for White Balance settings, AF/MF
for switching between manual and autofocus, and the familiar macro mode
and exposure compensation buttons. Inside, via the menu and monitor, there
are quite a few features and functions of note that aren't available on
the body controls, although some duplicate controls that are available
on the body itself. We'll cover some of the ones unique to the menu.
Flash Compensation
Flash compensation is available only from the menu. For the most part
the flash yields very good exposures, except when you're up close or working
in macro mode. Like with many film and digital cameras, close-up and macro
work bedevils the TTL flash exposure system. Toggle down to the flash
compensation setup in the recording menu and go -1 or sometimes -2 EV
for best results in macro. The optional, dedicated external flash--FL-40--adds
to the flash power coverage. You can mount the flash atop the camera on
the hot shoe, use a bracket for keeping the flash to the side, or even
take the flash off-camera for more directed lighting angle control. As
mentioned, the preview monitor often shows flash exposures as overexposed,
while the downloaded results were just fine.
Image Adjust Modes
You can also choose Sharpness, Contrast, and Noise Reduction only from
the monitor menu. Use High contrast for text and line drawing copying,
or for in-camera special effects (although they might be better done in
your image manipulation software later). Use Low contrast for flattening
out brightness values. High sharpness enhances and sharpens edges, while
low might be fun to use for portraits. Noise reduction can only be implemented
at 1/2 sec or slower shutter speeds. This mode takes two images, according
to the Olympus instruction book, and then processes out the glitzes and
zaps you might otherwise see in a low-light scene. Be aware, however,
that processing time for this setup can take more than a minute, so don't
expect to be doing spontaneous shooting with it. If you need more light
sensitivity you can also use the menu to up the ISO to 320 (two stops
more sensitive than the default ISO 80).
Time Lapse
Another fascinating image game you can play is time-lapse photography.
This activates a sequence of shots at a set time interval that you can
set in hours and minutes. You might think that this would drain batteries,
especially for the longer sets, but the camera does enter the sleep mode
in the midst of it all and then reawakens to do its thing. The overall
range can be from one minute to a full day. You can use this setup to
make a set of images of the rising sun, an opening flower, or for any
sort of documentary sequence. It's suggested that you pull down the eyepiece
shutter lever to prevent light from entering the viewfinder from behind
the camera (which you should also do with self-timer mode if you move
away from the camera). This stray light will affect exposure accuracy
if left unchecked.
Histograms
You can source a histogram readout on playback by using the Info button
on the lower back left of the camera. This tells you the tonal distribution
of the image and in many ways is usually a better indication of picture
success than what you might see on the monitor. After I figured out that
flash shots appeared overexposed and were okay I used the histogram to
confirm a good exposure. The graph tells you if you are losing information
in the bright or dark areas of the image. A classic bell curve is often
best, with ascending bars to the middle from the left and right sides.
Another feature worthy of note is Olympus' exclusive Pixel Mapping process.
This, says Olympus, should be done about once a year. Pixel Mapping checks
for "dead" pixels and performs an operation that patches them. This prevents
information dropout or at the least eliminates pixel "holes" in the CCD
recording.
Olympus has provided a number
of accessories for the camera. These include telephoto and wide angle
lens adapters, an even closer macro (close-up) lens, and the aforementioned
dedicated flash and remote cord. What Olympus does not include in the
package is a rechargeable battery solution, and the batteries they give
you, the two CR-V3 lithium packs, cannot be recharged. Happily, the E-20N
can take AA batteries, so that's where your rechargeable solution comes
from. But you can't use lithium or zinc carbon AAs--Olympus says they
will overheat and damage the camera--and must stick to NiCd or Ni-MH AA
types. An AC adapter and a lithium polymer battery and power battery holder
are sold separately.
I can live with the use of
Ni-MH AAs for rechargeables but the AC adapter is probably important for
downloading, as any power interruption during downloading will screw up
the operation. So, buy the optional AC adapter or invest in an Olympus
floppy adapter for SmartMedia cards and/or card readers for your downloads.
The lack of an included AC adapter is, in my view, regrettable. One could
argue that the price of this level of camera is kept in check by not including
one, but then again one could argue that the price assumes inclusion.
In The Field
The Olympus performed admirably in the field, and the results speak for
themselves. It functions like a good SLR should, albeit without the ability
to interchange lenses. One could also wish for a depth of field preview
to get visual control of the wide range of aperture settings available.
But after some time spent with the E-20N you can really take control of
your images and a myriad of image effects. The camera offers a very wide
range of creative options. Images opened up to 14MB, good enough for excellent
8x10 and very good 11x14 images. There was no argument with sharpness,
although when you get to shutter speeds lower than 1/60 sec you might
consider raising the ISO or steadying the camera when you shoot.
The Contrast image controls
are most appreciated, especially when working here in the hot Florida
sun. After a first few attempts at photographing during the middle of
the day, we switched to low contrast recording mode and were much happier
with the results. The monitor always showed the image a bit brighter than
we would like on preview, but the histogram tells the true story.
The Olympus E-20N is quite
a camera. In features it comes close to offering many of the options of
a full-fledged digital SLR, while in price it comes in between the top
point-and-shoot and the lower end SLRs. In that sense it is a bit of a
fence straddler, and may just appeal to the budgets of those seeking the
big chip and extensive creative controls without going over the $2000
mark. Whether you want to spend another grand for lens interchangeability
and other SLR features is up to you, but you can't go too wrong with this
amazingly versatile camera.
For more information, contact
Olympus America Inc. at (631) 844-5321; fax: (631) 844-5262; www.olympus.com.
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