Olympus C-8080 8MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Wide Zoom

With a body modeled after Olympus's professional E-20N, it has a classic SLR-style look but with a smaller profile (it's less bulky than Sony's DSC-F828). The rubber hand grip feels quite comfortable, making it easy for our fingers to access all the operation buttons on the right side. That said, we had to train ourselves to press the shutter-release button instead of the power button, since it is placed a bit lower from the top than where our fingers wanted to go. We also occasionally turned off the camera when making adjustments to the mode dial.

The left side also collects several buttons that are used in combination with the jog dial on the back (enabling quick access without having to go through all the menus). These buttons include flash pop-up and mode selection, resolution and image quality, and exposure compensation buttons. The LCD can be pulled away from the camera body and tilted up and down, which is especially handy for capturing ground-level photos.

Ergonomics aside, the C-8080 offers a powerful array of photographic features that make it easy to snap pics automatically or with your own manual settings. Here are some highlights:

• The C-8080 has four continuous shooting modes, with the fastest being five shots at 1.5 frames-per-second (which was helpful in capturing the tip-off at an NCAA basketball game). It also has an AF burst mode where the focus is adjusted frame by frame, but this slows down the capture speed.
• The manual focus mode allows you to get in as close as 7.9 inches (20 cm). A zoomed portion of your subject appears at the center of the LCD enabling you to get the right adjustment.
• The movie mode allows you to record up to 640 x 480 resolution (VGA) with sound, and it's only limited by the amount of free space on your memory card--the LCD shows how much more video you can fit there. You'll also be able to hear audio during in-camera playback thanks to a small, built-in speaker at the bottom.

Although the 5x optical zoom is smaller than other current 8 MP models, we found it to be quite adequate. It's also a bit on the wide side--28-140mm with maximum aperture settings of f2.4 at wide and f3.5 at telephoto. The aspherical glass lens is built to the same quality level as the Zuiko lenses used with Olympus's E-1 digital SLR. We were quite happy with its clarity and ability to pick up fine details--even in a romantically lit restaurant.

The included 32 MB xD memory card is nice start, but you'll definitely need the space for storing 8 MP photos; we were able to fit 20 HQ 3264 x 2448 images onto the card. It's also compatible with Type I and II CompactFlash cards, and we recommend purchasing either a large-capacity CF card or a MicroDrive to ensure you've got enough capacity. One bonus of using xD is its faster write speed (images save about one second faster than a MicroDrive). The downside to using the two card formats at once is you have to choose a destination card each time you start the camera (it defaults to the xD card, even if it's maxed out).

We found the battery life to be quite long-lasting--we only used about half of its capacity during five days of moderate use. The C-8080 is powered by the rechargeable lithium-ion BLM-1 battery. The camera conserves battery power by going to sleep within three minutes of not being used; press any button to immediately bring it back to life.

Overall, Olympus delivers a worthy, professional, SLR-style camera with a good range of high-end controls, handy features, expandability, and great image detail. The only factor that tempers our enthusiasm is its somewhat awkward button layout. --Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

• Sharp 8-megapixel details and bright lens
• Good variety of professional-quality photographic features, including hot shoe and add-on lenses
• Articulated LCD and electronic viewfinder for saving battery drain
• Dual xD and CompactFlash/MicroDrive compatibility
• Long-lasting lithium-ion rechargeable battery

• Poor layout of control buttons--a slip of the finger easily turns off the camera
• Need to choose CF card every time camera is turned on if xD card also present

Optics and Resolution
With its 8-megapixel resolution, the C-8080 captures 3264 x 2448 pixel images for amazingly detailed poster-sized print enlargements. It also offers a full range of resolution modes, including: 2592 x 1944, 2288 x 1712, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480.

The C-8080 is equipped with a 5x, f2.4-3.5 optical zoom lens, which is constructed from 14 high quality lenses arranged in five groups and two aspherical lenses to reduce distortion. In addition, three ED elements help minimise chromatic aberration, an effect that often occurs when shooting in telephoto setting. The focal length extends from 7.1 to 35.6mm, equivalent 28mm to 140mm on a 35mm camera.

Movie Mode
In addition to capturing still images, you can also shoot short videos (without audio) in QuickTime motion JPEG format at 15 frames per second (fps). TheC-8080 has two resolution modes: 640 x 480 and 320 x 240.

More Features
By pressing one of the 13 direct control buttons arrayed around the camera body, a range of options can be viewed on the LCD or EVF (electronic viewfinder), and the setting can then be selected via the jog dial. The C-8080's advanced settings provide full manual operation and are ideal for experienced photographers who want to take control of their creativity.

The C-8080 boasts a new LCD that displays bright, clear images even under dazzling spotlights or in the summer sun. The adjustable 1.8-inch LCD (TFT, 134,000 pixels) enables you to swivel the LCD in multiple directions--upward from the camera body 90 degrees to shoot from the hip or 45 degrees downward to get the perfect over-the-head shot.

Alongside highly accurate light and white balance metering systems, the C-8080 features a dual AF system. A TTL contrast detection system is combined with an additional passive metering system, which uses a second sensor to calculate the phase difference and thus the subjectOs distance. The camera then fine-tunes the readings for optimum sharpness.

In addition to a release time lag of just 0.3 seconds, rapid data processing also dictates very fast exposure rates. For example, 1.6 frames (each with 8 million pixels) can be shot per second in the sequence shooting and auto bracketing settings in any JPEG mode.

Other features include:

• 0.44-inch electronic viewfinder (240,000 pixels)
• Dedicated Custom button allows you to jump into the feature you use the most with just the press of a button
• Eight customizable My Mode settings enable you to assign frequently used settings
• Scene modes: Portrait, Sports, Landscape, and Night Scene
• Image effects: Black and white, Sepia, Sharpness, Contrast, Color Phase, Resize (portable file size for e-mail or Web), Guideline
• Super Macro mode lets you get as close as 2 inches from your subject

Direct Printing
The C-8080 is PictBridge compatible, which enables you to transfer pictures from your digital camera to a compatible printer (such as the Olympus P-10), without a PC or image-editing software. All PictBridge devices share three basic features: camera-to-printer connecting, single-image printing, and uniform error messages (in case something goes wrong).

Storage and Transfer
The C-8080 features dual memory card slots--one for XD Picture Cards and another for CompactFlash Type I and II cards (MicroDrive compatible)--and can hold both media cards simultaneously for flexible storage options. It comes with a 32 MB XD memory card, which can store approximately 16 shots at 3264 x 2448 (HQ, JPEG setting).

Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via ultra-fast USB 2.0 connectivity, which means the camera can be connected to any USB-based Windows 98 Rev2Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.

Power and Size
The camera is powered by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery (BLM-1). It measures 4.9 x 3.3 x 3.9 (W x H x D) and weighs 23.3 ounces (excluding battery and storage media).

What's in the Box
This package contains the Camedia C-8080 digital camera, 32 MB XD memory card, lithium-ion rechargeable battery (BLM-1) and charger (BCM-2), remote control (RM-2), USB and A/V cables, carrying strap, lens hood, lens cap with retainer cord, quick-start guide, and printed instruction manual. The CD-ROM features Camedia Master software, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Camera Reference Manual.

Optional Accessories
The C-8080 accommodates the optional B-HLD30 Power Battery Holder. It holds a maximum of two lithium-ion BLM-1 rechargeable batteries for added energy to keep shooting for hours (one BLM-1 battery is included with the camera). Two new conversion lenses have been specially created for the C-8080 Wide Zoom, and both feature a bayonet mount for quick attachment to and removal from the CLA-8 conversion lens adapter that screws into the body of the camera.

• The WCON-08D is a 0.8x wide-angle converter lens that reduces the focal length by a factor of 0.8x (35mm conversion of 22.5mm) when fitted to the C-8080, providing greater wide-angle coverage without altering the aperture setting.
• To get even closer to the action, the TCON-14D, a 1.4x teleconverter lens, increases the focal length by a factor of 1.4x (35mm conversion of 160mm). To attach the TCON-14D or WCON-08D, the CLA-8 conversion lens adapter is required.