Olympus C8080WZ camera
Why I loved the Olympus C-8080WZ camera:
this document was written in 2004 when the 8080 was released, and this model has now been superseded and thus in 2012 I would go for
Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera.
The following is some information I have gathered together to help users of the Olympus C8080 digital camera. I have tried to ensure it is accurate but take no responsibility for any problems that may arise from your use of this data.
Some technical aspects:
sensor:
Sony 2/3“ 8 megapixel 8.8×6.6mm, 3264x2448pixels at ?7 micron size, 4:3 aspect ratio (same as Sony DSC-828, Nikon 8700, Dimage A2)
requires 30.8x magnification to make a 8”x10“ print ⇒ circle of confusion for 250micron dot size on print = 8.1 microns (cw 18micron on EOS10D, and 29.5microns on 35mm film), however, the diffraction limited spot size is 6 microns at f4.5, 8.45 microns at f6.3 and 10.7 microns at f/8
relative size to 35mm film = 0.254 (ie. focal length multiplier is reciprocal of this = 3.93x)
thus focal length of 14mm equates to 55mm lens on 35mm camera
COC / focal length2 = 8.1/(142) = 0.041, thus the relative depth of field to a 35mm camera with 55mm lens is 3.4x (at apertures wider than f/6.3 otherwise need to adjust for diffraction limitations)
lens:
f2.4-3.5 7.1-35.6mm = 28-140mm (35mm equiv) with 58mm filter thread (hence WZ = Wide Zoom)
NB. When a lens is focused at the hyperfocal distance everything from infinity to 1/2 the hyperfocal distance will lie within the depth of field (i.e. will be “acceptably” sharp”)
depth of field tables (these are what I have calculated, I need to validate their accuracy still):
focal length | 35mm equiv. | f-ratio | focus distance (m) | hyperfocal distance | near point of DOF | far point of DOF | total DOF | Rel.DOF to 35mm equiv |
7.1 | 28 | f/2.4 | 0.8m | 2.55 | 0.61m | 1.16m | 0.55m | 5 |
7.1 | 28 | f/8 | 0.8m | 0.56m | 0.33m | infinity | | |
14 | 55 | f/2.8 | 0.8m | 8.8m | 0.73 | 0.88m | 0.14m | 3.5 |
14 | 55 | f/8 | 0.8m | 2.23m | 0.59m | 1.23m | 0.64m | 5.6 |
25 | 90 | f/2.8 | 2m | 28m | 1.87m | 2.15m | 0.28m | 3.5 |
35.6 | 140 | f/3.5 | 0.8m | 46m | 0.79m | 0.81m | 0.026m | 4.6 |
35.6 | 140 | f/8 | 0.8m | 14.73m | 0.76m | 0.84m | 0.08m | 6.2 |
functions:
the available functions are numerous and usually much more than the digital SLRs
less obvious functions:
set manual focus position using auto-focus:
press AF/MF button while half-pressing shutter button and focus is obtained
can then use up/down arrows to manually adjust focus but don't rely on distance scale for accuracy and don't move zoom position
change position of the spot AF mark:
display what camera is focused on within the magnified screen:
some functions though are mutually exclusive - ie. you can only use one at a time, for example:
the “frame assist” and “histogram” - even if the histogram is only set to activate with the exposure modify button.
frame assist not available in panorama or guideline shooting.
many functions not available with digital zoom=on such as the “moving stop exposure target” f or moving the AF marker function
sequential or bracket shooting not available if TIFF or noise reduction = on, and in these modes, built-in flash does not work (ext. flash will not fire in bracket mode).
movie mode - cannot change optical zoom, or focus or use flash during movie
panorama mode is only with Olympus xD cards and only in jpeg mode & requires Camedia Master software to stitch.
White balance, white balance compensation, hue and saturation cannot be used in black & white or sepia shooting.
Lens converters:
Flash photography using the in-built flash unit:
the in-built flash unit has a modest output with GN of approx. 9m at 100 ISO
flash sync is at shutter speeds up to 1/300th sec - it still works at faster shutter speeds but the flash intensity will be less.
whichever exposure mode you are in, you can modify the intensity of the flash +/- 2 f-stops by holding down the flash & +/- buttons simultaneously while rotating the control dial
the in-built flash does not fire in movie mode or in sequential shooting modes or in bracket mode, but an external flash unit may fire in sequential shooting modes if it has sufficient recycle time.
flash flipped up in exposure modes of either: P, night, action, landscape, portrait or A:
these modes will result in a fixed shutter speed of 1/30th sec if wide angle and 1/125th sec if telephoto (unless Slow Sync in which case a slower shutter speed will be used if low light).
quoted working range of 0.8-5.8m at wide angle and 0.2-4.0m at telephoto when in Programmed exposure mode
flash modes:
Auto: flash fires automatically in low light or backlight conditions
Red Eye Reduction: fires a pre-flashes to make pupil smaller followed by main flash 1 sec later - so keep camera still
Fill-in: flash fires regardless of available light
Slow sync: allows for slower shutter speeds up to 4 sec (15sec in Aperture mode) with flash firing either at start of exposure (Slow Sync 1) or at end of exposure (Slow Sync 2) tip: use a tripod!!!
Red Eye Reduction Slow sync: combines Red Eye Reduction with Slow Sync 1
flash flipped up in Manual exposure mode:
cannot use the following in-built flash modes: Auto, Red Eye reduction, Fill-in, Red Eye Reduction Slow Sync
Slow Sync can be used with shutter speeds up to 15sec
if use the Slave mode, can adjust the intensity of the flash from 1 to 10 as below and use trial and error or the GN's as given below as a guide to the exposure setting.
Flash photography using external slave units:
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basic set up:
external flash unit must have or be attached to a slave trigger device that detects the camera flash
set exposure mode to manual
pop-up internal flash
set camera flash to SLAVE then set output to desired amount from 1 to 9 according to amount of fill-in light you need
set shutter speed up to 1/300th sec
set ISO & aperture according to external flash exposure readings
consider setting remote control on and use remote to fire the camera
consider using manual focus
getting a black background while still firing the in-built flash to trigger a slave flash:
how dark can one get the background blue sky when using fill-in flash as the main light source on the subject?
camera needs to be set to 50ISO, f/8, 1/300th sec on manual mode
this equates in flash exposure to f/11 at 100ISO, so for inbuilt flash to fully exposure subject, subject must be at 1m when set to power = 10.
sky will appear royal blue ie. a mid-tone
sky can be made darker still by either:
shorten shutter speed but then rapidly lose flash output, so need very powerful external flash or close subject distance, or both.
using a filter, but don't forget to factor this in when calculating fill-in flash exposure if using manual flash
blue sky can be made white by increasing this exposure setting by 3 or more f-stops, then recalculating fill-in flash
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connect a slave trigger device to the Metz PC-cord and ensure it faces the camera's flash
set the Metz to either auto or manual settings
use a flash meter, calculator or trial & error to determine correct exposure to set in the camera
optionally set up reflector sheets to bounce the flash light to opposite side of subject
optionally connect other slave flash units
Metz 45CL-4 guide numbers with diffuser on:
when the Metz fill in flash is used as well, 85% of output is via main flash & 15% via fill-in flash (also the light reducing filter reduces its output by 60%)
Resolution:
Focusing:
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auto-focus issues:
auto-focus depends on vertical lines and contrast in the subject, absence of these or a very bright area in the centre or fast moving subjects will make focus difficult - it may select a different focus or default to ~3m if AF fails.
camera tends to choose the closest object in the centre region to focus on, so consider locking focus on subject (eg. a person's eyebrows oriented vertically in the central AF markers) by keeping shutter half-pressed and recomposing.
I have found the BEST way to reliably get accurate focus in studio headshots (ie. at 100mm focal length or more) in low light such as the modeling light of a softbox, is to set the camera to MF and manually focus on the bright catchlight in an eye until they are as sharp as possible. All other methods of AF in this situation are unreliable, more often than not you will get a blurred image!
CCD sensor contrast detection - this is always in use
P-AF: phase detection via AF sensor:
this is additionally used unless either:
this may not work well if teleconverter adapter is in place, thus consider turning it off
iESP mode: camera chooses the subject on which to focus - the focus marks move to indicate what has been chosen
spot mode:
camera attempts to focus on whatever is between the centrally placed focus marks & P-AF is turned off
spot focus region can be moved by holding down the focus button while moving the arrow buttons (but not possible in digital zoom mode)
turning camera off or changing shooting mode returns the focus region to the centre
fulltime AF: you do not have to half-press shutter to focus, but drains battery quicker.
cannot use auto-focus with AF illuminator when either:
normal auto-focus: min. focus 20cm at wide angle
macro focus: speeds up focusing for distances of 20-80cm
super macro focus: focus at 5cm allows horizontal image of ~43mm; cannot use zoom or in-built flash
manual focus issues:
accurate manual focus is difficult if using the LCD or viewfinder to focus and watch the magnified image as you move the focus in or out by pressing on the up/down buttons adjacent to the LCD screen
zooming in on the subject, focusing then zooming out does not work with this lens. Manual focus must be set for the zoom setting and reset if the zoom is changed.
a good tip is to use auto-focus to focus then press manual focus button to set the focus at that point - as long as your camera-subject distance or zoom does not change this can then be left for subsequent photos, particularly good in studio, action or low light photography.
there is a BUG with the 8080 in that when the manual focus is set to infinity at wide - medium focal lengths, distance objects are not in focus but need a -0.25 diopter lens attachment to make them in focus. Maximum focus seems to be at 3m. This is not a problem at telephoto. - this is perhaps a firmware issue that needs to be resolved.
super macro focus: focus at 5cm allows horizontal image of ~43mm; cannot use zoom or in-built flash
Exposure:
one of the most powerful features of the 8080 is its live histogram display
for most situations, set histogram to +/- ON:
in general use, the LCD displays an optimised view for viewing (not how it will look) and number of f-stops under/over exposed according to the selected settings
esp. when in manual mode, press the +/- button to see how the image will actually be as well as to see a live histogram
you can move the histogram target with the arrow buttons - the area inside this target will display as green in the histogram. Press OK to return it to the centre.
NB. with the histogram turned on in manual exposure mode, the viewfinder may appear black if you have set exposure to be very under-exposed for the ambient light - as you may well do when using flash, this will make it impossible to compose, so just turn the histogram setting off.
alternatively, set histogram to DIRECT and this will display image how it will actually be plus show which blocks of the image will lose detail due to either under-exposure (marked as blue) or over-exposure (marked as red).
don't forget, in auto modes, you can set the exposure on a given target by pressing the AEL button on the front, pressing it again will cancel it.
some links on how to use the histogram:
Default image processing settings:
as I shoot mainly in RAW mode if time allows, the in-camera image processing is not an issue, however, when shooting in non-RAW modes, adjusting these settings may improve your images.
the usual setting for the Olympus C5050 that seems to give the best results according to Alfred Molon are:
Sharpness: -3 (because default sharpness is high, resulting in noise)
Contrast: -2
Saturation: +2 (the 5050 tends to under-saturate a bit)
I am still not sure what the best settings for the O8080 are.
RAW image software:
RAW image files (.ORF for Olympus) must be “developed” in software before they can be viewed as images
various software have various capabilities in this development mode such as ability to alter white balance, exposure, sharpness, etc all of which are better done on RAW files than on a jpeg file where you have already lost some of the dynamic range of the raw data.
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Battery:
the 8080 uses a long lasting battery (~500 shots), but the charger takes 5hrs to recharge it
always turn camera off before changing battery
have a 2nd battery so that you can allow each battery to go flat prior to charging as this will give you the most usage from the batteries as each battery lasts about 500 recharge cycles irrespective of how flat the battery is prior to recharging.
uses the SAME BATTERY as most of the E-series dSLRs except the compact E400/E410.
to minimise battery usage:
turn full time AF off
avoid repeated zooming in & out
avoid pressing shutter half-down to focus
turn LCD off or at least lower its brightness
disconnect camera from PC or printer
avoid using microdrive CF cards
turn powersave mode on, this:
does not allow LCD to go on
sets sleep mode on & viewfinder turns off after 10secs of non-use
fastest shutter speed is 1/2000thsec
turn off the AF illuminator
Memory cards:
when changing cards always make sure camera is turned off, the viewfinder is off & the lens retracted.
xD - mainly used only for panoramic photo stitch mode
CF:
don't use PC to delete or move photos, always use the camera for best compatibility & use format regularly, esp. if you want to delete all photos as otherwise manually deleting the photos is time consuming.
Olympus C8080 is not compatible with 340Mb microdrive but should be compatible with other CF plus Type II microdrives, although I can't get my MagicStore Plus 2.2Gb card to work with it.
if get Card Error, try using Scandisk on the PC
general CF microdrive issues:
uses more power
may not function if battery low, esp. if xD card is there as well (consider removing it)
subject to vibration-induced damage thus avoid on knocking camera, bumpy roads, construction sites, etc
avoid areas of strong magnetism
be gentle with the card
seems CF cards sometimes get trashed, consider buying Sandisk who give a 5yr warranty!
Image aspect ratio:
the default ratio on the 8080 is 4:3 ie. 3264×2448 pixels (ratio 1.33)
it can be changed to 3:2 (ie. 3264×2176) to assist with some photo lab printing (ratio 1.5)
but to print an 8“x10” print you need either cropped to ratio of 1.25 or use variable width white borders
5“x7” is ratio 1.4
A4 borderless paper print (eg. Canon printers) is 297x210mm = ratio of 1.41
a computer monitor screen resolution is usual 4:3 such as 1024×768 or 800×600 has ratio of 1.33