Olympus C-700 UZ Review: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

Top of the camera is the mode dial for switching between the eight modes: Play, Auto, Landscape, Sports, Portrait, Program Auto, A/S/M and Movie. As I've mentioned in other Olympus reviews I personally would like to have seen the play / record function removed from the mode dial and implemented as an separate switch.

In front of this is the shutter release button surrounded by the zoom control lever. In playback mode the zoom controller doubles as the playback zoom and thumbnail selector.

The C-700UZ refocuses when you stop zooming, so for example zooming from wide to half tele as soon as you let go of the zoom lever the camera will autofocus just as though you'd half-pressed the shutter release.

Mode Dial

	Playback Enters playback mode, displays last image shot and enables all play functions.
	Full Auto Automatic exposure, no access to exposure compensation, focus modes or any other creative camera options. This is the camera's point and shoot mode.
	S-Prg: Background Background (landscape) program mode, no access to focus modes, can set exposure compensation. The camera will calculate exposure automatically but will use the smallest possible aperture (large F number) to ensure a large depth of field. Can use the flash.
	S-Prg: Sports Sports program mode, no access to focus modes, can set exposure compensation. The camera will calculate exposure automatically but will use the fastest possible shutter speed to try to freeze the action. Can use the flash.
	S-Prg: Portrait Portrait program mode, no access to focus modes, can set exposure compensation. The camera will calculate exposure automatically but will use the largest possible aperture (small F number) to produce a narrow depth of field, this will produce a soft blurred background behind the subject. Can use the flash.
P	Program Auto Exposure Automatic exposure with full access to all manual controls. Camera calculates exposure (shutter speed, aperture and ISO if is set to Auto) based on current metered value (which depends on metering mode). Exposure can be compensated +/-2 EV in 0.3 EV steps by pressing the left or right arrows on the 4-way controller (rear). (+0.7 EV exposure compensation)
A	Aperture Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will attempt to select the best shutter speed for a proper exposure. Aperture is displayed on the LCD, press the up or down arrows (4-way controller, rear) to select different apertures. The cameras exposure system is constantly displaying the exposure on the LCD (either main or viewfinder), if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the aperture will be displayed in RED. Available apertures: Wide: F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.0, F8.0 Tele: F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.0, F8.0 (selected aperture F2.8 with +0.7 EV exposure compensation)
S	Shutter Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will attempt to select the best aperture for a proper exposure. Shutter speed is displayed on the LCD, press the up or down arrows (4-way controller, rear) to select different shutter speeds. The cameras exposure system is constantly displaying the exposure on the LCD (either main or viewfinder), if it's outside of the cameras exposure range (for instance trying to take a shot at 1/500s in darkness) the shutter speed will be displayed in RED. The LCD view changes to reflect the look of the final image at this exposure. Available shutter speeds: 1/2, 1/2.5, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/320, 1/400, 1/500, 1/650, 1/800, 1/1000 sec (selected shutter speed 1/3s with +0.7 EV exposure compensation)
M	Full Manual Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above (plus additional shutter speeds down to 16 seconds). Left and right arrows select aperture, up and down arrows select shutter speed. Beside the aperture and shutter speed readout there's a metering readout which will tell you if you're within 3 EV of the metered exposure (+/-3EV), over this value the camera will read out either -3 or +3 in RED. Additional shutter speeds: 16, 13, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3.2, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1, 1/1.3, 1/1.6 sec (aperture F2.8, shutter speed 1/3s, meter reads +1.7 EV over ideal exposure)
	Movie Clip For recording movie clips, press the shutter release to start / stop recording. There are two quality modes available HQ and SQ, both shoot QuickTime Motion JPEG (.MOV) @ 15 fps with or without Audio (recorded at 7.8 KHz). Maximum recording times: HQ: 320 x 240, max 15 secs (4 MB) SQ: 160 x 120, max 60 secs (4 MB)

Olympus haven't compromised their feature set for the C-700 UZ, it has a huge range of exposure and manual controls in keeping with the other C-x0x0Z digital cameras. There's everything the shutter bug could ask for from program auto to aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual. For the beginner there's Auto (point and shoot) and the S-Prg pre-programmed scene modes.

Zoom Control Function

	In Record Mode	In Play Mode
W	Zoom Wide Zooms focal length towards full wide (35 mm). The zoom controller operates at only one speed, it takes 2.15 seconds to go from full tele to full wide.	Zoom into displayed image Magnifies currently displayed image in steps: 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, 3.0 x. Use the 4-way controller (rear) to move around the magnified image.
T	Zoom Tele Zooms focal length towards full wide (105 mm). The zoom controller operates at only one speed, it takes 2.15 seconds to go from full wide to full tele.	Reset image zoom / thumbnails Returns image to normal view if magnified, otherwise enters thumbnail view mode (2 x 2, 3 x 3 or 4 x 4 thumbnails; selectable in the play mode menu).

Rear of camera controls

The back of the C-700UZ is relatively straightforward, all the important controls are within reach of your thumb, the profusion of icons surrounding the three top buttons can be a little confusing at first but become second nature after a little use.

Record Mode

	Flash Mode Toggles through the flash modes: Auto Flash, Auto with Anti Redeye, Flash On (Fill-in).
	Macro / metering Toggles between four macro focus modes / metering modes: Normal focus / Center weighted metering Normal focus / Spot metering Macro focus / Center weighted metering Macro focus / Spot metering Macro focus mode allows a minimum auto focus distance of 10 cm (3.9 in) instead of 60 cm (normal focus mode).
OK	Menu / Manual Focus A single quick press of this button enters the camera's menu system. Holding the button down for 1.5 seconds or more displays the AF / MF selector. Switching to MF allows you to manually select a focus position using a sliding ruler scale between 10 cm (at full Wide) and Infinity. During focusing the center portion of the frame is magnified.
AEL	Auto Exposure Lock Pressing the AEL button locks the exposure at the current measurement for use the next time the shutter release is pressed. This is useful for taking a reading from one area of the scene then recomposing to take the final shot. If you hold the button for a few seconds the display will indicate 'MEMO' which means that the exposure will be locked for several exposures (until you release it).
DRIVE	Drive (continuous) mode Selects one of the continuous shooting modes: Single shot Continuous, single AF Continuous, multiple AF (refocuses after each frame) Self-Timer Auto Bracket
	LCD Display Switch Switches the LCD live preview on or off. By default the LCD is off at power up, though you can set it to come on through the Custom setting of the "All Reset" menu. In record mode tapping this button twice in quick succession reviews the last image taken. Playback magnify is available in this review mode.
	Menu / OK In record / play mode enters the menu system (which is newly designed on the C-700UZ). This button also doubles as the OK (confirm) button when selecting menu options.

Play Mode

	Delete Selects current image for deletion, requires a press of the OK button to confirm deletion.
	Print Mark Toggles a tag against the current image for printing on compatible DPOF printers.
	Protect / Unprotect Toggles the read-only flag of the current image, protects against accidental deletion.
	Menu / OK In record / play mode enters the menu system (which is newly designed on the C-700UZ). This button also doubles as the OK (confirm) button when selecting menu options.