Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Review: Digital Photography Review

Left side controls

On the left side of the camera on an angled piece of the body and also just beyond this on the flat side are a range of button controls. The majority of these controls are operated by holding the button and turning the jog dial on the rear of the camera. The right column of the table below shows the pop-up overlay which appears when holding that particular button (note that this overlay is normally shown with the live view behind it, we used a black background for clarity). Note that in some of these settings modes you can press SET to display a sub menu.

Controls (Record mode)

WB	White balance • Auto • Preset 1 • Preset 2 • Custom • Manual preset SET: sub menu
	Image size & quality • RAW • TIFF • SHQ (JPEG) • HQ (JPEG) • SQ1 (JPEG) • SQ2 (JPEG) SET: sub menu
	Focus mode • Auto Focus (normal) • Macro Focus • Manual Focus • Super Macro Focus (zoom locked) • Super Macro & Manual Focus (zoom locked) SET: sub menu
	Exposure compensation • -2.0 to +2.0 EV • 0.3 EV steps SET: sub menu
	Flash power compensation • -2.0 to +2.0 EV • 0.3 EV steps
	Flash mode • Auto • Auto with red-eye reduction • Flash on • Flash on with Slow Sync • Flash off SET: sub menu
	Metering mode • ESP metering • Spot metering (AF target area) • Multi-metering (up to 8 different points)

Controls (Play mode)

	Protect Pressing the protect button toggles the protection of the current image (on or off). Protecting an image sets the read-only flag on the storage media so that the image can not be accidentally deleted. This does not protect the image from a full media format.
INFO	Information Switches display modes between normal with brief information overlay, normal with detailed exposure information overlay and small image with histogram and exposure information.
	Rotate Pressing the rotate button rotates the displayed image through either 90 or 270 degrees. This rotation is then recorded in the file header and subsequent playback of the image will be in this orientation. Note that this option does not actually rotate the JPEG image data.
	DPOF print mark Enters print mark mode where you can mark images for printing on DPOF compatible equipment (such as kiosk print stations).

Rear of camera controls

The rear of the C-8080 is fairly straightforward, Olympus has moved the majority of the camera settings buttons to the left side leaving only the navigational and playback controls on the rear. This is a nice, logical and simple design.

Controls (Record mode)

	Self-timer / Remote mode • Off • Self-timer (12 seconds) • Remote control
QUICK VIEW	Quick View Press the Quick View button to enter a shooting priority play mode, all the normal play functions are available (browsing, deletion, magnification etc.) the only difference being that a half press of the shutter release (or pressing Quick View once more) returns the camera to shooting mode.
	OK / Menu This button is used to enter / leave menus and confirm menu options. In record mode pressing it enters the record menu.
	4-way controller (Arrow pad) Used to navigate menus or change settings. In Program AE mode press up or down to change the program shift amount.
	Display Single click the Quick View button to switch between the LCD monitor, Electronic Viewfinder and Control Panel display (if enabled).
	Media select Press this button to switch between Compact Flash media xD-Picture Card. This will only work if you have media inserted into both slots, otherwise the camera uses whichever slot is populated.

Controls (Play mode)

	Erase Deletes the currently selected image, requires a Yes / No confirmation.
	OK / Menu This button is used to enter / leave menus and confirm menu options. In play mode pressing it enters the play menu.
	4-way controller (Arrow pad) Used to browse through images, navigate menus or change settings. Note that you can also use the Jog Dial to browse images in play mode.
	Display Single click the Quick View button to switch between the LCD monitor and Electronic Viewfinder.
	Media select Press this button to switch between the SmartMedia/xD-Picture Card slot or the Compact Flash slot. This will only work if you have media inserted into both slots.

Front of camera controls

On the front of the camera is the shutter release button and the AEL (AE Lock button). Press the AEL button to lock the exposure for the next shot, hold the AEL button to 'memo' the exposure which means that the camera keeps the exposure setting for multiple shot.

Press the AEL button in manual exposure mode to display a graphical 'digital meter' indicating the difference between the selected exposure and the metered exposure.