Custom Functions / settings

Olympus has developed a tradition of making phenomenally configurable cameras - even its least expensive DSLR has always allowed the kinds of changes that 90% of people will wonder about the need for, but the remaining 10% will be delighted to be able to change. Many of the settings included tend to be of the type that you'll likely set once and never return to, which makes Olympus's new trick of hiding the settings menu quite an astute one. Some semi-frequently changed settings have also been moved there (such as white balance which is on the Record menu on the E-30), but they're all replicated on the Super Control Panel, so it's unlikely anyone would delve into the menu to change them anyway.

The minor niggles we've seen before are still there - a two-tier tabbed menu system in which the behavior of top-level tabs and second-tier tabs is inconsistent, yet their appearance is very similar - but none of them is disastrous. The Olympus classic of only being able to set a manual white balance if you've assigned it to the function button is perpetuated, but this is only likely to trouble a handful of people.

Settings menu

This is the real biggie; nine sections ('A' to 'I') of options grouped into fairly logical sections covering everything from autofocus to image quality settings and button behavior. Although separated into sections, once you're in the main list, the sections link together, effectively creating a 16-page list of options (unlike the top-level tabs, that loop at the end of each tab).

A: AF/MF

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
AF mode	• Still Picture S-AF C-AF MF S-AF+MF  • Movie S-AF C-AF MF S-AF+MF
AF area	• Automatic selection  • Single area Select area using arrow keys	Auto uses all focus points to focus on the closest object.
[...] Set Up	• Off  • Loop  • Spiral
Reset lens	• Off  • On	Refocuses to infinity when the camera shuts down.
Bulb focusing	• Off  • On	Defines whether focus can be altered during exposure in bulb mode.
Focus ring	• Counter clockwise  • Clockwise	Defines the direction in which the manual focus ring operates.
MF Assist	• On  • Off	Automatically magnifies the preview image as soon as the manual focus ring is moved.

B: Button/Dial

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Dial function	• P Program shift Flash Exp. Comp Exp. Comp.  • A F No. Flash Exp. Comp Exp. Comp.  • S Shutter speed Flash Exp. Comp Exp. Comp.  • M F No. Shutter speed  • Menu	Allows functions to be applied to the two command dials independently. In each instance, any of the options can be applied to either dial to suit the operator.   Menu allows the behavior of the dial while navigating menus to be swapped.
Dial direction	• Dial 1  • Dial 2	Swaps the direction in which the dial operates.
AEL/AFL	• S-AF Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3  • C-AF Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4  • MF Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3	Allows the selection of modes that dictate the behavior of exposure and focus at shutter-button half press, full press and AEL/AFL button held. (Described at the bottom of the page. Click on the focus type to jump to the correct table)
AEL/AFL MEMO	• Off  • On	Toggles whether AEL/AFL button needs to be held to retain AEL.
Fn Function	• Depth of Field Preview  • One Touch Custom White Balance  • Current AF point/Home point  • Manual Focus  • JPEG/RAW+JPEG  • Test picture  • My mode  • Backlit LCD  • Off  • Face detect	Assigns a function to the function button.
Left Arrow function	• AF Mode  • Metering  • Flash Mode  • Backlit LCD  • Image Stabilizer	Assigns a function to the left arrow on the dial (marked 'AF').
My Mode setup	• My Mode 1 Set Reset  • My Mode 2 Set Reset
Button timer	• Off  • 3 Sec  • 5 Sec  • 8 Sec  • Hold	Sets how long the direct-access buttons remain active after they are pressed. Hold leaves the button active until pressed again.
AEL/AFL <> Fn	• Off  • On	Swaps the function of the AEL/AFL and Fn buttons.
Function	• Off  • On  • AF Area	Locks the four-way controller to prevent unintended operation or lets it specify AF point.

C: Release/Continuous

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
RLS Priority S	• Off  • On	Chooses whether camera waits for focus before shooting in S-AF mode.
RLS Priority C	• Off  • On	Chooses whether camera waits for focus before shooting in C-AF mode.

D: Disp/Beep/PC

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
HDMI	• 1080i  • 720p  • 480p / 576p	Set the HDTV output resolution
Video out	• NTSC  • PAL
Beep	• On  • Off	Decides whether the camera beeps upon obtaining focus lock
Sleep	• Off  • 1 Min  • 3 Min  • 5 Min  • 10 Min	Sets the period of inactivity before sleep mode is engaged.
USB Mode	• Auto  • Storage  • MTP  • Print	Defines the behavior of the camera when connected by USB. Auto brings up a selection menu each time a connection is made.
Live View boost	• Off  • On	On brightens screen for visibility, Off mimics brightness of exposure.
Face detect	• Off  • On
Info setting	• Play Info Image Only On/Off Overall On/Off Histogram On/Off Highlights and Shadow On/Off  • LV Info Histogram On/Off Zoom On/Off Multi View On/Off Image Only On/Off Composition Grid On/Off Thirds Grid On/Off Cross hairs Grid On/Off	Enables/Disables the different playback and Live view screen modes that are found by pressing the 'Info' button.
Volume	• Mute, 5 levels
Slide show setup	• Slide Interval 1-10 secs  • Movie Interval Full Short
Level Gauge	• On  • Off	Displays the vertical and horizontal tilt bars on the live view screen
Movie Audio	• On  • Off	Movies can be recorded with or without sound

E: Exposure/Metering/ISO

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Ev step	• 1/3 EV  • 1/2 EV  • 1 EV	Sets incremental steps used for exposure
Metering mode	• ESP  • Center Weighted Average  • Spot  • Highlight based spot  • Shadow based spot
AEL Metering	• Auto  • Center weighted  • Spot  • Spot (Highlights)  • Spot (Shadows)	Selects the metering mode used when the AEL button is pressed. Auto meters using the mode currently selected.
ISO	• Auto  • ISO 100  • ISO 200  • ISO 400  • ISO 800  • ISO 1600  • ISO 3200  • ISO 6400	(1 EV steps shown here - 1/3 EV steps also available).
ISO step	• 1/3 EV  • 1 EV	Sets incremental steps used for sensitivity.
ISO-Auto set	• High limit ISO 200 - 6400  • Default ISO 200 - 6400	Sets the upper limit and default value used by Auto ISO mode.
ISO-Auto	• P/A/S  • All	Selects which modes ISO-Auto is active in. All includes Manual mode.
Bulb timer	• 30 Min  • 25 Min  • 20 Min  • 15 Min  • 8 Min  • 4 Min  • 2 Min  • 1 Min	Sets maximum exposure in bulb mode.
Anti-Shock	• Off  • On: 1 - 30 sec	Equivalent to 'mirror lock up' on a conventional SLR.
Bracketing	• AE BKT 3F / 0.3 EV 3F / 0.7 EV 3F / 1.0 EV  • WB BKT A-B Off 3F / 2 Step 3F / 4 Step 3F / 6 Step G-M Off 3F / 2 Step 3F / 4 Step 3F / 6 Step  • FL BKT 3F / 0.3 EV 3F / 0.7 EV 3F / 1.0 EV  • ISO BKT 3F / 0.3 EV 3F / 0.7 EV 3F / 1.0 EV	Exposure, white balance, flash and ISO bracketing options

F: Flash/Custom

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Flash Mode	• Auto  • Red-eye  • On  • Off  • Red-eye / Slow sync  • On / Slow sync  • On / Slow sync 2 ('rear curtain')	Can also be assigned to the left arrow if you're using the optional flash unit and want faster access to the flash mode.
Flash + EV comp	• -3 to +3 (0.3 EV steps)	Can also be assigned to one of the dials.
Flash X-Sync	• 1/60 - 1/180	Sync speed of flash
Flash slow limit	• 1/30 - 1/180	Lowest shutter allowed with flash
Flash/EV comp	• Off  • On	Links AE compensation and flash exposure compensation

G: Record mode/Color/WB

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Noise reduction	• Off  • On  • Auto	Enable or disable long exposure noise reduction.
Noise Filter	• Off  • Low  • Standard  • High	Changes the noise processing level. High is recommended for high ISO images.
White Balance	• Auto  • 5300 K (Daylight)  • 7500 K (Shade)  • 6000 K (Cloudy)  • 3000 K (Incandescent)  • 4000 K (Fluorescent 1)  • 4500 K (Fluorescent 2)  • 6600 K (Fluorescent 3)  • 5500 K (Flash)  • Custom  • Kelvin (2000 - 14000 K)	- Fine tune Amber / Green (15 steps) - " - " - " - " - " - " - " - " - "
All WB comp	• All Set Amber (15 steps) Green (15 steps)  • All Reset	Applies a correction to all WB presets. Or resets that correction.
Color space	• sRGB  • Adobe RGB	Sets the color space used in JPEGs.
Shading comp	• Off  • On	Automatically corrects light fall-off at image corners
Compression set	• JPEG size/quality 1 set Large / Compression Medium / Compression Small / Compression • JPEG size/quality 2 set Large / Compression Medium / Compression Small / Compression • JPEG size/quality 3 set Large / Compression Medium / Compression Small / Compression • JPEG size/quality 4 set Large / Compression Medium / Compression Small / Compression	Selects the image size (Large/Middle/Small) and compression settings (SuperFine/Fine/Normal/Basic), that the camera uses for shooting JPEGS.
Pixel count	• Middle 3200 x 2400 2560 x 1920 1600 x 1200 • Small 1280 x 960 1024 x 768 640 x 480	Defines the sizes of 'Middle' and 'Small' JPEGs. The actual pixel values produced are dictated by the Image aspect option (below).

H: Record/Erase

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Quick erase	• Off  • On	Defines whether a confirmation screen appears before deletion.
RAW + JPEG erase	• JPEG  • RAW  • RAW + JPEG	Dictates which components of a RAW + JPEG shot are deleted when deleting images individually.
File name	• Auto  • Reset	Auto continues numbering onto new cards Reset starts again.
Edit Filename		Add up to a 2-digit prefix to image names. One preset per color space.
Priority set	• No  • Yes	Sets default position on delete and format confirmation screens.
dpi settings	• Auto  • Custom	Applies print resolution based on image size or a chosen output res.

I: Utility

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Pixel Mapping	• Start	Automatically senses 'dead pixels' and maps them out by averaging co lour values from surrounding pixels (another fairly unique feature).
Exposure shift	• ESP  • Center weighted  • Spot	Each metering mode can be fine-tuned in 1/6 EV intervals between -1 and +1 EV.
Warning level	•+2 to -2	Adjusts whether the battery warning lights up sooner or later than usual.
Level Adjust	• Reset	Allows you to redefine what the level gauge considers to be horizontal (just in case you disagree with the rest of the world).

Setup menu

The setup menu contains just six options, with one of them acting to simplify the menu structure by hiding the complicated settings menu. It's an interesting idea (especially since it's unusual to have to regularly delve into the settings menu, given that all key settings are directly accessible through the Super Control Panel), that can make the Olympus menu system considerably less intimidating.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Date / Time	• Date  • Time  • Date Format
Language		Selects menu language. Varies depending on market. Additional languages can be added with Olympus Master software.
LCD Adjust	• Brightness -7 to +7  • Color temp -7 to +7	Adjust brightness and color balance of the LCD
Record View	• Off  • Auto playback  • 1 - 20 sec	Amount of time record review is displayed. Auto playback then moves to playback mode - allowing deletion.
Settings menu display	• On  • Off	Hides or reveals the settings menu to simplify the menu structure.
Firmware	• Show	Displays lens and body firmware

AEL/AFL button combinations

AEL/AFL modes (S-AF & MF)

AEL/AFL modes (C-AF)