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Olympus EVOLT E-300 By: Shawn Barnett and Dave Etchells 8.0 megapixels, ZUIKO DIGITAL lens mount, digital SLR design, and loads of features! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet E-300 Sample Images E-300 Imatest Results E-300 Photo Gallery! --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Comparison with Nikon D70, Canon EOS Digital Rebel, and EOS 20D 3. User Report 4. Design 5. Viewfinder 6. Optics 7. Exposure & Flash 8. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 9. Operation & User Interface 10. Camera Modes & Menus 11. Image Storage & Interface 12. Video, Power, Software 13. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 11:Image Storage & Interface Review First Posted: 11/08/2004, Updated: 03/12/2005

Image Storage and Interface

The E-300 stores images on CompactFlash memory cards, and is compatible with IBM Microdrives. The E-300 does not come with a "starter" memory card, so you'll want to pick up a large capacity card right away. The camera lets you write-protect individual images from accidental erasure through the Playback menu. (Note that individually protected images can still be erased by a card format operation). (I strongly recommend buying at least a 128 MB card, preferably a 256 MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.)

The E-300 can store images in uncompressed TIFF, RAW, and compressed JPEG file formats. JPEG compression levels include Super High Quality at 1/2.7 (SHQ), High Quality at 1/4 (HQ), and Standard Quality at 1/8 (SQ). Through the Record menu, you can set the level of compression in SQ and HQ modes. HQ can be either 1/4 compression or 1/8 compression, and SQ lets you choose both compression ratio and image resolution, with compression options of 1/2.7, 1/4, and 1/8. Resolutions include 3,264 x 2,448 (HQ and SHQ quality settings only); 3,200 x 2,400; 2,560 x 1,920; 1,600 x 1,200; 1,280 x 960; 1,024 x 768; and 640 x 480 pixels. The chart below shows how many images can be stored on a 256 MB card at each size/quality setting.

The E-300 comes with interface software and cables for both Mac and Windows computers. It employs a USB interface for computer connection, and implements a "storage-class" connection for file downloads. There's also a "Print" mode for connection to PictBridge-compatible printers. Downloading files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked it at 500 KBytes/second. This is reasonably fast, but not nearly up to the speeds of current cameras with "high speed" USB 2.0 connections. (Cameras with slow USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast v1.1 interfaces run as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces run as fast as several megabytes/second.)

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