Olympus C-7000 Wide ZoomSeven megapixels, 5x zoom, great pictures, a ton of features, and great build quality - A real winner!<<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & InterfaceReview First Posted: 11/26/04 |
Image Storage and Interface
The
C-7000 Zoom uses xD-Picture Cards and comes with a 32MB card. Extra cards currently
can be purchased in sizes as large as 512MB from either Olympus or third parties.
(I strongly recommend buying at least a 128 MB card, to give yourself
enough space for extended outings.) Only Olympus-branded cards will enable the
camera's Panorama function, but third party models should otherwise be identical.
The Olympus C-7000 Zoom can store images in RAW, uncompressed TIFF, or compressed JPEG file formats. The TIFF setting is only available for the maximum resolution (3,072 x 2,304 pixels). RAW data is also saved at the maximum resolution, and the C-7000 Zoom has an editing option in the Playback menu for RAW files. JPEG compression levels include Super High Quality (SHQ), High Quality (HQ), and Standard Quality (SQ1 & SQ2). The myriad size options can be assigned to the camera's quality levels via the record setup menu, as shown in the table below. (Green table cells indicate image size options that can be assigned to each named quality setting.) Whatever image size/quality options are assigned to the five named quality settings can be quickly selected either by the "shortcut button" (see the description of the user interface later) or via the record setup menu.
| Size Options |
|
(3:2) |
|
2,288 x 1,712 | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
||||||
| |
|
|
|
||||||
| |
• |
• | |
|
|
||||
| |
|
• |
|
|
I appreciated the C-7000 Zoom's file naming protocol, which includesthe month and day at the beginning of the file name, and provides theoption of numbering images progressively from one card to the next, orof resetting the naming sequence for each card. The C-7000 Zoom letsyou write-protect individual images from accidental erasure by pressingthe Protect button on the rear panel.
As just mentioned, the C-7000 Zoom offers a large range of resolution and image compression settings. The table below shows all the available size/quality options, the number of each that can be stored on the included 32MB memory card, and the amount of image compression employed for each.
| Resolution/Quality 32 MB Memory Card |
Fine | Normal | RAW |
|
|
| 3072
x 2304 |
Images (Avg size) |
6 5.2 MB |
18 1.8 MB |
3 10.6 MB |
1 21.3 MB |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | 2:1 | - | |
| 2592 x 1944 | Images (Avg size) |
8 3.7 MB |
25 1.3 MB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | - | - | |
| 2288 x 1712 | Images (Avg size) |
11 2.9 MB |
32 981 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | - | - | |
| |
Images (Avg size) |
13 2.3 MB |
40 785 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | - | - | |
| |
Images (Avg size) |
22 1.4 MB |
64 497 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | - | - | |
| |
Images (Avg size) |
35 914 KB |
99 320 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 12:1 | - | - | |
| |
Images (Avg size) |
53 594 KB |
153 208 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 11:1 | - | - | |
| |
Images (Avg size) |
133 240 KB |
332 96 KB |
- | - |
| Approx. Compression |
4:1 | 10:1 | - | - | |
The C-7000 Zoom comes with interface software and cables for both Macintosh and Windows computers. It employs a USB Auto-Connect interface for high-speed computer connection. Like all of Olympus' most recent digicams, the C-7000 is a USB "storage class" device. This means it can connect directly to Mac OS Version 9.1 or later, or Windows Me or 2000 computers, without separate driver software. Storage-class or Auto-Connect connections are generally faster than device-class ones.
Downloading files to my Sony VAIO desktop computer running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked the C-7000 at 780 KBytes/second, a good if unspectacular transfer rate. (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.)
Lost Images? - Download this image-recovery program so you'll have it when
you need it...
Since we're talking about memory and image storage, this would be a good time
to mention the following: I get a lot of email from readers who've lost photos
due to a corrupted memory card. Memory card corruption can happen with any card
type and any camera manufacturer, nobody's immune. A surprising number of "lost"
images can be recovered with an inexpensive, easy to use piece of software though.
Given the amount of email I've gotten on the topic, I now include this paragraph
in all my digicam reviews. The program you need is called PhotoRescue, by DataRescue
SA. Read our review
of it if you'd like, but download the program now, so you'll have it.
It doesn't cost a penny until you need it, and even then it's only $29, with
a money back guarantee. So download PhotoRescue
for Windows or PhotoRescue
for Mac while you're thinking of it. (While you're at it, download the
PDF manual
and quickstart
guide as well.) Stash the file in a safe place and it'll be there when you need
it. Trust me, needing this is not a matter of if, but when... PhotoRescue
is about the best and easiest tool for recovering digital photos I've seen.
(Disclosure: IR gets a small commission from sales of the product, but I'd highly
recommend the program even if we didn't.) OK, now back to our regularly
scheduled review...
Follow Imaging Resource: