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Olympus EVOLT E-500 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-500 Sample Images E-500 Imatest Results --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Comparison with Olympus E-300 3. User Report 4. Design 5. Viewfinder 6. Optics 7. Lens Tests 8. Exposure & Flash 9. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 10. Operation & User Interface 11. Camera Modes & Menus 12. Image Storage & Interface 13. Video, Power, Software 14. 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 12:Image Storage & Interface Review First Posted: 09/25/2005, Updated: 12/05/2005

Image Storage and Interface

The E-500 stores images on either xD-Picture Cards or CompactFlash memory cards, and is compatible with IBM Microdrives. The E-500 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 256MB card, preferably a 1GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.)

The E-500 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, 1/8, or 1/12 compression, and SQ lets you choose both compression ratio and image resolution, with compression options of 1/2.7, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/12. 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 Olympus E-500 connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked it at 676 KBytes/second, on the slow side by current standards, but fast enough that most users probably won't feel a need for an external card reader. (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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