Olympus E-20 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom
List Price: $2,249.99
Details
- Uses 2 biodegradable lithium batteries (included) or 4 AA batteries; auto-connects with Macs and PCs via USB anchorage
- In agreement with SmartMedia and Type I and II CompactFlash
- 4x visual zoom lens with autofocus
Description
You'd be perplexing-pressed to find a digital camera that captures mastery images than those from the Olympus E-20N. The camera pairs a 5-megapixel sensor with a favourable-quality custom-designed 4x zoom lens for photos with understandability that rivals film.First, a note about naming conventions: this camera is in the same way known as the E-20 and the E-20P. The N in E-20N signifies that this is an NTSC (North American) mock-up. European versions are called E-20P because their video-out earmark is designed to work with PAL televisions. The models are otherwise corresponding.
Design and Optics
The E-20N looks and feels like a high-eminence professional film SLR. It's hefty, weighing in at 37 ounces, due both to the specs in the lens and the camera's cast-aluminum body. Unlike other digital cameras in its order, the lens on the E-20N is not removable, which is both a good thing and a bad trend. Digital SLRs from other manufacturers typically embrace just the camera body, and adding a quality lens is a consequential additional expense. Olympus asserts that having removable lenses exposes the sensor to dust, but digital SLRs from Nikon, Canon, and Fuji all use removable lenses, and dust isn't a very much reported problem with those models. Olympus also states that using a lens specifically expected for a digital camera produces sharper images than using a lens expected for a 35mm SLR. This makes sense, since the imaging sensor in a digital camera is smaller than a 35mm adverse.
The lens on the E-20N contains aspheric elements, ED elements, and a Gauss-transcribe lens group--features designed to maximize image distinction, and typically found only on high-end lenses. In 35mm terms, the lens zooms from 35-140mm, with a utmost aperture of f2.0 to f2.4, depending on how much zoom is hardened. If you're looking for even more flexibility, add-on lenses ranging from 28mm to 420mm are handy.
To compose your photos, either use the swivel-mounted 1.8-inch LCD on the struggling against odds of the camera or look through the traditional-style ground-spyglass viewfinder. Most digital SLRs use a mirror to send bearing in mind explain to either the viewfinder or the CCD sensor, but the Olympus uses a beam-splitter--bluntly a prism--to illuminate the viewfinder and the sensor simultaneously. The LCD monitor equally sits on a hinge, letting you tilt it up 90 degrees, or fluff 20 degrees, so you can take pictures from unusual camera angles while noiseless accurately framing the scene.
The 5-megapixel CCD sensor on the E-20N is one of the highest-stick-to-it-iveness sensors currently available and captures images with filmlike point by point. Like most CCDs, this unit retains a sketch limitation handed down from the device's origins in box cameras: it is an interlaced chip, which means the camera reads tidings from the CCD twice--once for all pixels in the sensor's even rows, and anew for all the odd rows. The camera then merges these two sets of text into a single image. This technology limits the top shutter belt along in 5-megapixel mode to 1/640th of a second--reasonably quick, but not profligate enough for high-speed photography. To get around this limitation, Olympus has supplementary a progressive-scan feature to the camera. In simple terms, this way only reads information from half of the pixels on the sensor (and limits your photos to 2.5 megapixels), but increases your shutter fly to a screaming 1/18,000th of a second, increasing the camera's flexibility tremendously.
More Features
Shooting options on the E-20N encompass all of the typical modes you'd expect to see on a high-end consumer digital camera: program, space priority, shutter priority, and manual shooting modes. Other consumer-controlled settings include exposure compensation, metering state, ISO setting, flash, white balance, and focus. Users can mislay white balance on auto, select from a number of kelvin temperatures, or manually generate a preset. The built-in flash features red-eye reduction, auto, bring up to date-in, and off modes. External flashes can connect to the E-20N through the hot-shoe on top of the camera. Revealing compensation can be set from -3 to +3 EV in one-third EV increments. The ISO can be set to 80, 160, or 320. In the same way, an autobracketing feature takes three pictures, one over weak and one under exposed, and allows you to set the exposure compensation up to one EV step in either aiming, in one-third EV step increments. A histogram function lets you consider exposure information after you capture an image, giving you instantaneous feedback about how to improve your picture-taking skills. A on the loose internal buffer allows the E-20N to take up to take up to four shots in concatenation at three frames per second, even when set to record images as uncompressed TIFFs.
Power
The E-20N uses four AA or two CR-V3 lithium batteries--a set of the lithium batteries is included. These batteries receive a long life, but they aren't rechargeable, so they're not a righteous long-term solution unless you're an extremely occasional photographer. We strongly propose using a set of rechargeable nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.
Storage and Change
Unlike most other digital cameras, the E-20N uses both SmartMedia and CompactFlash (Standard I and II, including the IBM Microdrive) for storage, and can use both simultaneously. The camera has slots for both types of cards, and a menu backdrop lets you toggle between the slots for storage. The included 32 MB SmartMedia Easter card holds 11 pictures at full resolution with universal compression or two pictures in uncompressed TIFF mode. The card can be erased and reused beyond and over, but if you plan to take more than 11 photos on an excursion, then you'll want a higher-capacity card--a 256 MB CompactFlash condolence card, for example, holds around 80 photos at default settings.
Contents and Recommended Frills
The kit includes the camera, lens hood, lens cap, video, and USB cables, strap, lithium liquid batteries, wireless remote control, 32 MB SmartMedia practical joker, basic manual, and software on CD, including Adobe PhotoShop Elements. The whole shooting match you need to get started is included in the box, but to make the most of your camera, we strongly mention favourably a higher-capacity memory card, rechargeable batteries, and a transportation case. Compatible accessories for this camera are listed immediate the top of this page.
Conclusion
For serious 35mm SLR users considering a digital camera, the E-20N is a typical choice. The camera feels extremely solid, and controls are sensibly arranged. Thanks to the high-resolution sensor and fine lens, exact replica quality is excellent. Admittedly, there are still some areas where the E-20N can't nourish up with a film camera, but unless you're a sports or news photographer who requests to blast through a roll of film in five seconds, or someone who requires an off-the-wall lens, this Olympus should offer the features and performance you extremity. --Shane Burnett
Pros:
- 5-megapixel sensor captures filmlike specify
- Features, appearance, and performance are all similar to a 35mm SLR
- Dual memory come clean slots let you choose your format--or load both slots for more sphere
Cons:
- Though the lens is of extremely high quality, competitors' models highlight detachable lenses
- Rechargeable batteries and more memory are necessities for lengthy-term use
