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Re: [OM] Another Olympus with Multi-spot metering!

Subject: Re: [OM] Another Olympus with Multi-spot metering!
From: Johnny Johnson <jjohnso4@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 11:40:25 -0400
Hi folks,

I've recently made some comments on the List praising the Olympus digital C-3040 as compared to it's OM cousins. I need to come clean before some "innocent" comes along, reads my comments, and places too much emphasis on them. In general my comments were made as a ploy to get a rise from the resident List Luddite(s) and, as such, could be misleading. So:

The C-3040 does do multiple spot metering. Is it useful? It might be if you are a big user of that feature on your OM camera. I rarely use it on my OM-4's and never on the C-3040. The ease of use probably depends on an individuals comfort level with menus and buttons. It requires seven menu choices/button pushes to set the camera in the multi-metering mode but that only requires a couple of seconds if you're familiar with the procedure. Those steps obviously aren't required with the OM's. Once you're in the multi-metering mode there's one button on the rear of the camera that is used to take the spot readings and it falls in place under my right thumb. If you compose through the viewfinder with your left eye,as I do, your thumb may hit you in your right eye. The spot readings don't show up in the viewfinder - they are displayed on the monitor screen on the back of the camera - another area where my previous comment need clarifying.

In theory, the ability to display an image both before or after the shot on a monitor should be a nice advantage. In practice there are problems. The most serious one is the fact that the image washes out when sunlight hits it. That makes using the monitor, and many of the features of the camera that require seeing the monitor, not practical in a number of situations. That's not to say that the camera won't take good pictures then - it will but you may have to use it as a point-n-shoot. Depending on your favorite subject matter and shooting conditions this can be a serious problem. For example, I shoot a lot of close-ups and, since the C-3040 isn't an SLR, parallax errors mean that I really need to use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to frame the pictures and this often wasn't possible because the monitor image was washed out.

Bottom line, from my viewpoint, is that the C-3040 is a great digital point-n-shoot with a number of additional advanced features available that you may be able to use under some conditions. It records sharp images that print nice 8x10s. <http://home.attbi.com/~jjohnso4/Wildflowers/sacred_lotus.htm> But, because of it's limitations, it's the camera that Mitchelle uses as her point-n-shoot and I still do my thing with my OM-2n and OM-4's.

Later,
Johnny

__________________________
Johnny Johnson
Lilburn, GA
mailto:jjohnso4@xxxxxxxxx


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