Olympus Camedia C-310 Zoom
(Also known as the Olympus Camedia D-540 Zoom)
Review Date: July 14th 2004
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this
Review were taken using the SHQ 2,048 x 1,536 file quality
setting, which gives an image size of between 1.5Mb and 2Mb,
allowing around 10 images to be stored on the supplied 16Mb
xD-Picture Card memory card.
Noise
As mentioned previously, the ISO range available on the C-310 Zoom
is 50-320, but unfortunately you can't choose which ISO speed
to use. Instead the camera selects what it thinks is the most
appropriate speed for you. This is OK when the ISO is 50,
but not so good when it's 320. Even ISO 144 looks quite noisy,
as shown in the example below. The camera will always try
to keep the subject sharp at the expense of greater image
noise.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
40 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. As you can see, the out-of-the camera
images are very slightly on the soft side and will benefit
from some sharpening.
File Quality
The C-310 Zoom has 4 different JPEG quality settings. Here
are some 100% crops which show the various file quality settings.
Chromatic Aberrations
As with most digital cameras, the C-310 Zoom does suffer from
some chromatic aberrations, especially in high-contrast photographs
with the sun in the frame or just outside it. The good news
is that chromatic aberrations are very well controlled, and
only a couple of the sample photographs that I took showed
any signs of this problem.
Overall Image Quality
The Olympus C-310 Zoom produced a set of sample images that
had strong colours, both in bright, sunny conditions and on
overcast English summer days. Unfortunately you can't set
the ISO speed yourself, although the camera almost always
tries to set a slow speed so that noise levels are low. This
comes at the expense of aperture, which is usually set to
wide-open so that shutter-speeds are fast enough to keep the
subject sharp. I was unable to force the camera to use ISO
150 and above, so my only comment on noise is that it is acceptable
between ISO 50 and 105 (as it should be really), although
at ISO 144 noise is quite visible in the shadow areas. The
images are fairly sharp out of the camera at the default setting
and will benefit from some post-processing. Chromatic aberrations
are apparent in situations where you would expect this problem
to arise e.g. high-contrast lighting, but they are very well
controlled in all other instances. Overall a good performance
from the C-310 Zoom that puts more expensive digicams to shame.
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