Olympus' first digital cameras were announced in September 1996: the 0.3MP D-200L and its sibling the 0.8MP D-300L. These cameras have limited or no manual control over focus and exposure. In this document the history of Olympus' more 'creative' cameras is discussed.
A year later in September 1997 Olympus announced two cameras of a very different pedigree to their first offerings: the D-500L and D-600L (C-1400 L in Europe). These cameras are both SLR cameras in that the viewfinder shows the image coming through the lens, but they lack interchangeable lenses and the mechanical controls for focus and zoom that are characteristic of most SLR cameras. Very little control over the picture taking process is possible with three preset manual focus distances of 40cm, 2.5m and infinity. Exposure control is similarly limited with just program mode with exposure compensation. They both appear to have the same 3x zoom lens with f/2.8-3.9 maximum aperture but because they have different imaging sensors they have a different 35mm equivalent focal length. The 0.8MP D-500L probably contains a 1/1.8" sensor and has 50-150mm equivalent focal length, whereas the 1.3MP D-600L with its larger 2/3" sensor has image coverage equivalent to 36-110mm on a 35mm film camera.
After 14 months the D-600L was updated and the D-620L (C-1400 XL in Europe) was announced in November 1998. The sensor and lens specifications remained the same but the autofocus system, RAM buffer and image processor were upgraded to give a camera that can focus more accurately, is quicker to process shots and can take more shots before the camera stalls as it writes images to the memory card.
In February 1999 a new line of cameras was introduced by the announcement of the C-2000Z. All of the cameras in this 'C-x0x0' line have a very similar body and control layout, with P,M,A,S exposure modes, fast 3x zoom lenses and optical viewfinder. Unlike the D-500/600 series/C-2500 these are not TTL cameras and so using the optical viewfinder can introduce parallax errors. However the LCD screen may be used to compose the shot and this will give a more accurate framing of the final image. A very logical naming system has been used for these cameras: the C-20x0 series of cameras all have 1/2" 2MP sensors, the C-30x0 series use 1/1.8" 3.1MP sensors which gives a smaller equivalent focal length and the C-40x0 series also have 1/1.8" sensors but using a higher resolution of 3.9MP.
| |
00 | 20 | 30 | 40 |
| |
base | updated | large buffer | fast lens |
| C-20x0 1/2" 2MP | C-2000 35-105mm f/2.0-2.8 Feb 99 |
C-2020 Oct 99 | - | C-2040 f/1.8 Nov 00 |
| C-30x0 1/1.8" 3.1MP | C-3000 32-96mm f/2.8 Apr 00 |
C-3020 Oct 01 | C-3030 Jan 00 | C-3040 f/1.8-2.6 Nov 00 |
| C-40x0 1/1.8" 3.9MP | C-4000 32-96mm f/2.8 Jun 02 |
- | - | C-4040 f/1.8 Jun 01 |
Just 4 months after the D-620L the new C-2500XL DSLR was announced in March 1999. It was a considerable change from the preceeding D-620L with a completely new body design that incorporated a flash hot shoe and higher 2.3MP resolution. Other improvements included a clearer higher resolution LCD display, more accurate autofocus system with an infrared focus assist beam that allows focussing in low light, a mode dial with P,A,M modes although the aperture control is limited to either wide open or fully closed down, manual focus across the whole focus range and a dual memory card slot that supports Compact Flash and Smart Media cards. The same 36-110mm/2.8-3.9 lens and 2/3" sensor size was used as with the older DSLRs.
Between October 1999 and April 2000 the C-x0x0 range of cameras was expanded with the C-2020Z, C-3030Z and C-3000Z. These are all variations of the C-2000Z and the main differences can be seen in table 1.
In June 2000
the 1.9MP C-2100UZ brought image stabilisation to the Olympus
stable. This is especially useful with a camera with such high
zoom to reduce camera shake. This was the only digital camera of
the time to offer such a large zoom range and Image stabilisation -
expect for Digital SLRs which cost many times more. It is believed that
the lens was licensed from Canon, who announced the Canon Pro 90 IS
also with a 10x zoom image stabilised lens the following January - at a
higher price and offering 2.6MP. The C-2100UZ (commonly referred
to as the 'Uzi') is much enjoyed by its owners and many are still in
active use today.
August 2000 brought a new nomenclature of cameras: the E series. These were aimed primarily at the professional photographer with prices to match.
The E-100RS is a high speed rendition of the C-2100UZ. The body is slightly different and is finished in a more professional black but it shares the 38-380mm image stabilised lens. The RS in E-100RS probably stands for 'rapid shot' as this was a very fast camera for its time. It was capable of up to 15fps, achieving this by using a lower resolution of 1.3MP and an electronic shutter at the higher frame rates. This camera also employed a novel pre-capture concept to eliminate shutter lag whereby if the shtter is half pressed down the camera will continuously capture frames until the shutter button is fully depressed at which time the last 5 images captured are stored on the memory card followed by any subsequent frames after the shutter is pressed.
The E-10 is a larger camera, with a TTL SLR viewfinder with a 2/3" sensor, very fast 35-140mm/2.0-2.4 zoom lens and 3.7MP resolution. The controls of this camera are closer to a more traditional SLR with a mechanical zoom ring and a by-wire focus ring which provides very fine control over focus. There were several dedicated buttons on the body to enable easy access to settings such as exposure mode (with full P,S,A,M support), metering mode, AF/MF, ISO, drive mode and auto focus area. One way in which this camera differs significantly from traditional SLRs is in the use of a split prism instead of a mirror. This directs 80% of the light through the lens and 20% to the viewfinder. The downside of this approach is that the camera loses sensitivity (ISO 80-320 instead of ISO 100-400) but the benefits are that there is virtually no sound when taking a picture except for a tiny click from the shutter, no vibration from the moving mirror and it is possible to use the LCD to preview the image. To this end the LCD can be tilted up or down permitting the camera to be used above the head or near waist level.
November 2000 brought further expansions to the C-x0x0 range with the C-2040Z and C-3040Z sporting faster lenses than their '00 siblings: f/1.8 and f/1.8-2.6 respectively.
The C-700UZ
from march 2001 started a new unfortunare trend for the ultrazoom
family - no image stabilisation and a smaller 1.2.7" sensor. The
C-700UZ was however lighter and considerably more compact than the
C-2100UZ, incorporating an extending lens design. This range has
been expanded and updated but the image stabilised lens has never
resurfaced.
Similarly to the C-2040Z and the C-3040Z the C-40x0 family was
completed in June 2001 by the C-4040Z
with a fast constant aperture f/1.8 lens.
In September 2001 the E-20 updated the E-10 with a 5MP sensor (up
from 4MP) and a ground glass viewfinder screen for easier manual
focussing. However it seems that the same CPU was used as the
camera is slower to process images, at 15 seconds per shot it was slow
even by 2001 standards.
Also in September the C-40Z brought a new concept to the Olympus range - a compact creative camera. It is similar to the C-40x0z cameras with a 1/1.8" 4MP sensor but with a 2.8x 35-98mm f/2.8-4.8 zoom lens which is slower at the telephoto end and cannot reach the same wide angle. The C-40Z is considerable smaller and the lens fully retracts into the body to make the whole camera much more pocketable when switched off.
October 2001 brought an update to the 18 months old C-3000Z in the form of the C-3020Z. This added several features such as scene exposure modes, AE lock, one touch white balance and flash compensation but removed the video out connector, remote control, external flash connector and microphone.
The C-x0x0 range has continued with the 5050, 5060, 7070
and has expanded into the 'prosumer' 2/3" sensor market with the 8080
which sits between the C-x0x0 range and the E-10/E-20. It would
not be surprising if this market dissappeared completely in the future
as it is squeezed in price by the entry level SLRs such as the E-300.
C-7x0 ultrazoom family has continued apace with 9 cameras at the
last count. It looks like Olympus will be running out of numbers
for this soon so it will be interesting to see if they also release a
new concept at that point.
The C-40 compact creative camera has proved to be successful with at
least three successors.
Copyright Dan Pidcock 2005