Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] Olympus Centurion APS any good?

Subject: Re: [OM] Olympus Centurion APS any good?
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999 14:27:59 -0600
At 11:11 AM 10/3/99 +0200, Per Nordenberg wrote:

[snip]

>Thanks a million Garth. Those photos look really nice. I especially liked
>the one of the purplebug. How close to the real colour of the car is Fuji,
>and would a Kodak film have been better or worse?

Hard to say.  I actually thought the Fuji film did a nice job on everything 
except blue skies (which got "washed out," possibly indicating it's 
overly-sensitive to light at the blue end of the spectrum).  Please keep in 
mind that the film I used was Fuji APS from almost two years ago -- the 
emulsions have been refined since, 'cause they're trying to squeeze more 
resolution out of 'em.

[snip]

>I presume
>that the compensation feature for backlit subjects that you mention is the
>ESP light metering.

No, that's separate (available in all exposure modes).  The compensation 
feature is a +2 stop user-selectable, one-time compensation for backlit 
subjects.  If you want to use it for multiple frames, you must select it 
multiple times.

>Is it available only in Full Auto like on IS-3(000) or
>in all exposure programs?

I'm under the impression that it operates in all modes.  I could be mistaken 
(probably have to dig the user manual out, although they've become even less 
informative in recent years...)

[snip]

>Are the function buttons and the
>small LCD display located at the back of the camera?

Yes.  Very similar layout to the IS-10, though more compact, and more of the 
exposure settings controls are now on the rear of the unit.

>What is that thing on
>the top left?

Uh, other than the shutter release/auto-focus preview, there isn't anything on 
the left side.  If you mean the right side, that's the ON/OFF/FLASH POP-UP 
switch.

>Have you tested the Super FP flash in portrait mode?

Yep.  Works pretty well.

>The
>built-in flash doesn't seem that powerful (comparable to one in IS-10 I
>think).

It's not.  But with ASA 400 film, it doesn't matter that much.

>I do believe there is a tele conversion lens available, although it
>is not mentioned in my broschure.

Yes, I own that, too.  Nice little converter -- snaps onto the front, and 
because its entrance pupil is enlarged, it doesn't reduce the effective 
aperture at all.  Kicks it up to about 180mm (35mm format equivalent) -- a 
moderate telephoto.  Also got the self-timer/remote control -- WAY cool!  Looks 
like one of those hand-held Type I Phasers on Star Trek.  Works well, too.

[snip]

>The quality of this aspherical hybrid zoom lens should be at
>least comparable to the aspherical zoom lens on the smaller IS, i.e.
>outstanding if Pop Photo July '99 is to be believed.

Although I've done no formal tests of the lens (and probably never will with 
the price of APS processing and the lack of availability of really 
high-resolution B&W film in APS format), I've been generally impressed by the 
quality of the resulting images.

>My mother is rather old
>and she probably will appreciate the TTL viewing of the Centurion (as well
>as all the APS film features). The only thing I'm worried about is that
>she'll find it too large. If she could only try one first...

It's fractionally smaller than the IS-10 (probably at about the practical limit 
for this [ZLR] format of camera, actually).  I showed it yesterday to a couple 
of my Mom's friends (her 75th birthday was at my place, and one of the 
80-year-olds brought her IS-10, and then ooohed and aaaahed at the 
Centurion-S), and they liked the feel of it in their hands.  Plus, it's light 
(just over one Imperial pound).  The viewfinder's also pretty bright, all 
things considering.

If you want a copy of the actual brochure for the Centurion-S, I could part 
with mine.  Contact me in private e-mail.

Garth


 
"A bad day doing photography is better
 than a good day doing just about 
 anything else."
 
The Unofficial Olympus Web Photo Gallery at:

   http://www.taiga.ca/~gallery/


< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz