Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom

The Olympus C-8080 WZ is a digital camera model manufactured by Olympus. It was first announced on the opening day of the 2004 Photo Marketing Association Annual Convention and Trade Show. As of that time, the C-8080 was set to be Olympus’ first eight-megapixel digital camera for the high-end consumer market. Olympus set the camera's MSRP at $1,149 USD.[1]

Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom

Overview
Type	Digital prosumer camera
Lens
Lens	5x opt. zoom 28 - 140 mm equiv. F 2.4 - 3.5
Sensor/medium
Sensor	2/3-inch type CCD
Maximum resolution	3,264 × 2,448 (8 million)
Film speed	50-400 in 9 steps, comp. +/-2EV
Storage media	CF (Type I or Type II), xD, IBM microdrive
Focusing
Focus modes	Dual AF (TTL & external), contrast, phase-AF
Focus areas	iESP, spot
Exposure/metering
Exposure modes	Night, Landscape, Sports, Portrait
Exposure metering	DESP, spot, multi-spot, center-weighted
Metering modes	Progr. AE, A, P, M, My mode, movie
Flash
Flash	Build in pop up, W: 0.8-5.3 m
Shutter
Shutter speed range	15" - 1/4000 sec
Continuous shooting	1.8 frame/s JPG Hi up to 5 frames
Viewfinder
Viewfinder	EV 240 k pixels
Image processing
White balance	One-touch, 4 presets
General
LCD screen	1.8-inch TFT, 134 k pixels, 100% coverage, tilting
Battery	Li - Ion 1500 mA/7.2 V
Weight	724 gr (46.9 g) incl batt.

One key feature that is described in the name is the optical zoom technique used in this camera. Most compact zoom cameras use the zoom functionality for telephoto work where one details in on a remote subject. This camera allows one to set up the lens to work as a wide-angle lens which comes in handy for group or landscape photography. It has a high resolution lens with 5x zoom (7.1 - 35.6 mm) - equals (28 – 140 mm) in 35 mm film format - and an aperture of 2.4 for wide angle and 3.5 for telephoto. Focus range: normal 0.8 - inf.; macro 20 – 80 cm ; super-macro up to 5 cm.

The metering modes for exposure are: ESP, center-weighted, multi-metering and spot. The metering target mark on the screen can be moved in 13 positions in spot mode. For absolute control a live histogram can be activated and the histogram target mark can be placed in 10.000 different positions. An AEL button can lock the metered exposure.

The camera has two sensors for AF: one is based on contrast detection, the other one on phase-difference detection (P-AF). The metering settings for the focus are: iESP, spot, full-time AF, P-AF and MF, macro and super-macro. The AF target mark can take 9 positions in spot mode.

Movie clips: 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 both 15 frames per second. Length is only limited by the storage card.

The camera accepts xD-Picture Cards (necessary for panorama shooting), CompactFlash type I and II and IBM microdrives with two slots. Copying to another slot is possible in the camera. Data storage is available in TIFF, RAW and JPEG format. Data transfer connectivity is USB 2.0.

The 8080 has a 4.5 cm tilting sunshine-LCD of 134,000 pixels and the electronic viewfinder has 240,000 pixels.

The C8080WZ was succeeded at least partially by the C7070WZ (2005) this being the continuation of the C5060WZ with much the same specifications of the C8080WZ albeit with a slower lens. The primary difference being the C7070WZ was slightly smaller in dimensions and with a small (cheaper) price differential to the C8080WZ. In practice both cameras had a very similar specification and target market.

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  Olympus C-8080WZ
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  Olympus C-8080WZ with extended zoom lens for telephoto
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  Olympus C-8080WZ with tilted LCD