Short Report: Olympus C-8080

Olympus has designed a fine camera in the new 8-megapixel C-8080. After shooting with it for a while, I found the camera to be well worth considering, even if you don’t need the added megapixels, just because of the rich feature set it offers.       
                    
Pick up the C-8080 and immediately you notice a camera of style that fits the hand well. Turn it on and be prepared for nearly instant-on capability. This fast startup means the camera is ready to shoot at all times. Plus, the controls are set up to allow easy access to features without going through a lot of menus, also adding to the camera’s usability.

The C-8080 includes a fast ƒ/2.4-3.5 zoom with a focal length equivalent of 28-140mm (35mm film comparison). This lens is specially designed to offer the sharpness and contrast that supports the 8-megapixel resolution, and it did exactly that in my field tests.

The flip-out back LCD monitor is a joy to use; it’s easy to position the camera from ground level to above eye-level and still see what the sensor would record. The camera offers a live histogram feature that makes it possible to quickly get precise, automated exposures.