The Olympus Stylus 7000 Digital is a digital
camera targeted to Point-and-Shoot photographers.
It has 12 effective megapixels resolution on
a 1/2.33-inch CCD image sensor. The Olympus lens is
a 37-260 mm (35mm format equivalent) F3.5(W)-F5.3(T),
7x optical zoom.
We find the overall image quality of the Olympus
Stylus 7000 to be good at ISO 64 with good image detail.
7x
Optical Zoom
Wide-angle
6.6mm
(37mm, 35mm equivalent)
Telephoto
46.2mm
(260mm, 35mm equivalent)
The Olympus Stylus 7000 has a 7x optical zoom lens with a CCD-shift Image Stabilization which helps to reduce camera shake at the long focal lengths. In the above pictures, we show the coverage for 37mm and 260mm. That's quite a lot of zoom in an ultra compact digital camera.
Super Macro
9.1mm [52mm], Program Auto, ESP,
WB Tungsten
1/4 sec., F4.3, ISO 400, Super Macro
The Olympus Stylus 7000 can focus in Macro mode to as close as 10 cm (3.9 in.) and in Super Macro
mode to as close as 2 cm (0.8 in.).
Auto White Balance
Indoors
AWB
WB = Tungsten
As the above two pictures show, the Auto White Balance (AWB) is not quite accurate indoors under artificial lighting. [I have two energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs on the ceiling.] Strangely enough, WB=Tungsten comes closest to the right colors. There is no Manual WB.
ISO
Comparisons (Day Light Shots)
ISO 64
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
You can set the ISO on the Olympus Stylus 7000 from 64 to 1600. The 100% crops above (area delimited by the white square) demonstrate that noise at ISO 64 and ISO 100 is under control when shot in good lighting. Noise starts to be more visible at ISO 200 but is still usable even up to ISO 400. At ISO 800 and 1600, the presence of noise is clearly visible at full image size and with progressive loss of image detail.
The above set of images are usually what you get from most ISO tests shot in daylight or in a controlled studio setting using flood lights to ensure perfect exposure. Though it's a valid ISO test, it nevertheless leaves readers with a completely misleading impression of what they can expect in daily real life situations. Real life is way different, as our set of images below show.
ISO
Comparisons (Low Light Shots)
ISO 64
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
In low light (2 energy-saving fluorescents bulbs), the above set of images are more representative of what you can expect if you intend to shoot in low light without flash. At ISO 64 and ISO 100, the pictures are way under-exposed. ISO 200 is slightly under-exposed. If ISO is set to AUTO, the camera shoots starting at ISO 400. If the ISO is set to H.AUTO, the camera shoots at ISO 1600. iAUTO shooting mode will fire the flash.
Chromatic
Aberrations
CA is present in some very high contrast shots. In the above photo, the area delimited by the red square at top left, and reproduced at 100% crop at bottom right, shows some purple fringing.
Long Shutter
Speed
6.6mm [37mm], Night Scene mode,
ESP, 4 sec., F3.5, ISO 250
WB Tungsten, Self-Timer, Tripod Used
The Olympus Stylus 7000 provides a maximum long
shutter speed of 4 sec. in Night Scene mode. Here
I'm checking out the presence of noise at long
exposure (noise usually increases the longer the
shutter is left open). As usual, I place Bamm-Bamm
under my office desk, in the shadows, to obtain
a long exposure of 4 sec. at F3.5. To eliminate
camera shake, I place the camera on a tripod and
use the self-timer.
Noise reduction kicks in and doubles the time
required to expose the shot. The Stylus 7000 LCD gains up in low-light.
The Olympus Stylus 7000 provides quite a long zoom in a small package. It is point-and-shoot easy to use and give good photos in good lighting.
The pictures in the Olympus Stylus 7000 Digital
Photo Gallery page provide a good sample of
what the camera is capable of. I have provided
samples at 800x7000 pixels (compressed to Quality
60/100 in Photoshop Elements) as well as the 3968
x 2976 pixels original size (click on the image
for the original version).
You can safely assume that most macro shots and
slow shutter speed shots required the use of a
tripod. Any image that is adjusted for levels
in Photoshop has "_adjusted" appended
to the file name.
I have defaulted the image size to 800x7000 pixels.
For those who have their monitor resolution set
to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit
and you should not have to scroll to see the whole
image. If your monitor is set to 800x7000 pixels
resolution, start the slide show and then scroll
to the right to position the image within your
screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using
Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode,
and the image should fill your screen nicely.
Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor
display back to normal mode.
To return to this page from the Photo Gallery,
click on the animated graphics of the camera.
Please open and download the original size version
only if you need to and only once
to your hard drive -- and save me some precious
bandwidth. Thanks!
