Olympus EVOLT E-510

 

Auto Mode
The EVOLT E-510's full auto mode takes over the camera thoroughly. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus, metering mode and the flash are all automated. The various scene modes also automate everything. Program mode automates both aperture and shutter speed, but it allows the user to pick and choose what other functions to automate.

Movie Mode
We asked Olympus representatives when the E-330 was introduced if they might put a movie mode on a DSLR. Their answer left the door open. They confirmed that it was technically feasible but wouldn't acknowledge any plans to develop the feature. That said, the E-510 can't take movies.

Drive / Burst Mode
Olympus specs say the EVOLT E-510 should run along at 3 frames per second, to buffer up to 6 RAW files at a burst, and to shoot far longer in JPEG mode. With disabled samples, we weren't even able to develop an impression of how accurate those figures are. In our full review, we will test the E-510's performance.

Playback Mode
Again, Playback mode did not function on the cameras we saw because they didn’t save images. Olympus promotional materials say that the EVOLT E-510 will show four, nine, 16 or 25 thumbnails at a time. It will also show images by calendar date and magnify images up to 14x. The quality of the live view indicates that the playback function should work well for judging image sharpness.

The EVOLT E-510 will have a slide show function, but there were no details about it at the time of PMA. It will also allow images to be copied between media cards, downloaded, and printed with either DPOF or PictBridge.

Custom Image Presets
Custom image presets are shooting modes adapted for specific types of pictures. The EVOLT E-510's modes are intended to set the camera the way an experienced photographer would to achieve a specific effect. The scene modes are: Portrait, Landscape, Portrait in a Landscape, Night Scene, Night Portrait, Children, Sport, High Key, Low Key, Digital Image Stabilization, Macro, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents, Panorama and Beach & Snow.

A few of those deserve extra explanation: High Key renders white subjects white. Low Key renders dark subjects dark. Digital Image Stabilization has nothing to do with the camera's built-in optical stabilization – it increases ISO to allow for faster shutter speeds. Candle and Sunset are meant to maintain the warm color casts under such lighting conditions.