8 Mega "Plenty of" Pixels: Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom

34 Comments
So one random day I chanced upon a dinosaur camera in the archived section of the office, the 2004 released advanced compact camera, Olympus Camedia C-8080. While the whole world is obsessing over newer cameras with superlative megapixel counts and sky-high ISO numbers, I somehow found this old C-8080 rather appealing. The camera called out to me (if such a thing can be understood) and I decided to bring it home with me, and utilized it for my usual shutter therapy session. This camera was considered one of the legendary, best, compact camera at its time, and if that is true, it should still be able to perform rather well today, in my own opinion. Or was I wrong?





You may wonder, why a 12 year old camera, have you gone nuts, Robin? 

As I found that this Olympus C-8080 was released in 2004, it was the exact same year I first picked up a camera, and started my venture in photography. My first camera was the lowly, 3MP Kodak CX7300, a no-zoom, no AF, no Macro fully automatic point and shoot camera, which I hated so much I traded it in for a higher Kodak model, the CX7430 (4MP, AF, some manual controls, very good macro shooting, long exposure capable) few months later. I acknowledge that as a poor, starving engineering student studying overseas in Australia, it was impossible for me to own an expensive, high-end compact camera like the Olympus C-8080 which was released at the same time I started photography. I cannot help but wonder, if I have picked up this beast at that time, or some time later, what kind of photograph output will I be able to get? How will this affect my photography? Though I know the answer probably means nothing now, as it was necessary for me to take the long wandering path to learn my photography basics and improve over the years, there is still a part of me that always imagine the capabilities of a much better camera, at the time of my learning years. 

Fast forward from 2004 to 2016 now, I finally, can test out the Olympus C-8080. Better late than never, right?

First impression, that camera is GIGANTIC! I am not kidding, it is built just like a DSLR, and handles like one too. There is plenty of beefy grip to go around large hands. Picking the camera up, boy, it was not light either. The camera felt very solid, I have never, ever felt a compact camera built like a tank as this Olympus C-8080. I found out later on that the body material was magnesium alloy, which was quite similar to the chassis used for the first Olympus Four Thirds DSLR, E-1. I can understand that the weight and the size were not relevant any more in today's standards, but why are there no such build quality in high end compact cameras these days? I have not seen anything like this in the past 5 years, or even more!

Handling was very good, I must admit. Ergonomics was right on point, and the camera feels comfortable in my hands. Two handed operation is definitely needed, this is not the kind of camera you can just use single-handedly. 

I did a little digging on the specifications of the Olympus C-8080

8 Megapixels Sony 2/3 inch CCD Image Sensor
The image sensor used inside the camera was a Sony sensor, a 2/3 inch (similar size sensor used in newer Fuji compact cameras, the X10, X20 and X30 series) which is significantly larger than majority of the sensor size (most popular size is 1/2.5 inch, or 1/2.3 inch). It was interesting to observe a larger than usual compact camera image sensor being adopted inside the C-8080! Also, in 2004, 8 Megapixels was a HUGE thing. Most people would have been happy with 3MP or 5MP. Anything more than that was considered pushing the envelope. 

28mm-140mm F2.4-3.5 ED lens
The most important innovation in this camera, and the strongest advantage over all competition, was the lens used, a 5x zoom 28mm to 140mm, which basically covers wide angle (28mm is quite standard for wide angle) to 140mm, which can be considered as medium telephoto range. Three ED (extra-low dispersion) glass elements were used to control chromatic aberration! The lens looks large, and serious. Knowing Olympus specializing in optical technology, I have high expectations from the lens used here. 

EVF and Tilt Screen
And you think Tilt Screen is a new, modern thing? Even this old camera has an electronic viewfinder, which was quite bright and sharp! And yes, it also has the What You See Is What You Get ability, allowing you to preview the exposure and white balance of your shot before you capture the image. 

Hybrid AF, Contrast Detect + Phase Detect Autofocus
I wonder how loudly these new DSLR models from certain manufacturers shouted about their hybrid AF capabilities, but even this 2004 model already has it!

ISO 50-400
Yes, the ISO caps at 400!!!! That means, even at ISO200, you will get plenty of noise already in the image. I can hear some of you cringe already!

Alright, enough technical specification talk, let us jump right into the images I have shot!

1/400sec, F3.5, ISO50

1/100sec, F3.5, ISO100

1/320sec, F3.2, ISO200

1/125sec, F3.5, ISO64

1/20sec, F2.5, ISO64

1/60sec, F2.5, ISO64

1/320sec, F3.8, ISO80

I shot mostly everything with Aperture Priority, and shooting with almost wide open to gather as much light as possible, to counter the lack of high ISO capability. I tried my best to stay as low as possible, below ISO200. The fact that this camera was not equipped with any sort of image stabilization options means I have to be extra cautious to mitigate camera shake, and I do not particularly have very steady hands to work with (my coffee addiction is not helping). 


SLOW RAW FILE WRITING AND NO CHIMPING

The biggest challenge was shooting everything in RAW. The writing time to the CF card (yes I still have a few lying around from my DSLR days) is about 12-15 seconds per image, and as the camera writes the RAW file to the card, the camera is locked and you cannot do anything at all until the writing process is done. If you want to read from the CF card, previewing the RAW image will also take similarly long time! The consequence was quite severe, as I cannot continuous shoot, and have to plan and time my shots very carefully. I need to shoot one image and wait for 15 seconds before I can shoot another one, which means most of the time I can get only one chance and I must not screw up! Talk about challenge! Furthermore, I cannot chimp as the reading time was as painfully long as the writing time, and I just compose my shot, capture it and hope I somehow got it right. 

Why RAW? Why not JPEG? Only one answer. Noise Filter. There is no way I can turn off the Noise Filter which is applied directly to the JPEG files in camera. The Noise Filter is rather strong, if by today's standard it is actually set to "HIGH", resulting in smeared details and smooth, soft looking images, which I dislike. I'd rather keep the noise, alongside the useful fine details, which the 8MP CCD sensor is capable of resolving, together with the help of Olympus optics! I then loaded the RAW files into Olympus Viewer 3 and manually turned off the Noise Filter one by one. Well, not that I have so many images to work with, so it was ok. 

This particular session was especially difficult for me, imagine no second chances, and no chimping to make sure I get the shot! Even if I did chimp (by waiting 15 seconds for an image to load) the screen was in such low resolution it was difficult to tell apart of the image was fully in focus!

Nevertheless, all these challenges made photography even more fun! I am sure film shooters can relate to these challenges of having limited chances as well as no chimping. 

Now onto some good news. 

Rendering Shallow Depth of Field (Blur Background)
The lens being bright at F2,4 to 3.5, and having a longer reach up to 140mm, coupled with a rather large (larger than usual compact cameras) 2/3 inch CCD sensor, it was not difficult to blur the background, creating shallow depth of field to isolate subjects, if needed. I zoomed in to about 100mm or more, and I could produce my usual close up portraits of stranger shots, as shown above. The bokeh is quite pleasant and smooth looking, as expected from an Olympus made lens. 

The Excellent Olympus Optical Quality
The lens was excellent, and I was very pleased with the results I was seeing. There was very little to almost no trace of chroma aberration (purple or green fringing) thanks to the generous 3 ED glass elements used. The lens resolves ample amount of details, faithfully captured by the CCD sensor, and 8MP is still quite plentiful being displayed on today's computer monitors. Also, the camera comes with very capable macro shooting, and can go quite close to the subjects, revealing impressive amount of fine details when shooting close up. On the whole, I did not notice any corner shading or distortion, even if there was any, it was safe to completely ignore them. I am not surprised if this lens can be fitted to 12MP or higher MP camera and still can produce amazing results. It is just sad that Olympus does not make cameras from this series any more, or perhaps the market just moved on and not many demand exist for such cameras these days. 

Noise, Noise, Noise
Turning off the Noise Filter, there is presence of noise, both chroma and luminance, even at very low ISO settings, but the sharpness and fine details in the image were quite pleasing to look at. Of course, at ISO 200 to 400, it was like seeing ISO6400 to 12800 image on my E-M5, but hey, keeping in mind this is a 12 years old compact camera (not even a DSLR) I think whoever bought and used this camera must have been happy and proud owners. 


Macro Mode
1/20sec, F3.2, ISO50

Macro Mode
1/30sec, F2.8, ISO50

Macro Mode
1/13sec, F2.8, ISO200

Macro Mode
1/30sec, F2.5, ISO400

1/30sec, F3.2, ISO400

1/40sec, F2.8, ISO64

1/400sec, F4.5, ISO50

100% crop from previous image. 
On the left, Noise Filter OFF, right Noise Filter ON
The Noise Filter ON severely smudges all the fine details. 


1/80sec, F2.8, ISO50

100% crop from previous image. 
At Low ISO settings, the images come out very sharp and full of fine details, with luminance noise also. 

1/100sec, F3.5, ISO400

Yikes, ISO400. There were some dead pixels around, I should have done pixel mapping before my shoot. 

1/50sec, F2.5, ISO100
Dynamic range is not great either, but hey, I don't think other cameras in 2004 can fare that much better either. 

I really like the images that I see from Olympus C-8080. 

The colors come out neutral, and a little low in saturation (I did increase a little bit of saturation in my post-processing), but the original images looked very natural and I do like the color rendition from this camera. Apart from the high noise in ISO200 and higher images and perhaps somewhat limited dynamic range, everything else in the image is still agreeable by today's standards. This camera, a 12 years old camera, takes BETTER images than most smartphones today (I understand there are a few high end smartphones that can do impressive things, but hey, most smartphones still have crap cameras). 

If I have owned this camera in 2004 or 2005, I would feel like I was on top of the world! I did not have high expectations as a learning photographer, and I was even quite happy with what I had, the lowly Kodak compact camera, which I rarely complained about. I do wonder, what if Olympus still continues the tradition of this Camedia C series, have the superb, sharp Olympus lens, and fit in the new 1 inch updated image sensor that many high end compacts are using now! Build a magnesium alloy body, put in the 5-Axis Image Stabilization, I think we may just have a winner here!


1/30sec, F2.5, ISO125

1/50sec, F3.5, ISO125

1/100sec, F3.5, ISO80

1/250sec, F3.5, ISO125

1/250sec, F3.5, ISO50

1/250sec, F2.5, ISO64

1/200sec, F4.5, ISO50

1/200sec, F3.5, ISO160

1/125sec, F3.5, ISO50

1/15sec, F3.5, ISO125

1/50sec, F2.8, ISO80

Super Macro Mode
1/60sec, F2.8, ISO80


I know this is a long shot, but did/does any of you own the Olympus Camedia C-8080? 

Please do share your experience and thoughts!

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34 comments:

  1. Sorry no, no Camedia. But Fuji Finepix S6500fd with the marvelous 6.3MP, 1/1.7" Super CCD.
    Similar experience. Horrible slow, noise at 400, but great pictures.

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    Replies
    1. I heard that Fuji S6500fd was quite something as well!

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    2. My Fujifilm F31fd has that same Super CCD. Marvelous pocket camera. I use still use it for back up sometimes. In its time it was famous for low light shots, but compared to what we can buy nowadays the possibilities are not exiting anymore. But the colors were much better than what I could get from my DSLR at that time. Made me realize that the reproduction of colors is probably the most important criterium when I buy a new camera.

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    3. I had this camera and it was very impressive a the time. I had several pros come unto me to see it close up. Here is a shot of four images stitched together from a trip to Alaskan 2006.
      AlsekLake4JPeg.jpg

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  2. Nice pictures.
    I have an Olympus C5050 from around the same period, maybe a bit older. My mom found in in my dads stuff after he died and turned it over to me. The first thing that surprised me was the f1.8 lens. I think I would have really liked the camera 15 years ago. Its a 5MP with 35-105mm(equivalent) range. ISO 400 max. Shoots raw and jpeg, but the memory card that was in it can only hold 8 raws before its full. I took it out for a few therapy sessions when I got it just for fun. I like the pictures. I haven't used it much but your article moved me to pull it out and maybe I'll take it for another walk.
    I like your blog. Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Knorm,
      C5050 is another legendary camera, I would love to try myself!

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  3. I had this camera with me during an India journey 2004. It was a really great travel camera.
    Lovely image quality for this period (much better than the Sony DSC-F828), but a little bit slow. I just loved her.
    Very nice Pictures Robin.
    I like your blog.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Walter and wow, those photos you have shared look marvellous!

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  4. I'll dig through some old computer files to see what I can find from the C8080....... Richard http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsoud/

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I share some pictures from India. Taken with the Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom.
    Please Enjoy! ;-)
    Walter Vogl
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/132032025@N04/albums/72157670141540866

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing Walter! Those photos look fantastic!

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  7. Robin
    Actually Sony has built the camera you describe, a one inch sensor, a great 8.8x zoom lens with constant 2.8 aperture and a magnesium body
    it is the Sony RX 10 I or II or III
    I wish fuji would build that camera as the fuji menu system is oh so much better than Olympus
    I sold my Em 5 and all the lenses with the idea of buying a sony rx 10, used the entire camera with lens is less money than either of the two olympus pro 2.8 lenses for micro 4/3

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    Replies
    1. I've held the RX10 (mark 1) and never realized it was a magnesium alloy body. Certainly did not feel robust and solid at all in my hands! There were plasticky feeling (typical sony build, even for their higher end cameras in their mirrorless system) and not at all that convincing!

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  8. Actually this class of cameras were called bridge cameras not compacts. The thing that distinguished this type of camera was 24mm equivalent field of view. At that time we lusted for 24mm field of view on a non DSLR camera (entry leve DSLRs were expensive and like the Nikon D40, Canon 300D). I remember for 24mm field of view in a non removable lens camera there was the Olympus 8080, Kodak P880, a Samsung. Can't remember whether there was a Nikon Coolpix or other brands.

    These photos you've shot are the reason and strength of the Olympus JPEG. Awesome. Previous to this line was the Olympus Ultrazoom C series. I have the C-750 but the battery door hinge is broken.

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    Replies
    1. Oh no, any way to have the door hinge repaired? I don't think it would be that expensive, just the plastic door.
      I think bridge cameras make a lot of sense, a majority of the photographers are not professional and do not shoot professionally. Bridge cameras can deliver very high quality results with great performance! I guess the camera manufacturers lowered the price of entry level DSLR so much that it does not make any sense to get a bridge camera anymore.

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  9. Excellent pictures Robin and good to see dinosaur tech holding up so well. (speaking as a dinosaur myself of course as I'm still using a 12mp camera). You make no mention of the biggest bugbear of old digital tech, shutter lag. Or was this camera free of that? Ah, the joys of pressing the shutter release and then waiting for the damned camera to think about it, suck its thumb, and then fire at some vague indeterminate point in the future. Seriously annoying.
    Cheers!
    Peter
    https://1x.com/member/axiom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The C-8080 had decently quick AF in good light, but was quite bad in low light conditions. There was not much shutter lag noticed, in fact if you read the reviews mostly indicated that this C-8080 performed well and had very minimal shutter lag.

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  10. Oh, dear. Before I moved to the E-1, I used the C-2500L, not dissimilar to the IS-200DLX film camera I had. It was the first Olympus digital model to have the TruePIC image processor.

    I was so amused that I was actually able to use it in good light or poor light and would receive similar results. It wasn't awful but it certainly wasn't that good.

    Glad you're having some fun with something different.

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    1. Haha the way you have described about the older camera made it sound so bad! I'd imagine the Truepic image processor was a huge thing for Olympus! I think the C-8080 uses the same processor.

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  11. i have one in working order. it shares batteries with E-520 DSLR. there are also optical adapters for this camera: tele (x1.4) and wide (x0.7)

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  12. Those were the days! I have a Minolta Dimage A1 from 2003. (Its successor, the A2 was the competitor of C8080). It had a great, 28-200mm/f2.8-3.5 lens with mechanical zoom ring, built-in image stabilization (moving the CCD to compensate), tilting LCD and tilting EVF. Hard to believe it was 13 years ago.

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  13. There was an Italian photographer in the mid-2000s who used the 7070 and the 8080 to shoot the the middle-east conflict. He only used these Oly compacts I think. It really made him famous. Now, of course, he shoots Leica. But some of his images from Africa and Iraq at the time were amazing.

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  14. Nice images Robin. What's to complain about? When I used Medium Format Film, we had no preview, and had to pay for all the bad images, plus wait for them to be processed. And noise/grain? We had it at ASA(remember that)400. The C8080 was/is a great camera, although behind todays standards. I still have a C7070 w/grip that I get out from time to time, also a great camera. But no, I am quite happy with todays cameras and the great lenses available, as you have pointed out in your reviews. I could make a living with either camera, although I would have a tougher time. Remember the early Kodak 3 mega pixel pro cameras? Here in the US they were $22,000. The C8080 is a better camera for sure. All a matter of perspective. Keep up your great blog Robin, look forward to it every week.

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  15. Robin, my first digital camera was an Olympus C-2040 with f1.8 lens. Very sharp and operationally slow by today's standards but I was thrilled to see pictures of that quality from a digital camera about 15 or 16 years ago. You are one of the reasons I now have a Stylus 1, with software upgrade.

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  16. Robin, really enjoy your reviews of Olympus cameras, lens and equipments. Thanks.
    Your joy for photography comes out!

    I wanted to as you what software you used for your Olympus C8080 photos (https://robinwong.blogspot.com/2016/06/8-mega-plenty-of-pixels-olympus-camedia.html)?

    Thanks for your reply.

    I did some reacher on the camera, found an inexpensive one on eBay, and went ahead and ordered one. For it's time a top notch camera that seems to still produce quality images.

    Thanks for your reply,
    Bob Vicente

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  17. I have one of this. The pictures have good colors but a lot of noise, there is no shutter lag, but the Auto focus in low light conditions is crazy slow. Depending on what you shoot this can be a really good camera, but for sports, wildlife or events, this is a no-no camera. I wish I knew this when I've bought it... very expensive camera at that time and not very suited for what I was doing with it.

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  18. Hello Robin, I bought a used C8080 last October. I've search for one for abouy 2 years and finally I found one for only 40 EUR in excellent condition! I made several night shots from 4 to 12 seconds and I activated the NR dark frame to eliminate the noise dots. You suggest me to turn it off for long exposures or leave it on? It affect the image quality?

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  19. Love the dino camera and your shots

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  20. No mention of the C-7070.... that was and remains one of the greatest cameras I ever owned. It was simply stunning... and the swivel LCD really helped get some amazing shots. I have owned both and infinitely prefer it over the C-8080.. both of them are different shapes however and both look incredibly odd cameras (the 7070 a bit like a 5060 with added armour)

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  21. Hi Robin....I enjoyed reading your blog about the C-8080, I'm hoping it will be helpful for me to learn how to use this camera. I just inherited one from my late Grandfather who was an avid, professional photographer; aerial was his passion, this camera was his hobby. I am yet to figure it all out (how to use the camera that is). Are there any learning tips you can give me to help get me started? I've had a play with all the settings and taken a few ok pics. I think once I read through the manual it may make more sense. Your photos with relating comments will teach me what is what. Thank you for writing such an informative and detailed review on the camera, I'm keen to understand it better and start taking some awesome photos.

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  22. Nice post, Robin. Nice photos too, and your point about using the lowest possible ISO's (50 and 64, in the case of the 8080) to avoid excessive noise, is a very good one. As is your note about the Noise Filter's effect on jpegs. To answer your question, I owned a C-8080 for several years - nearly a dozen years ago, give or take - and for about a year or more, it was my main (and at the time, only) digital camera. I tried to take it everywhere with me, including several trips to Mexico - and on the plus side, I was able to get some fine photos with it. On the minus side, what drove me up the wall more than anything was its painfully slow write times for RAW photos. Equally slow and frustrating was attempting to use the quite small screen to check on the picture I had just taken, a process that seemed to last forever. And you are also right about its size - it was truly a beast! The largest 'compact' camera I have ever held or used.

    Eventually, I got frustrated with the negatives, and sold the camera, and replaced it with an equally large, but much 'faster' (in every possible way) Pentax DSLR, the K200d - which, like the C8080, had a very fine CCD sensor. A year later, I acquired my first micro four thirds camera - an Olympus E-PL2 - which actually, when paired with a smallish pancake prime lens, was smaller and lighter than the C-8080 had been.

    In retrospect, the C8080 was unique - because of the range and quality of its lens - and the industrial-strength solidity of its build and engineering. It truly felt like a professional tool. As an addendum, I only recently purchased a lightly used (and quite affordable) copy of the C8080's sibling - the C-7070 - which, so far, is impressing me. The C7070 is significantly smaller and lighter than the C8080, but it still has a magnesium body, a superb fit and finish, and numerous thoughtful tiny buttons which access useful features (ISO and AF-MF toggling) which otherwise are buried inside menus inside menus. The C7070 also has a useful and legible digital info screen on its top-plate, a truly nice touch. Its sensor is a bit smaller, and its viewfinder is of the inaccurate tunnel variety (instead of a true electronically mated EVF like the C8080's). But on the plus side, it has a nifty rear LCD screen display which allows myriad adjustments. I would argue that, in many ways, its a superior camera to its supposedly more advanced sibling. If you ever get the chance to handle and use one, I suspect it would delight you.

    I realize I'm posting this comment more than 5 years after you published this post - but that is a testimony to the power of your thoughtful writing and perspectives - for which I thank you again!

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