I just bought an Oly c-2000z, and am very pleased with the camera itself. Unfortunately, I've suffered a few disapointments with the included software.

The Olympus ships with a photoshop plug-in for direct image aquisition into PS (or other app supporting PS plug-ins). The bad news is that the c-2000 is not supported. I had to call Olympus to get this small fact, as there is no indication in documentation. This is sad as it will preclude using he camera for stop-motion animation (a non-essential use I was nevertheless looking foward to).

Secondly, there seems to be no way to include exposure information when transfering images to disk. The exposure information is stored on the SM card, but I can't get to it from the software. As I continue to ring-out the camera and test it for my primary use (documenting artwork and live theatre), I'll have to resort to the old "write down exposure settings for every shot so you can compare with the results" method I was hoping to leave behind with the film.

My question is: Has anyone out there with an ear closer to the ground than me know of any work-arounds, or heard anything from Olympus about future support of these features?

(BTW, Mac G

-- Kirk Markley (nkm@phoenix.net), August 17, 1999

Answers

Thumber (freeware) gives you all the information on camera settings.

-- Jim Popenoe (popenoe@humboldt1.com), August 17, 1999.

What software doesn't retain exposure info? I use Cameraid, and all that information transfers with each file. Here's an example from a photo taken today:

"SCANNERMAKER: OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD SCANNER: C2000Z SOFTWARE: v951-80 DATE: 1999:08:17 12:51:55 Exposure Time: 1/30 f-number: 2.000 Date Time Original: 1999:08:17 12:51:55 Compressed Bits per Pixel: 2.0 Max Aperture Value: 3.0 Flash: off Focal Length: 6.6mm DESCRIPTION: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Ignored Tags: $8822, $8827, $9000, $9004, $9101, $9204, $9207, $9208, $927C, $9286, $A000, $A001, $A002, $A003, $A005, $A300, $A301"

-- Sean Collins (sean@hogheaven.com), August 18, 1999.

Thanks for the tip, Cameraid is a nice piece of shareware. Its fast, slick, and the automatic image processing is, at first glance, surprisingly good for "snapshots". I've only just begun playing with it, but I don't seem to get as much info as you list. Specifically, I can't find Compressed Bits per Pixel, Max Aperture Value, or Flash. It would be nice to also have white balance setting, exposure compensation, ISO equivalent, etc. Does anyone know of other Macware that provides complete image info?

-- Kirk Markley (nkm@phoenix.net), August 18, 1999.

Sorry Kirk, I left out half the information.

Cameraid is my download utility.

GraphicConverter 3.6.2 is the utility which shows all the info.

-- Sean Collins (sean@hogheaven.com), August 18, 1999.