At 11:00 PM 9/27/99 +0200, Per Nordenberg wrote:
>Hi everyone
>
>No, I'm not thinking of buying this camera myself, but maybe for my mother
>who wants to replace her old Olympus AFL-T compact camera (unfortunately
>already sold if someone was interested :-). Centurion is an APS model and
>I know this means a slightly smaller negative format, but otherwise is it as
>good as the smaller IS-series? With a rather similar body and an aspherical
>zoom lens it at least appears to be the "IS" or "ZLR" variant of the APS
>compact cameras. What's the difference between a Centurion and a Centurion
>S? TIA.
Per:
The difference is that, with the Centurion-S, you can change film in mid-roll
(say you were shooting indoors with 400 ASA, and then went outdoors and found
the 400 ASA was too fast -- you could then hit the "change midroll" control,
take out the 400, put in the 100, shoot to your heart's content, and then go
back indoors and put the 400 back in -- the camera will "remember" the precise
number of exposures and re-set your 400 to the next available frame).
Also, the "S" model is silver (I believe the older Centurion was black). This
keeps its innards cooler in the sun (for example).
I own the Centurion-S. It's a fabulous little camera, and as long as you
understand its limitations, you can do great things with it. There are some
examples of photos from the Centurion-S on the Olympus Gallery in my section.
Be warned: you'll probably never be able to use this camera for transparencies,
even though I've heard rumblings about E6-type APS film supposedly being
available in some places (I've never seen it here in Canada, but then, we're
always treated as a high-tech backwater by the ROW [Rest Of the World]). The
reason is that you don't have adequate ability to adjust exposures -- the
Centurion mostly integrates to 18 0rey (although there is a compensation
feature for backlit subjects). Thus, if you wanted to capture the cool
serenity of a shady grove of trees in summertime, it'll come out overexposed (I
know, I tried). But for the vast majority of subjects, it oughta be quite
good. Check out the Oly Gallery and see what you think.
Bottom line: for sophisticated snapping, it's an excellent camera, but it does
not have the flexibility (or the wide range of available film types) of 35mm
format. And it still requires some intelligence on the part of the user. My
wife uses the Centurion all the time, but she first had to be instructed in how
to use the different modes to maximize the number of good shots she could get.
She's starting to get really good with it!
One final thing: it's more expensive to develop APS film than regular 35mm.
Garth
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