The Viewfinder
Olympus C7070 WZ by Olympus
By Samuel M Purvis IV
6 June 2007
I didn't think that I would miss it. It was just another camera. I've bought and sold any number of cameras in my life, but this one haunts me.
It was my first digital camera. The one that let me know that waiting for mega-pixel counts to go ever higher before I got on board was pointless--film is dead, it was several years ago. It was an Olympus C7070 WZ with 7.1 mega-pixels jammed into a tank-like black body that, once I got the battery holder, fit perfectly in my hand. This was the penultimate version of the Olympus Camedia line.
Its view screen could do any number of tricks that allowed me to frame shots from just about any angle. Overhead, against walls, low angle, you name it, the screen would articulate to allow it. I could look through a viewfinder to frame shots, but it only gave, maybe, 85% of the frame and no shooting information--I'm not even sure why it was there. Comfort food for us former film shooters?
Ultimately, this was the undoing of the camera for me. My aged eyes could only see blurry blobs on the view screen and though I had ultimate control as my fingers danced through the various buttons and thumbwheel, not having my eye to a viewfinder left me feeling somewhat at sea.
I finally bought myself a DSLR, an Olympus E300, which I adore. All the information I need is in the viewfinder. The diopter control on the viewfinder allows my old man eyes to see my eventual image in all its focused glory without glasses--poor man's lasik. In that sense, I am a happy man, but........
My experience with more than one camera is that one of my cameras sits and waits for that very rare moment when I remember I have it. The tax man also decided that this was the year that we owed a ridiculous amount in taxes. The issue was forced and one of the cameras had to go.
Now, don't get me wrong, I tried over 13,000 times to make it work. The decision was not a easy one and, with a wrist strap, the C7070 fealt like an extension of my arm. I'll avoid the hackneyed expression that could easily follow the last sentence, but I did let a bit of me go with that camera.
The C7070 made its way onto ebay and was quickly snatched up for near twice the price I paid for it. You have to understand that this camera is one of the best of its kind ever produced, but that viewfinder--my old man eyes and my years of using SLRs. It's smarter and prettier than the DSLR I use now, but like some things beautiful and wild, you have to let it go. I do, however, miss it very much and often wonder if I made the right choice.
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