Product Reviews

There was a time when even photography enthusiasts would turn up their noses at a digital camera. Little surprise then that digital cameras were about as popular with professional photographers as rainy days and power cuts. The reason for their lack of favour was twofold. First, image quality just wasn't up to scratch. Their next gripe was about the amount of control they had over how the image was actually taken. It's only recently that digital cameras have allowed exacting control over the aperture and shutter, for example. All this, Epson claims, is about to change with the PhotoPC 3000Z - a digital camera it believes will leave professionals salivating and not reaching for their old SLR and a roll of film.

On first seeing the 3000Z I felt that if there were a PC Pro award for aesthetics, Epson's design team stood no chance of taking it home. The 3000Z is a bulbous brute, not a svelte and sophisticated device like last month's FujiFilm FinePix 4700 Zoom (reviewed issue 73, p187). That said, pick it up and all is forgiven. The camera has a convincingly sturdy feel with a reassuring weight of 368g. There's no way you'd drop it.

On top of the camera you'll find a hot shoe for connecting a conventional flash and a secondary LCD, which give details about the quality setting you're shooting in, the space left on the 16Mb Epson branded CompactFlash Card and the ISO setting you've selected. There's also a selector wheel which lets you switch camera modes.

I was more excited by the prospect of the camera shooting 25 seconds of full-motion video with sound. The 3000Z isn't alone in claiming to double as a video camera, and previous experience has taught me that the results don't compare favourably with the excitement the idea generates. Here, however, I was quite impressed. Video capture was surprisingly smooth and sound acceptable. Don't, however, expect this to be a digital video solution, more a good-quality gimmick.

Round the back you'll find a 1.8in low temperature polysilicon TFT colour LCD that can double as a view finder and also as the control centre of the 3000Z's array of functionality controls. With eight buttons surrounding the screen, this was hint enough that the 3000Z took picture controls seriously.

When I switched off the 3000Z's automatic controls and began taking a firm grip of just how the camera took a picture, I began

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to experience some difficulties. I felt that the 3000Z's control interface, though it offered a wealth of useful image controls, was rather idiosyncratic. Last month's FinePix 4700 Zoom, though somewhat lacking in control, did have a very natural and easy-to-use interface. The 3000Z requires you to become very well versed in how it likes to be treated. What's more, it had the annoying habit of forgetting manual setup configurations, requiring me to re-enter perfected variables many times during testing.

If Epson is to be believed though, the 3000Z's got a trick up its sleeve that will have you so smitten you'll soon forget about any deficits the camera may have. The 3000Z packs what's called HyPicT technology. By using its native 3.3 megapixel CCD sensor and adding HyPicT, Epson claims the 3000Z is a 4.8 megapixel camera with an operating resolution of 2,544 x 1,904.

HyPicT is a more advanced form of interpolation, which takes into account the contour of the image, the colour of the pixel currently being analysed and the location of other pixels too. It's all geared towards making an image without jagged stepping.

By reducing jagged interpolation artefacts in the first instance, the JPEG compression stands a better chance of creating a superior quality compressed picture. And, indeed, the initial results appear impressive. A 2,544 x 1,904 HyPicT-enabled image was totally free of JPEG's trademark blocking and smearing.

For testing, I set the camera to manual mode, switched the flash off and then poured light from blue natural bulbs onto the subject. Next the shutter and aperture were configured to create the optimum balance between focus and saturation. Close examination of the images revealed that the 3000Z can capture a surprising level of fine detail. It's also more than capable of generating colours that are true to life.

Indeed, direct comparison with last month's FinePix 4700 Zoom showed that the 3000Z is far superior. The FinePix 4700 produced shots that looked grainy and synthetic by comparison to the 3000Z, which was more lifelike and vivid.

So, is the 3000Z worth the asking price of £680? In terms of image quality it's certainly a contender and its excellent zoom lens, equivalent to 34mm-102mm on a 35mm camera certainly boosts its case. It has a wealth of manual image controls to boot. The problem is actually using them, and getting the best from the camera is, at times, fiddly and on other occasions frustrating. Epson could do well to take a leaf from FujiFilm and examine how it creates interfaces and menu systems.

So, if you're serious about your snaps, what should you buy? Our A-List shows that the Olympus' Camedia C-3030ZOOM (reviewed issue 70, p173) is still a great camera. It boasts a 2,048 x 768 maximum image resolution, image quality is amazing and there's 16Mb of SmartMedia to store all your images. What's more, costing only £589 it's a bargain when compared with the Epson 3000Z.