arhphotographic

This 1990 offering from Olympus certainly has an impressive looking list of features.

The camera is incredibly comfortable to hold due to its camcorder styling and thoughtfully placed grip. My forefinger naturally rested on the shutter button. Shame about the deep chocolate colouring of the camera.

Looking at the top plate, below, this is where all the functions can be selected.

The lens zoom goes from a reasonably wide 38mm to 105mm using the two buttons on the left. The AZ 330 defaults to centre weighted metering. However this can be changed to spot metering using the button clearly labeled Spot. Nice! The remote timer/self timer button does exactly that. Good to see a seperate button and not one button where you have to scroll through a myriad functions.

Then we have the green macro button which allows you to get within 2.6 ft. Not brilliant for the type of photography I enjoy but at least the lens has a screw thread allowing for close up lenses and as a result getting in a little closer. While this camera is not a true SLR the viewfinder does reflect what the camera lens is viewing.

If we lift up the little panel below the macro button, voila!, more functions.

The Drive button cycles through single release, continuous release and a very welcome double exposure function. Exposure compensation ranges from +/- 2 ev. The Subject button allows you to select Auto zoom, a form of continuous subject tracking where the camera will try to keep the subject the same size in the frame 😲; Infinity mode where the camera focuses on the distance; Servo AF is focus tracking; Normal mode is… well normal mode.

The AZ 330 comes with this atractive looking lens cap… or is it something else???

Yes. The lens cap is actually also a remote control which can be set to 1 or 3 second delay. Cool!

The camera at 38mm

Then at 105mm

Nothing to see on the back

The film chamber below.

The viewfinder is very spartan only showing you when focus is achieved, the flash is ready or when spot metering is activated. Sadly on mine none of these are visible.

So the camera appears to offer most of the features one would need. But does it deliver the results??

In the image above I wanted to get a high key effect on this dead looking tree. So I opted to use +2 exposure compensation. Not bad in my opinion🤔

In the image above and the one below I tried the macro function. Because there is no light in the viewfinder confirming when focus is achieved, it is a rather hit and miss affair.

The camera only has auto DX coding. On the bright but cloudy day I took these images the camera has exposed for the land with the sky being blown out.

The AZ 330 should rewind the film when it has reached the end of the roll, however there appears to be a fault with mine which meant I had to remove the film in my changing bag.

In reviewing the images I can’t help feeling disappointed. Having so little control, having very few programs to choose from, have all conspired to severely limit the ability of this camera. I have other cameras with similar specs that I have enjoyed using and that reward me with images I am happy about.

I may try another roll of film before I give up on what could be a faulty AZ 330. At this moment in time, the Olympus AZ 330 could be the first camera I say goodbye to😕