The Return Of David Bailey With The Olympus Camedia C150 (Olympus Camedia C-150)

Member Name: naffcaff

Product:	Olympus Camedia C-150
Date:	30/08/05 (375 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be used as a simple snapshot camera, or for more pro results - Very Easy To Use

Disadvantages: Eats batteries, Included software needs registering for "extras"

I once swore that I would never bother with a digital camera. The cheap models produced disappointing “webcam” type results and a fortune would need to be paid to get anything that rivalled the 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras. However, all has changed within the space of a few years and with Dixons recently announcing they were due discontinue stocking conventional film cameras, I suppose it was inevitable I would be won over.

Why I Needed One - I’m an Ebay user and the cheap webcam I used for placing photos of items I was auctioning just didn’t hack it. I’m also a cheapskate who hates waste! Whilst I’ve owned a half decent film camera for many years, buying a film, not wanting to waste pictures yet anxious to see the results, sending the completed film to the lab etc meant that it only came out of its case on special occasions. Initially, I was bought the Olympus Camedia C150 as a gift where the brief was “just get something cheap with an LCD screen I can use for the Ebay stuff”. The Camedia, I would soon discover, is far more versatile and I am on my way to taking more photos in the 6 months of ownership than I have ever taken on conventional cameras in my life.

In the early days of digital cameras, you could tell the difference and film always looked better. This is not the case anymore, with all but a small minority of film purists who refuse give in to the digital age.

The Camedia is about the size of a 35mm compact, yet has many of the features of an SLR without the bulkiness. The lens cover slides back and this turns the camera on and gets it ready for action, so you really can slip it out of the pocket and capture that moment without messing around with any settings.

In the default auto mode, the built in flash will activate when it is needed and the Camedia has autofocus, so it’s ideal for quick snapshots. However, there are a multitude of other settings available for that shot that needs a little more time and care to set up, for example the night mode. To take night scenes where a flash would spoil the affect, the night mode will disable the flash and select a slower shutter speed automatically. The Camedia will also take short video clips (no sound) which are saved as popular format “Quick Time” movies.

Special Effects are probably more relevant to the software/graphics packages you use once your image has been transferred to your computer, but the camera does have the ability to rotate and resize photos as well as turning them into black and white or sepia. This is no doubt very useful to the growing number of people with digital cameras who don’t want to be bothered transferring them to a PC. (Those who take their memory cards to the photolab or to the photoshop at the supermarket, or maybe those with standalone photo-printers ).

The memory card is the XD type. There is a 16MB card included in the package which will store 32 High Quality images, 11 Super High Quality Images (at 1,600 x 1,200 resolution), 76 images at 1, 024 x 768 (adequate quality for snapshots) and will go to a lower resolution for about 165 “fun” shots. I keep mine on the High Quality setting, but I invariably reduce the image in size and quality if I am putting the finished photo on a website. In my opinion, the 16MB card is too small a capacity, which is why I bought a 64MB card within days of first using the camera. 64MB will allow around 120 high quality images and 64mb cards only cost £10 to £20. The Camedia will take up to a 256MB card, but unless you are taking it for a 6 month trek to the far East, or plan to take lots of video clips, I wouldn’t bother with anything so big.

To activate different modes, you need to scroll through the options on the LCD screen and select. This can be a little fiddly, but probably no more than changing settings on an SLR. The only improvement I could suggest to Olympus would be to have a facility to store frequently used settings, but for a camera around the £100 mark, who am I to complain?

There is an extensive manual included, though there’s also a “Quick Guide” for those of us who want to use it within minutes of taking it out of the box. I would recommend studying the manual. I’ve been more than happy with the quality of the snapshots I have taken, but the manual will show you how to fine tune the settings to get as near to professional results as you can.

The Camedia C150 comes with a USB lead to connect to your PC in order to transfer the images from the XD card, though I already had a card reader attached to the PC, so the lead is rarely used. Images are saved in JPEG and video clips in Quick Time MOV format. The XD card will show up in Windows as an additional drive and you can use “My Computer” or “Explorer” to transfer the files over and clear the XD card to make room for more images, or you can use the software provided by Olympus called “Camedia Master”.

Camedia Master will recognise your Camedia as soon as it is connected via the USB lead and will automatically download all the images from your card onto the PC. There is a photo editor included which will allow you to resize, edit, crop, apply special effects and organise your photos in folders/albums. Camedia Master also includes a number of other features allowing greeting cards and calendars to be produced from your photos, but to get any kind of functionality out of these “extras” you have to pay to upgrade the software to the full edition. I didn’t think this was worth it with as plenty of other programs such as Microsoft Publisher and Paint Shop Pro do the same job.

Tips

-Don’t bother with the 2.5x zoom facility. Using the zoom on the Camedia will not keep the high resolution/detail and you will leave yourself open to effects of camera shake. Take a photo in normal mode and use the software to zoom and enlarge the part of the image you want.

-Buy an additional XD card of at least 64mb to adequately cope with a large amount of photos. Keep the 16mb supplied card as a spare

-Buy a cheap card reader to attach to your PC, so you don’t have to attach the camera to the PC.

-Use the viewfinder for most of your shots if at all possible. Using the LCD screen to frame your subject will run the batteries down rapidly.
-Invest in some rechargeable batteries as they will soon lose power, particularly if you use flash, although I believe this is the case with most digital cameras. (The Camedia uses “AA” size batteries.)

I’m very pleased with my Camedia C150 and I don’t think I will even need to think about replacing or upgrading for many years, something you can’t say about most PC related equipment these days. It has allows me to be a snapshot photographer who can double as a (albeit poor man’s) David Bailey if need be.

Summary: Simple to use. Good results with the minimum of effort.

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