| Product: |
Olympus Camedia C-3030 Zoom |
| Date: |
17/12/02 (162 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great Value, Good Quality Pictures
Disadvantages: Cost of repairs, Sometimes the options are fiddly to select.
Want to join the digital revolution ? Itching to get rid of all those out of focus or wrongly framed wasted snaps? Now is the time.
I bought the Olympus C3000 one year ago in Malaysia to replace a C830 I had lost and as it was around 100 pounds less than the price back home. This particular model was not available in the UK but I have included it here for reasons that will become apparent.
The Olympus digi-cam is targeted toward the amateur photographer who wants to take holiday/ special event photos or ones to add to their web site.
Digital photography, like everything else, is a series of compromises; features versus cost, weight versus portability, ease of use versus overall capability, compatibility and function versus resolution and image quality. Unlike Sony who have their Memory Stick and Nikon, Canon etc who use Compact flash, the Olympus uses “smart media” for image storage.
Olympus used some ingenuity in creating the Olympus C3000. It is based on the more expensive Olympus C3030 digital camera and they created a slightly stripped down little brother. The major differences between the C3000 and the C3000 are the much smaller RAM buffer, a smaller standard smart media card, and a shorter duration movie feature. To the majority of users this presents no problem.
The technical specs are as follows
Resolution: 3.34 megapixel
LCD Viewfinder: 1.8” TFT Color LCD
Optical Viewfinder: Yes (shows approximately 80 per cent of the scene)
Lens: 3X Zoom (32 to 96mm 35mm equivalent)
Digital Zoom: 2.5 X
Apertures: F2.8-F11
Shutter Speed Range: 1 second to 1/800th of a second in Auto Exposure Mode (16 seconds to 1/800th of a second in Manual Mode)
ISO: 100, 200, & 400, plus auto
Exposure Compensation: Yes, +/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments
White Balance: Auto, and five manual settings
Metering: Digital Matrix (ESP) or Spot
Exposure Modes: Prog
ram AE, Aperture & Shutter Priority AE, and Manual Exposure Mode
Flash: Built in with auto mode, red eye reduction mode, fill flash mode, slow synch mode, and off
External Flash: Yes (PC synch)
Self Timer: Yes (12 second delay)
Image Capture: JPEG, Uncompressed TIFF, and wave or Quick Time Movie modes
Image Storage Media: Smart Media (8 Megabyte card included)
Comp Con: USB and Serial
Included:
Remote Control
(2) CR-V3 lithium battery packs (4) AA batteries can also be used.
USB and Audio/Video (A/V) cables
Lens Cap
Carry Strap
Instruction Manual: over 200 pages, well written, comprehensive, informative, and helpful.
Software bundle
Additional Features:
Quicktime Movies @ 160x220 or 320x240 resolution, with sound (up to 60 seconds) Remote Control (works at distances up to 15 feet from the camera) You can trip the shutter, set the self timer, or zoom in and out, to list the most important RC options. Direct Print images with (Optional) Olympus Printer, Continuous shooting, Auto-bracketing, B&W/Sepia and other custom special exposure modes.
Using the camera
The Olympus C3000 is an attractive, light-weight digital camera. Manual exposure is relatively easy. In all modes (except Program) the camera will warn you if your chosen shutter speed/ F-stop combination is likely to produce an image that is under or over exposed. Flash options are very comprehensive for a camera in this price range, and should cover pretty much anything. Low light shooting is enhanced by the excellent range of options provided by exposure compensation settings and the variable ISO (equivalent) settings. The C3000 offers a tremendous amount of manual control for a camera in this price range.
The camera is light and feels good in the hands, the controls are well laid out and the superior ergonomic design makes for intuitive handling. The handgrip, top mounted contr
ols (and information display panel), and large LCD screen (with rear mounted controls logically arrayed around its periphery) make the camera easy to use in point and shoot mode. Any changes to manual settings becomes a little fiddly as you have to scroll through options and this is slower than changing options on an SLR. One word of caution, the wide range of manual options offered by Olympus makes this camera especially attractive for tripod mounted shots, so do be careful, since the tripod mount is plastic and could easily be damaged by the metal screw head of most tripods.
The C3000 has one of the lowest power consumption rates of any digital camera I have ever used. If you use the LCD sparingly - normally I would only use the display one time out of 10 - the batteries will last more than a couple of days of moderate to heavy shooting. The cycle time (for top resolution images) is about five and a half seconds, about average for most three megapixel digital cameras.
The viewfinder’s optics are quite good and images are clear and sharp. The viewfinder zooms with the lens, and there is a dioptric correction for those who wear eyeglasses. The zoom lens on the Olympus C3000 is very good for a camera in this price range, equivalent to (or a bit better than) most digital camera zooms. The C3000’s shutter lag times are only sometimes a problem if you are trying to capture fast moving images. The imaging software included is easily installed onto Windows and is good for all basic picture editing - red eye removal, cropping, resizing special effects and so on.
I do have a couple of complaints, one being the optical viewfinder. As with all digital camers, you only see about 80 per cent of the picture area so sometimes you wrongly frame a picture. Normally this is no problem as you check the picture immediately and retake it.
The longest shutter time is only 1 second. There are some times ie during a thunderstorm I try
to catch the lightning strike but with such a short exposre its a matter of luck. 15 seconds would be ideal as a max.
Also, about a month ago the camera seized, on taking it to the dealer I was told as I had bought it outside the UK the warranty was not valid - it was just inside the standard 12 month warranty - despite the fact I had all the receipts etc. I tried to complain to various people with no joy and reluctantly agreed to pay. I saw why they were reluctant later - they said the main board had to be replaced at a cost of 170 pounds. At this price, it was just under the throw it away and buy a new one or pay it. Although the cost to buy a new one had dropped I decided to shell out. This so far has been the only problem encountered. It would seem that when things do go wrong they will be expensive - probably like every other make.
Summary
I am very impressed with the quality of the images, and the performance and usability of the camera. The Olympus C3000 is really good value since it is basically a slimmed down version of the Olympus C3000 and so many of the features are virtually identical to the more expensive “big brother”. It offers the opportunity for digital photographers to enjoy the performance and features of a high-end digital point and shoot for less. If you’ve been waiting for digital camera prices to drop to a reasonable level, this camera may be as good as it is going to get.
Although this particular model is no longer available, the replacements in the 3000 series have kept up the good work and would still come with a buy recommendation.
Summary:
|
|
