Click went the camera! (Olympus Camedia C-960 Zoom)

Member Name: jo@145

Product:	Olympus Camedia C-960 Zoom
Date:	12/05/05 (220 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Zoom facility, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Price, Batteries run out

Once upon a time, my lovely big sister gave me my first camera. Packed neatly in a box with its little plastic cover, I was so proud of it. It was a Brownie Camera.
The little black and white photos I took with it are safely stashed away, the camera I’m afraid long since dumped and replaced with many varied models, some good and some terrible ones. During that time I grew up, got married and had a family. Finally as the flock left home we could afford a better camera! But which camera should we buy?

The latest model my husband and I share, bought especially for our trip to Canada, but used regularly, because you don’t feel you are wasting film with a DIGITAL camera. We’d seen them advertised from £99 and decided we would try one, but due to an excellent salesman in Comet, (who did seem to know what he was talking about as he said he previously owned a photography shop, but now worked 3 days in Comet and earned as much as he didn’t have overheads and couldn’t compete with the larger stores.) He advised us to get one with higher pixels, than the cheapest camera, this has 1.3 mega pixels, certainly not the highest but we are very happy with the quality of pictures.

I’m not really technically minded and don’t understand all the features, but I can and do take some good photos, so it must really be idiot proof. I’ll even add some pictures at the end as I’m getting good at doing that as well now! I like adding photos if I can as I’m sure you’ll agree, it can make reviews more interesting

*APPEARANCE*

It has a silver body and black plastic back. The name OLYMPUS is on the front cover in gold capitals and underneath in smaller black lettering, “Digital Camera C-960 ZOOM”. There is a sliding lens cover, which clicks shut and so switches off the batteries. There is a wrist strap on the right hand side, and on the top right a toggle type of button switch for the zoom/wide angled choice. The button for taking the photo is next to this, which also can be pressed for auto focus and then a glass covered window, which indicates the battery status and number of photos that can be taken and stored. If the battery light lights up and turns off immediately then the batteries are OK and you can use the camera. If it blinks and the other control indicators are displayed normally, the batteries need replacing as power is low, but if it blinks and the other indicators go out the batteries are dead and need replacing. On the top at the other side is the flash, the cover lifts up and clicks back into place when not in use.
On the back is a large screen with a viewable size of 3 x 3.5 cm. I only use this to see if what I’ve taken is good, or especially when it’s a family group to see if someone was looking stupid – my family pull silly faces , scratch their head etc. so I make them have it taken all over again – because of the timer button I can be in it as well, but more about that later! Using some of the buttons on the back you can access a menu screen and change your settings for the quality of photos, this makes a big difference in the number of pictures which can be taken. There is a small viewfinder on the left top back of the camera, with four lines which almost form a cross, to get the correct focus of your subject.
The battery compartment is underneath the camera, it takes 4 AA batteries or 2 CR-V3 lithium battery packs. These are easy to insert and the cover slides over and clicks shut. The Smart Media card, which is very thin plastic with a chip fits into a section on the front near the wrist strap. The door opens from the front and the card can only be fitted in correctly. When switching the camera on the status of the card is checked and if not in correctly or no card the error indicator shows and a green lamp flashes beside the viewfinder window. At the bottom of the one side there is a cover for the computer connector, video output connector and AC adapter connector.
It is fairly light weight and will fit into a pocket, with the batteries it weighs just over 12oz. or 361g, and is 127cm x 5.3 x 6.7. It has 3 x optical zoom and 2 x digital tele. Mode. No camera case was included when we bought our camera.

*SETTING DATE AND TIME*

To do set the date and time, close the lens cover and press the LCD monitor on/off button, pressing the menu button lets you select the correct date and pressing set keeps this working. If the batteries run out and are not replaced within about one hour, the date will be lost and it has to be set again. We find the date useful as sometimes we can’t remember where something was taken, and it helps jog the old memory!

*TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS*

When the camera lens cover is opened the power is switched on and ready for use, after checking battery status and number of pictures which are storable. This depends on the size of the Smart media card, we had an 8MB but bought a 64MB and can now take hundreds of photos, and so far we have never filled it on holiday. For example using normal quality you can store 122 on an 8MB card and 489 on a 32MB card. But if you want exceedingly high recording mode you would only be able to store approximately 18 and 73 on the above size cards.
The camera should be held very still with both hands either in the vertical or horizontal position, keeping fingers away from the lens. Press the shutter release halfway to lock the focus, the green light comes on next to the viewfinder, if it blinks the focus or exposure is not correct. Press the shutter release button fully to take the picture, a beep is heard, and the green light blinks as the picture is being recorded. If a flash is needed open the flash cover first, there is a flash mode button the back of the camera with a choice of auto, red-eye reducing, and slow shutter synchronization for taking night photos. When finished close the flash cover and slide the lens cover over to turn off the power. There is also an override button, so the flash does not fire when in low light conditions if it is prohibited as in some buildings.

Basically just press the button! It works for me every time!

You can take pictures using the LCD monitor, but I always think this is a drain on the batteries and feel I hold it more securely next to my eye than away from my body. It is possible to zoom in or out on a subject, by using the toggle button.
Next to the Flash mode button on the back is the self-timer button. This is always fun for family pictures! Or when you want a picture of you and your partner and no one is about to take it! Open the lens cover, press the self timer button, and a little clock icon appears on the control panel. Aim the camera at the subject, allow room for you to get into the picture, press the shutter release button and you have about 12 seconds to get into place, the signal lights for about 10 seconds and blinks for 2 seconds before taking the photo. 12 seconds is quite a long time and you can say “cheese” over and over again before the picture is taken!
The button next to this is called the Digital Tele mode and Macro mode. I have to admit to not having used this! It allows you to take a picture really close up to something, in the Macro mode and to make a subject appear larger in the Digital Tele mode by using the optical zoom. Too complicated for me I’m afraid, but it is there for the more technically minded – perhaps one of these days I’ll try it out and up date this review!

The exposure can be compensated if you wish to adjust it and there is a spot metering mode. There is white balance,depending on the amount of daylight and it is possible to change the ISO, that means the higher the ISO the faster the shutter speed and lower the amount of light required. The sharpness can also be altered. Again I do not fiddle with these things, I’m frightened of messing the camera about, and it takes wonderful photos without me pressing all these buttons! I just want to tell you what a clever camera it is.

*VIEWING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS*

It is possible to view them on the LCD viewer on the back of the camera, close the lens cover and press the ON/Off button and set the camera to Display mode. With each press of the jog dial button on the back, you can view the photos. It is possible to erase any pictures you don’t want, it checks if you want to erase, and you press the OK button if you want to go ahead. We used to view our photographs be connecting the camera by cables to the computer or television, but our latest computer allows us to insert the Smart card into a slot just below where the floppy disc fits and HEY PRESTO a click and away we go, so easy, this is my preferred way of viewing until we have (that is the Royal WE!) downloaded the photos onto a CD or the hard drive, I pretend it’s beyond me, although with our new digital imaging suite I can do it! Don’t tell hubby though! If you view on the computer by connecting the camera there are rules to follow. The power must be OFF on the PC and the camera before connecting, the cable has to be connected into the serial port and connected to the camera’s computer connector, only then can the PC be turned on, then the lens cover opened and then Camedia Master started up – this is the name of the software, so you can see why I prefer the easy option of inserting the smart card!

*PRINTING*
It is easy to print off your photos and the soft ware allows you to make dark images brighter etc. although we tend to save them on the hard drive for a while and use as a slide show. In fact we use them like a screen saver and it’s lovely to look back at all your holiday photos. Older photos are saved on CD.

*COST*
Well I nearly forgot this, one of the most important points! I knew it was more expensive than the £99 one we went to see. It cost £ 298.85 plus £16.99 for the adaptor to view the pictures. Since then we have bought an additional smart card ,ours was at the airport and was a bit cheaper, but Argos have them for £19.99 for the 64MB and £29.99 for the huge 128MB. So you can click away to your hearts content!

*OPINION*
This is an excellent camera for novice or more experienced photographer, we have had excellent results, and would recommend it to anyone. It does use a lot of batteries if you continually use the LCD screen but otherwise it’s great. It saves on storage space as we have hundreds of photos stored away which we hardly ever look at now, these "photos " are more accessible and takes up very little space, and we only print them if we want a hard copy. Therefore saving money.

This is also on Ciao under my name of jo145 which has already been used on this site.

Summary: