surferdude7's Full Review: Olympus Camedia C-3020 Zoom Digital Camera
The Olympus C-3020 Zoom is the same camera as their Olympus Camedia C-3000 Zoom Digital Camera with some added features. This is the camera that I was told would replace the C-3000. The C-3000 is an excellent camera, I know I own one and love it, so the C3020 will be a plus since both are the same retail price of $499.
This is a 3.2 Megapixels digital camera with a 3X optical and 2.5 digital zoom lens that is equivalent to a 32mm-92mm lens in 35mm photography. It has a built-in flash with 6 modes including red-eye reduction.
Extended Battery Life – The C-3020 has a redesigned circuitry to use less battery power, so your batteries should last longer.
My Mode – Here you can manually setup the way you want the camera to be to your preferences and you can access it on the mode dial.
New Scene Program Modes – Here you can choose from portrait, sports, landscape-portrait, night-scene and QuickTime movie modes.
Noise Reduction System – This is to give you a sharper and more colorful photo.
USB Auto Connect – Once you configure your computer with the software provided will set it up for automatic detection. In other words when you plug your camera to the USB port it will automatically have your camera up and running to use on the computer in seconds. This is only for Windows ME, 2000, XP or Mac OS 8.6.
More frames per second The C-3000 can click off 1.2 frames per second while the C-3020 can click off 1.7 frames per second and burst up to 5 frames in HQ mode.
Movies In the movie mode it will record the movies longer before shutting off.
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Movies
The Olympus C-3020 can also take home movies for you in QuickTime. There are two modes to choose from 320x240 pixels or 160x120 pixels.
In the 320x240 pixels mode it will take up to 38 seconds of movies before stopping. You can always stop it at anytime.
In the 160x120 pixels mode it will take up to 168 seconds of movies before stopping.
For me the 160x120 pixels mode is too small.
The Photos
Now there are 5 sizes to choose from when taking your photos, 2048 X 1536, 1600 X 1200, 1,280 X 960, 1,024 X 768 and 640 X 480.
Now the amount of photos you get on the 16MB card depends on the size you pick and the quality of your settings, SQ, HQ and SHQ. (SQ-Normal Quality, HQ-High Quality SHQ-Super High Quality)
If you save them in the TIFF format it will hold only one in the highest resolution of 2048 X 1536 to about 16 in the 640 X 480 mode.
Now if you save your photos on the JPEG format (I recommend) you can get about 8 in the best resolution of 2048 X 1536 to about 165 in the 640 X 480 SQ mode.
Other Specifications Sensor resolution (effective) 3,240,000 pixels
Sensor resolution (gross) 3,340,000 pixels
Optical sensor size 1/1.8"
Optical sensor type CCD
Light sensitivity ISO 100, ISO 400, ISO 200
Special effects Black & White, Sepia
Min shutter speed 16 sec
Max shutter speed 1/800 sec
White balance Automatic, manual
White balance presets Fluorescent, cloudy, tungsten light, daylight
Lens System Lens aperture F/2.8
Auto focus TTL phase detection
Focus adjustment Automatic, manual
Filter size 43 mm
Flash modes Fill-in mode, backlight mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction
Exposure modes Program, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Auto exposure bracketing 5 steps in 1/3 EV step
Exposure metering Multi-spot, multi-segment, spot
Exposure compensation ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
Viewfinder / Display Display type LCD display 1.8" TFT active matrix
Optical viewfinder type Real-image zoom
Additional features Digital noise reduction, date/time stamp, DPOF support, AE/FE lock
Software included Drivers & Utilities, Olympus Camedia Master
What you Get!
The Olympus C-3020 Zoom camera
16MB SmartMedia Memory Card
4 AA Alkaline batteries
Wireless Remote
Lens cap with a retainer cord and carrying strap
Cables to connect to your TV and Computer (Auto Connect USB cable)
Software on a CD and manual
With the Noise Reduction System I couldn’t see much of an improvement, the My Mode I wouldn’t use and the New Scene Program Modes is something else I would not use.
The USB Auto Connect is nice and fast but I use a SmartMedia Reader for viewing and transferring all of my photos to the hard drive and I use PhotoShop 6 for my editing, so there is no use for me to connect my camera to my computer.
The 16MB SmartMedia Memory Card is an improvement but I think they should have went with at least a 32MB card or 64MB card.
The faster frames per second are noticeable and the longer movie time is also nice because you can always stop it when ever you want.
For the extended battery life I get between 90 to 100 photos using my Olympus Camedia C-3000 from NiMH rechargeable batteries. The Olympus C-3020 gave me 107 photos from the first set of rechargeable batteries and 109 on the second charge, so there is some improvement here. The amount of shots will vary depending on your camera settings and use of the LCD viewer. All my photos were taken with the LCD on.
My final word is yes I wish I could swap my C-3000 for the C-3020 but for me it is not worth paying any extra between the two. Both produce excellent photos!
3.3 megapixel sensor captures enough detail to create prints up to 11 x 14 3x optical plus 2.5x digital zoom lens with autofocus Included 16 MB SmartM...More at Amazon Marketplace
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