The New Olympus Camedia C3020 Much More Than a Facelift
Written: Feb 24 '02 (Updated Feb 25 '02)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Pros: Outstanding white balance, contrast adjustment, and noise reduction options, reasonable cost, and excellent images
Cons: Average macro mode and slow start-up
The Bottom Line: The New Olympus C3020’s balance of features, ergonomics, and performance makes it one of the best bargains available in today’s digital camera marketplace
Howard_Creech's Full Review: Olympus Camedia C-3020 Zoom Digital Camera
For the past three months I have been receiving regular email requests for information about the new Olympus Camedia C3020. The C3020 is the updated version of the very popular Olympus Camedia C3000 digital camera. I have been heartily recommending the C3000 (since I tested it in June of 2001) because of its incredible balance of superb ergonomics, excellent performance, useful features, and very reasonable cost. I was anxious to test a C3020 but the camera has been selling very well since its introduction, and my friend (who sells and distributes cameras and photographic equipment) just hadn’t been able to shake one loose for us to play with.
We finally got the opportunity to check out a brand new C3020 on an absolutely gorgeous recent February weekend. The winter here in Kentucky has been very mild and for the last couple of weeks we’ve been seeing crocuses and daffodils blooming and robins are starting to turn up in ever increasing numbers, all sure signs of an early spring. Contrary to what that groundhog in Pennsylvania believes, many of us here in the bluegrass state feel that the winter is over.
Features
Olympus has introduced several new and updated digital camera models over the past several months, but the new Camedia C-3020 probably offers the best overall balance of features and affordable price. The C3020 provides the choice of full automatic “point’n’shoot” operation or full manual exposure control. If you’ve worked with any of Olympus’ earlier Camedia models (especially the C3000) the control setup will quickly become intuitive. If you’ve never used any of Olympus’ digital camera models then it will only take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the way the Camedia family operates.
The C3020 is a compact digital camera (a bit too large to drop in your jacket pocket) that is light weight enough to carry around all day but not so small that it is uncomfortable to use or difficult to handle. The camera will fit easily in a medium sized purse or there’s a neck/shoulder strap (for the guys) for secure and carefree toting from place to place.
The C3020 features a real-image optical viewfinder and 1.8-inch TFT color LCD monitor for easy image composition. The new status display panel (on the camera’s top deck) allows photographers to use the optical viewfinder instead of the battery draining LCD, which will dramatically extend battery life. The C3020’s f2.8-f11/32-96mm zoom lens (35mm equivalent) provides a little extra at the wide-angle end (32mm as opposed to the standard 35mm) which may help out in tight spots. The zoom is a telescoping design, so it zooms out whenever the camera is put in record mode. Manual focus or auto-focus range is from 0.6 feet to infinity. Like it’s Olympus family siblings (C2040, C3040, C4040) the C3020 provides a set of threads inside the lip of the area around the lens (on the cameras body) which accepts the Olympus (optional) CLA-1 lens thread adapter which permits the use of 43mm filters and lens attachments (closeup lenses, filters, wide angle and telephoto adapters, etc.) in front of the camera's lens.
A broad selection of exposure modes (Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, and My Image mode*) and five preset "Scene" modes (Portrait, Sports, Landscape/Portrait, Night Scene, and Movie) will cover virtually any shooting situation. The C3020’s shutter speed range is from 1/800th of a second to 16 seconds. The exposure compensation mode allows users to adjust the exposure –2/+2 EV, in one-third stop increments (in all exposure modes except Manual). In Auto Exposure Bracketing mode the C3020 will shoot a series of images (3 or 5) at precisely stepped EV levels every time you press the shutter, allowing for fine tuning of exposures in tricky or changing light conditions.
* The My Image setting permits photographers to save specific exposure preferences to a customized shooting mode that can be called up at any time
The C-3020's sensitivity settings (Auto and ISO 100, 200, and 400 equivalents) will cover most lighting situations. The new Noise Reduction feature effectively reduces image noise when shooting longer exposures. White balance settings include Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual mode, as well as a red/blue manual adjustment tool to correct the color balance in any of the preset white balance modes. With the settings menu, you can adjust image Sharpness and Contrast levels –5/+5 steps.
The Image Effects menu provides B&W, Sepia, Whiteboard, and Blackboard shooting modes for creative applications or for capturing text clearly. The 3020 offers an unusually wide range of creative control over sharpness, contrast, and color for a digital camera in this price range.
The C-3020’s built-in flash features seven modes, Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Off, Fill Flash, First Curtain "Night Scene" Flash, First Curtain with Red-Eye Reduction, and Second Curtain "Night Scene” For long exposures and special effects. Photographers can use the Slow flash Sync modes with slower shutter speeds and synchronize the flash with either the opening or closing of the shutter. Flash output power can be adjusted (with the settings menu) from –2/+2 EV in one-third stop increments.
Power-up times are a little slower than the average for three megapixel zoom digital cameras, but cycle times are about average, shot-to-shot and shutter lag times are slightly better than average. Images may be saved in JPEG or uncompressed TIFF formats and movie files are saved in Motion JPEG format. Four AA batteries or two CR-V3 lithium-ion battery packs power the C-3020. The C3020 can use Ni-MH, Ni-CD, and lithium re-chageables or (in a pinch) alkaline AA’s. Purchasers should factor at least one set of re-chargeable NiMH’s (two is better) and a charger into their price comparison calculations. An AC adapter is available as an optional accessory.
Like all of Olympus' Camedia digicams, the C-3020 provides very good exposure control. The Program AE mode allows the C3020 to be used like an auto everything “point’n’shoot” camera. Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, and My Image modes offer more advanced photographers lots of control and an almost unlimited range of creative options. Five "scene" modes (Portrait, Sports, Landscape/Portrait, Night Scene, and Movie) allow photographers to optimize camera/lens settings for specific subjects. The C-3020’s Digital ESP metering system reads the center of the subject and a small area around it (for general purpose shooting) or you can switch to Spot metering mode for more demanding exposure situations. The C-3020's user interface is simple, the control layout is logical, and menu screens are straightforward and easy to navigate. The status display panel is very useful because it allows users to check a variety of camera settings without enabling the LCD monitor (the C3020 has very low power consumption when the LCD monitor is off)
In the Field/Handling & Operation
My friend dropped by to visit with a brand new C3020 and two tickers to “Carl Casper’s Custom Auto Show” at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. Carl Casper was one of the big three “car guys” from the glory days of hotrods and custom cars in the sixties and early seventies. Casper, George Barris and Ed “Big Daddy Roth helped to create the American Car Culture and inspire the birth of a generation of American muscle cars that included the Pontiac GTO and the Shelby GT Mustangs. Casper has designed and built custom autos for the Movies (like the Batmobile for the 1989 Tim Burton “Batman” film) and television (K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider”, the “A Team” van, and the General Lee from “The Dukes of Hazzard”) Casper stores his massive collection of historic custom cars in the Louisville area and the annual show here is the last of its kind (at one time there were dozens of Custom Car Shows every year) I thought it would be pretty neat to go and see the Batmobile since I really liked Tim Burton’s darkly comedic re-telling of the Batman story with Val Kilmer as the caped crusader.
The car show was pretty neat with tons of chrome and a dazzling array of colorfully painted custom cars. The Batmobile was a real treat to see up close and I got to spend the afternoon teasing my friend about how disappointing it was that we were going to miss seeing Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke from the “Dukes of Hazzard”) in person. The C3020 performed like a champ easily compensating for the mega watt fluorescent lighting.
The following day we drove around Louisville’s East End looking for signs of spring. The C3020 performed faultlessly shooting blooming crocuses and daffodils even under the bright high contrast lighting of a beautiful sunny February Sunday.
Overall, I was as impressed with the C3020 as I had been with the Olympus Camedia C3000 that it is replacing. The auto white balance setting sometimes resulted in a very slight greenish cast in some outdoor situations (easily corrected post exposure) so I used the manual (or the sunny preset) white balance setting for most of our outdoor shooting. I really liked having the ability to manually tweak the white balance settings, and to adjust the camera's sharpness and contrast settings. The C3020’s low-light capabilities are well above average, and full manual exposure control pretty much ensures that it can handle just about any shooting situation that comes up.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: 3.2-megapixel (2,048 x 1,536)
Viewfinder: Optical
LCD: 1.8”
Lens: 3X zoom f/2.8-f/11/32-96mm (35mm equivalent)
Exposure Modes: Automatic, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual (plus five Scene modes)
Shutter Speeds: 16 seconds to 1/800th of a second.
Metering: Digital ESP and Spot metering modes
Exposure Compensation: +2/-2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
Sensitivity: 100, 200, and 400 ISO (35mm equivalent) settings, and Auto mode.
Flash: Built-in (seven modes)
White Balance: Auto or user adjustable with presets for Fluorescent, cloudy, tungsten light, daylight and red/blue calibration tool.
Noise Reduction: yes
Image Formats: JPEG, uncompressed TIFF, movies saved as Motion JPEGs (no audio).
Image Storage: Smart Media (16 Mb card included)
Power: four AA batteries (4 AA alkalines included) two CR-V3 battery packs, or an optional AC adapter.
Connectivity: USB
Included
USB cable and CAMEDIA Master 2.5 software utility CD for downloading images to a PC or Mac. (The camera is a "storage class" USB device so no special driver software is needed for Mac OS 8.6 and higher, or Windows 2000, Me or XP) and Apple QuickTime for viewing MPEG movies.
What’s New (How is the C3020 different from the 3000)?
Improved Battery life (power consumption is lower due to improved circuitry) My Image Mode (allows the photographer to save custom exposure settings for later recall) Noise Reduction Mode (The camera takes two identical exposures –one with the shutter open---and one with the shutter closed---the CPU then compares the differences between the two exposures and subtracts the noise from the “live” exposure) USB auto connect (allows the user to move images from camera to computer without loading separate image management software in Windows ME, 2000, XP or Mac OS 8.6)
A Few Concerns
The 1/800th of a second maximum shutter speed can be creatively limiting, but should be OK for most shooting situations. Macro performance is average, fine for shooting small objects for eBay but not good enough for photographing full frame flowers, insects, etc. The weird 43mm lens adapter threads (rather than more common sizes like 49, 52, or 55 mm) The C3020’s zoom lens displays very minor distortion at the wide-angle end and slightly more noticeable distortion at the telephoto end. The minor optical distortion is well balanced, however by a very low level of Chromatic Aberration (purple fringing) throughout the zoom’s range.
Conclusion
The Olympus C3020 is a truly worthy successor to the very popular Camedia C3000. The C3020 retains all the best features of the C3000 and adds some useful new ones for a winning balance of capability and performance at a bargain price. I really liked the C3000 because I felt it was one of the best bargains in the digital camera marketplace, a great digital camera for a wide range of shooters from auto everything point’n’shoot amateurs to serious photographers on a budget. The Olympus Camedia C3020 continues that tradition and adds some genuinely evolutionary improvements like better power management, a noise reduction mode, and USB auto connect. These new features add significant value and make this update more than an expensive facelift. One of the best features of the C3020 is its impressive options for tweaking color balance, since very few consumer level digital cameras offer this feature. Resolution, color, and contrast are very good and the camera performs well under a wide variety of lighting conditions.
The C3020 following in the footsteps of its older sibling, the Camedia C3000, is sort of like the sequel that is better than the original movie; it’s kinda rare but it does happen. The C-3020’s average street price is about $500, but the camera can be found for considerably less. Take a close look at the Olympus Camedia C3020 if you're researching a digital camera in this price/features range. Olympus got it right with this one.
Here’s what I had to say the Olympus Camedia C3000, “The Olympus C3000 is a real value, since it is basically a slimmed down version of the Olympus C3030, so the image resolution, handling, and operation are virtually identical to the more expensive “big brother”. The Olympus C3000 offers the opportunity for digital photographers to enjoy the performance and features of a high-end digital point and shoot (like the Nikon Coolpix 880 or the Canon G1) for hundreds of dollars less. I highly recommend this digital camera. As for “bang for your buck” the Olympus Camedia C3000 digital camera is in a class all by itself. 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.” June 2001
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