Very Good camera but not flawless
Written: Nov 09 '03
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Pros: Huge Lens, easy use buttons, battery life, hot shoe, manual controls, shutter speeds, comfortable
Cons: Focus hunting, sharpness, weight, xD Media expensive, menus, remote, lens cap, LCD size
The Bottom Line: Great camera for those knowledgable about photography and want a long lens and realize the negatives associated with it. Those wanting a all-around should look elsewhere.
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| alinla's Full Review: Olympus Camedia C-750 Ultra Zoom Digital Camera |
This my 5th digital camera and sadly not the best I've used. However this is a great camera in its own right and wonderful if its benefits meet your needs.
This camera is all about its lens. Oly has been making 10X lenses for so long now, they definitely have the concept down pat. The 10x times lens give the user a range of 38mm to 380mm range in film camera equivelancy. This is a great for compressing space and capturing distant scenes like they were up close. However these benefits come at a cost, shutter speed. Anyone familiar with photography knows longer lenses need more light and the C750 is no exception. At long focal lengths the lens needs lots of light and is really only useful as a handheld camera during daylight hours. Without bright sunlight you often resort to using a tripod due to the camera's lens needing a slower shutter speed. I've cheated by bumping up the ISO speed to get a handheld shot but the photo quality at ISO 200 and above is not worth capturing in most cases.
The camera does function well as a point and shoot although its size/weight keep me from taking it everywhere like my previous Canon. Unfortunately Oly decided to use AA batteries. Most people think this is convenient since you can theoritically run to the store to buy spares. However this is a misnomer. You really need to use NIMH batteries with a digicam and those aren't available at 7/11. Also its my experience that NIMH AA's weigh more than their proprietary lithion ion battery equivalent. Case is point, although the C750 does have good battery life it needs the use (and weight) of 4 AA's to acheive this. Many other manufacturers like Canon & Sony get sligthly less battery life but at about half the weight. Although AA's maybe cheaper there are more spares to carry and more weight to haul around.
The interface on the top/back of the camera is easy to use. The buttons are well placed and there is no guessing if you've pressed one or not. The menus on the other hand are not as well thought out. You have to sort through layers of menus often taking a while to find things like noise reduction. Other parts are really bad. Like deciding to use Aperture priority or Shutter priority. To switch from one to the next you have to sort through menus as Oly only allows you to use either Aperture, Shutter priority or Full manual control at a time. You can't switch too easily on the fly like you can on a Sony or Canon. Fortunately the Manual control is interactive and the camera does meter the scene and give you feedback whether you are plus or minus its exposure. But there are times when you know what you want but it just takes too long to configure the camera.
Another detraction is the bad focus hunting. Every time you change the focal length (zoom length) the camera attempts to focus before you can do anything else. Often this results in you waiting for several seconds. If you didn't zoom far enough or too much you can be waiting for 10-15 seconds to take your picture.
The lens cap is a cheap afterthought and really seems like you grabbed something from anther camera and are using it as a alternative. The remote is nice to use however it can only be used from in front of the camera. This sucks for touchless operation capturing a sunset or nightscene. It works nicely for playback operation on your TV as long as you can see the camera.
All in all the camera is great if you need a big lens on a digicam however lacks in user friendliness as a all-around camera.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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Epinions.com ID:
alinla
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 1 member
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