Olympus Camedia C-730 Digital Camera

Pros: Monster 10X zoom, compact size, great battery life
Cons: No image stabilization, shutter/AF lag

Olympus’ new Camedia C 730 is the third generation update of the popular Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom series. The C 730 builds on the success of the C 720 and adds several improvements that offer consumers a unique feature set at a bargain price. The...

Pros: Very good zoom lens, good images in high contrast situations
Cons: Very long shutter lag, very long recovery from sleep mode

I did not intend to purchase a new camera until there was an affordable camera base with interchange ...

Pros: Great pictures , lots of options, 10x optical zoom!
Cons: Significant noise in indoor shots when using factory settings, poor printed manual.

While the dimage 5 was a great digicam, I got tired of the slow autofocus and horrible battery life. So I sold it on Ebay and picked myself up the Olympus C-730 online.

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Complete specs:

CCD Imager: 3.2...

Pros: Value, preset modes, probable battery life, 10x optical zoom, printed results
Cons: Some complexity of menus/settings, need to stabilize for telephoto shots

I did a fair amount of research and narrowed between the Fuji 3800 and the Olympus 730. The Olympus won my business for several reasons, well worth the approx. $50 pricing differences I saw on the web. The 730 is a quite capable enthusiast's camera down...

Pros: Great Zoom. Excellent Optical quality.
Cons: Silly non-rechargeable batteries included. Included case doesn't fit the camera

I purchased this camera primarily for taking macro photos. This is not what the 10x zoom is used for. When taking a macro photo the zoom isn't used at all actually. You get get as close as 1.6" away from the subject in macro mode. The zoom is...

Pros: Excellent for prints up to 11x17 or larger
Cons: None

I first had the c700 and it was a great camera. I did wonder if the 2mp was enough to insure good reproductions at 8x10. The c730 is an improved edition of the 700. It has terrific features including movies up to 16 minutes long on a 128 card. It also...

Pros: Best Optical Zoom Available, Long Battery Life, High Quality Photos
Cons: Shutter Lag, Horrible Low Light Ability, Image Stabilization

I call this a great fair weather camera because, when conditions are right (very bright) this camera will produce amazing photos. If you are an expert photographer and like to play with manual adjustments, this is the camera for you. However, it's...

Pros: Great picture quality, fantastic zoom and small size
Cons: Complicated menu

I had the C 700 and sold it when I got the Sony 5 megapixel digital. After 5 months without that fantastic 10X zoom, I couldn't stand it any longer. Last week I got the C 730 and I love it. Great picture, good color and great zoom. The Sony is...

Pros: 10x Optical Zoom Easy to use
Cons: Software could be more user friendly.

Love this camera. A lot of reviews complain about image quality. I found this may be true on "auto" settings. But if you educate yourself on how to use the camera and the manual settings it will do whatever you need it to and more. Other reviews...

Pros: Good menu selection and features
Cons: Zoom is noisy and loose Sucks the batteries. Pop up flash

The camera is pretty good despite all the little cons. The only gripes i have is that you have to tu ...

Pros: LCD screen useless in sunlight. Long shutter lag. No stabilizer.White out. Lost shots.
Cons: 10X zoom lens. Good photos. Accepts XD card. Can print own photos.

Owned since Dec 2003. Bought a 128mb XD card enabling 1200 shots at low resolution.
Easy to connect to TV to view or to computer to download photos.
Purchased a remote which is the only way to go for self/group photos and viewing on TV.
A battery charger is a must when using re-chargable AAA's.
I like the video with zoom (no sound) or video without zoom (with sound).
LCD useless in sunlight & shutter lag has meant many lost shots.Get whiteout using digital zoom. No image stabilizer must use tripod. Very long recovery time from sleep mode. Found it to be heavier than other digital cameras and rather bulky.
Photos for the most part come out crisp and with good color.

Pros: Good pictures, big zoom
Cons: Flash Failure, Shutter lag

Overall, I was satisfied with my Olympus C-730 until recently. The picture quality is good the camera has lots of useful features.

The biggest problem has been shutter lag. I wanted the big zoom to take action sports pictures of my kids but the shutter lag makes it very difficult.

However, a new problem has cropped up that may be a concern for other Olympus owners. I have had my Olympus C-730 for a little longer than the warranty period. The flash recently stopped working. There is a button on the camera to cycle through the flash options. Now the only option available is No Flash - the flash doesn't work. I suspect it is a system or software problem. I asked Olympus about it and the said to send it in for repair at a cost of nearly $150. Frankly, it doesn't seem prudent to spend that much money to repair a system that is unreliable. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a way for the user to repair it?

If I can’t repair it I will be shopping for another camera. Any suggestions for good pictures, big zoom, fast shutter response and reliability?

Thanks,

I purchased this camera for its many features but especially wanted the 30x zoom (10 optical) and the macro mode for extreme closeups. I've taken lots of family pictures, 30x zoom pictures of Mt. St. Helens, a 6 frame panorama of the Columbia River Gorge, an extreme macro closeup of the butt end of an onion and another of some knitting stitches (almost as good as a microscope) and by golly they have all turned out great. Oh yes, also tried a short movie clip of a Christmas snowman waving his hand. The C-730 meets all my expectations and then some. And I've only scratched the surface of it's many features. I noted that others complained about the small memory card but I think the default image is too large anyhow and dropped back to 2048 x 1536 (still large) which give me 49 pictures, which is plenty for most applications. I think this is a great camera for the advanced novice (probably that's me) and it can be had for a decent price (try doing a little shopping).

Upgrading from Kodak dc3800. This one is very similar in design and use to my 35mm Canon Rebel 2000. Took pics of my daughter holding a grasshopper....the zoom & macro are fantastic! If you are new to digital cameras.... they all have a little shutter-lag and a delay while saving the image. This one has much less than my Kodak. With practice, you can learn to compensate. This camera ROCKS!

I took 56 photos after waitng forever for the camera to come, and it's broken already !!! Should have kept the 700. Now, I'll end up with a "new repaired" camera !!!