Rating: Summary: Very, very good with few flaws Review: The C-700 has excellent picture quality, except there can be color distortion with bright objects. Color reproduction aside from that is great, good low light. One other note is when you turn the camera on, make sure the lens cap is off as the cord attaching it to the camera is a tad short. Otherwise the lens mechanism can become loose (as happened with mine), I suppose the motor could burn out.
Rating: Summary: Olympus C-700 Review: I am an amateur photographer who was very skeptical of the benefit of using a digital camera. I typically am shooting landscapes and nature with a professional quality medium format camera. I did a lot of research before I bought my C-700. It complements my traditional photography equipment perfectly. I've even used it in cold wet conditions in Alaska without fail. In the past I only took "serious" pictures. Now, even if I'm just sightseeing I can take dozens and dozens of pictures. You won't realize how many pictures you've missed in the past until you starting zooming in on all the things around you. In Alaska, I was on a cruise ship taking pictures of whales, eagles, otters, sea planes and distant mountain vistas. Most of which the people around me could not even dream of shooting with the typical 35-100mm or 3x zooms. I also recommend an immediate upgrade to 128mb or more smartmedia card and a battery charger.
Rating: Summary: Still my #1. Review: Several cameras later, the 700 remains the one I grab when going on a trip or when I want a good, multipurpose camera in the car. It has only taken a back seat to the Olympus 2100 for sporting events, and in this case only because the built-in lens stabilization feature of the 2100 makes a lot of difference when the 10x optical zoom is fully extended. I've appended my original review of the 700 below. **************************************************************** This is the camera that will put most others out of work. It is beautifully made and ergonomically engineered. The lens system is excellent and the resulting 2.1 megapixel images are crystal clear at 5" x 7", and nearly so at 8" x 10". . The zoom is of course the trump card on the 700, and the smoothness (just the right damping) with which it reaches its 10x limit is awesome. Another nice feature is its ability to take QuickTime movies, which really adds to its versatility. The camera as shipped does require some upgrading, but these things can be added later. I would suggest the first purchase be a much larger memory card than the 8 megs included (I like the 128); if possible, buy Olympus, as these proprietary cards allow for a few more digital formatting tricks than do the others. A case and a battery recharger system should complete the package and make for a really great digital powerhouse.
Rating: Summary: Good Camera Review: I am not totally sure what to think except some things stick out right away that I do NOT like about the camera.Negative 1. The shutter is VERY, VERY, slow. 2. The supplied 8MB media card is too little. The saving grace is the Free 64 MB mail-in. 3. 50% of the pictures I take are blurry. 4. No power cable. That is an extra(...). 5. ASM - you have to go to the menu to switch between A and S Positive 1. 10X optical (never use digital, your software can do that) 2. Fairly easy to use 3. Good manual settings I have an old Sony Mavica FD7 and Never get blurry pictures even at 10X zoom. All my picture were easy to take and now my kids use it w/o any difficulty at all. I don't see that the c-700 uses very good fixed settings on the dial (portrait, etc.) I am still seeing if I can get more out of this camera but need alot of convincing weather to keep it or return it.
Rating: Summary: Versatile, lightweight and entertaining Review: A dedicated Canon SLR man for 15yrs I looked high and low for a digital camera that I felt could complement my needs. I was struck by the features of the C 700 UZ and have had the camera 1 week now. This is a fun camera. The zoom is obviously great, 38 x 10 optical with 2.7 digital on top! (You will need a tripod for the top end). No camera-shake correction on this model unlike its higher end brother, worth the extra (money) for it? Nah. I did find the digital zone "seamless" as it said. Higher resolution gave very pleasing results for the zoom. Once familiar with the thumb wheel and navigation buttons, (very simple and nicely set out) moving around the camera functions is a breeze and you will soon be impressing friends with the depth of menu availability on the camera. A few features I did like were the ability to rotate pictures on the camera instead of using software, the ability to assign a "quick function" to several buttons which can be a function of your choosing, i.e. ISO selection or resolution change. You can also add features to photos straight from the camera, like, sepia or black and white and the digital viewfinder. The preview screen on the back of the camera is very impressive. Very clear and crisp. One nice little feature is that you are able to record up to 4 seconds of sound with each photograph. This can be very amusing on playback via the TV connection cable. Simply connect the camera to your Aux input on the TV and set the camera to playback and presto, all the functions of the camera available on a nice large screen, as well as sitting back and watching a slide show of your pictures or a video you just shot. Fun feature. The video side of the camera was one of the stronger points I liked. There are 2 choices of resolutionon the camera and you can record up to 60 seconds in one go and up to 30 min total, on a 128MB card! The films are recorded in QuickTime format. The camera gives the user the chance to edit the film on the camera too. This is useful to save space on the smaller memory cards. USB connection makes picture and film copying to PC a breeze. I run Windows ME and had no problems at all. Included in the package is the infamous Camedia software. Good for beginners, but worth investing in a higher end title to get the true benefits of digital photography if you are a photo nut like me. On the down side? Well, auto color balance was poor in low, artificial light conditions. Needed to manually set white balance and there was some minor color flare in bright sky photos with detailed foreground, like trees or railings. You have to zoom in a lot to see this though. A few essentials, as I think others mention, camera comes with an 8MB card, 64MB is nice, 128MB recommended, (a 64MB card is free from Olympus, at the time of writing, with mail-in and purchase of this camera), prices have plummeted, search online for some amazing prices for both camera and memory, rechargeable batteries or mains adaptor, a filter to protect that lovely lens from nasty scratches and a carry case make this a very enviable package. Photo capacity is an amazing 1330 photos on standard res, 257 on HQ, 114 on SHQ with 128MB card. Worth every penny. I really enjoy this camera.
Rating: Summary: Diane Fandialan Review: Excellent zooming capabilities for close-up shots from a distance. More zoom than most of the high-end digitals. Very versatile camera. Great picture quality and resolution in spite of the 2.1 megapixel rating. Photo editing software can further enhance resolution if desired. Very easy to operate and change batteries. When battery charge is low, zoom is slow. I own 2 Olympus digitals and look forward to adding another to my arsenal of cameras.
Rating: Summary: Wow what a camera! The zoom is fantastic. Review: This camera is the one to get and is worth paying extra over the C2040 and is worth getting over the C3040. Here is why. The 10X zoom is magnificent (It is equivalent to a 38mm to 380mm on a 35 mm camera and it only weighs 11 oz. Incredible.). You cannot imagine the difference between your standard 3x zoom until you see how close a 10X zoom gets. Digital zooms are completely worthless (you can do the same thing as a digital zoom on your computer). Also, this camera has a LCD viewfinder that looks straight through the lens (very similar to a camcorder). This is amazing as what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). There is no parallax and it saves batteries by not having to use the back LCD to frame your photo. Once you try it you won't want to go back to anything else. Even what some people consider negatives are actually positives. First, it is only 2.1 mega pixel. This is actually a good thing unless you are a professional photographer taking 11x17 or getting your photos published in a magazine. Not only is a 2.1 mega pixel cheaper but it saves space on your memory card so you can take more pictures. With the current memory, bandwidth, and storage limitations, 2.1 is about all you will need. I bet most of the people with the higher resolutions end up shrinking their photos once they get them on the computer. Two, no image stabilization. It is true at 10X zoom it is fairly easy to get some blurring (especially in low light). Get a tri-pod. It is lighter, cheaper and far less complex than image stabilization (Also, it will be handy for those night shoots when you don't use a flash). It is tricky to use the manual focusing. You use the menu arrow buttons instead of rotating the lens. However, judging how the lens works it would have added significant bulk to the C700. This is the smallest 10X zoom. If you have seen any of the others, (such as Sony) you can really appreciate how small and light this camera is. When I was shopping for a camera it came down to the C2040 and the C700 UZ. The C2040 has a lower F-stop (1.8 instead of 2.8. This is a good thing as it lets in more light for the same shutter speed. So for low light situations you can have a higher shutter speed which lessons the likelihood of blurring). I wasn't sure how big of a difference this made. And in most conditions I don't think it makes that big of a difference. The C2040 only has a 3X zoom and optical viewfinder. Both of which I think were significant shortcomings. Also, you can record sound onto your photos in the C700 something you can't do in the C2040. In the end, I paid the extra (cost) and bought the C700. I totally made the right choice. The pictures are great. Also, as you get better you won't outgrow this camera. It has all sorts of manual features that will have you fiddling for hours if you so desire but it is also completely point-and-shoot automatic if that is what you want. But in the end it all comes down to the zoom and LCD. I can't say enough good things about the 10X zoom and LCD viewfinder. Buy this camera and you will see the difference!
Rating: Summary: Best Digital, tho not Perfect Review: ++++ 10x zoom and light weight were real sellers. Great for hiking, animals, portraits, macro. Amazing to take pics, download, crop or lighten if needed, and pop out prints size desired in minutes. Save $ and aggrevation on film developing. Don't need to feel restricted about picture-taking--easy to delete. ---- Slow! If you wanted to take a pic of your dog running, you'll get a pic of his butt! Between time clicked and shutter goes off, dog has turned away. $ saved on developing will be spent on better paper and ink cartridges. You'll need 2 sets rechargeable batteries and 2 memory cards. Each frame you save needs named, ie: rose1, rose2. Had a lot of trouble getting computer to recognize and had to call tech line; was told a way that wasn't in manual. But I'm way past that now. Several instructions in manual were incomplete. I'm a pretty heavy 35mm/telephoto photographer and this is my 1st digital. I do love it, but I still need 35mm for good action shots.
Rating: Summary: Solid camera, subpar instructions... Review: Extremely happy with the C700, as it is easy to use, produces terrific imaages and boasts a 10x zoom. So why not 5 stars? As with other Olympic cameras I've purchased, the instructions are lacking at best. Had trouble getting my computer to recodnize the camer through the Camedia software, but alas, the manual offers little in the way of troubleshooting. I still recommend it, only purchase a SmartMedia reader for easy image download.
Rating: Summary: Brand New User Review: My boss recently presented me with one of these beauties so that I can take photos of our stock (trees and shrubs) for display on the net. As a first time digital camera user I was really looking forward to getting to grips with the technology. This camera is a lot of fun to use. Doing mainly close-up shots of flowers at this time of year (spring) I am already really pleased with the results. Good picture quality and easy to understand even for a novice like me. The Camedia software is easy to load and use on my pc although some of the help items (referred to frequently at this stage) are a little brief. Hungry on the batteries (I guess all digitals are?) but fine with rechargables and a spare set waiting in the wings. Using a 32mb card I can store around 62-75 shots, after that I can't wait to get back to the office to download and play with the results. The thing that appeals to me most about this technology is the ability to check the results instantaneously and re-shoot. Light and easy to carry in it's soft case. I purchased a USB card reader so that I don't have to connect the camera direct to the pc and have found this a saving on batteries and not having to connect the camera by USB cable (supplied) is convenient also as the reader is set up on my desk all the time. So far I've taken approx. 200 images, only another 1300+ to go.
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