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Olympus Camedia  C-3020 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Olympus Camedia C-3020 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

List Price: $599.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: step up to the 3040
Review: This is the first digital camera I have owned and I can't tell if the problem is with the camera or my expectations. Outdoors and in bright situations the 3020 performs very well. Indoors I find it difficult to take good shots consistently. When I use the flash I get flat boring pictures, without a flash there is often not enough light. One solution is to use the black and white or Sepia function for indoor shots. Asking people to stand still also works nicely. If you can afford it, the best solution is to step up to the Olympus 3040 which has a faster brighter lens (1.8 vs 2.8) I read several postings about the batteries burning out quickly. Please note: ALL DIGITAL CAMERAS EAT REGULAR ALKALINE BATTERIES FOR LUNCH. Rechargeable NiMH batteries will last much much longer and will save you a ton of money. It's also a good idea to keep a set of non-rechargeable Lithium batteries around, but bag the idea of using regular alkaline except in emergencies. At the end of the day I have a feeling this is a solid camera, and that taking quality photos simply takes more skill and patience then I was expecting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: C-3000 Digital Camera
Review: Problems:
* the lens extends when you turn the camera on, this is a problem when the lens cap is on because the motor will grind.
* flash went out temporarily and began to work again

Strenghts:
* excellent otherwise

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Olympus Camedia C-3020
Review: The camera appeared to work great. We were in love with the pictures and ease of use. Within 6 weeks it just quit working. Warranty support through Amazon.com is impossible to locate. So, am I stuck with a waste of money?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Exceeded expectation
Review: ...
Opened the package, installed batteries and memory card and took it with me on a month long jaunt across the U.S.A. from coast to coast and north and south in between. Without any difficulty at all this camera functioned admirably under all conditions (rain, snow, heat & cold). I deleted unwanted photos with ease and upon my return couldn't have been more pleased. It's incredible how much picture you get for your buck. Btw, this is my first digital and I'm hooked.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointed in Amazon.com
Review: Ordered the item on November 13. The item was available in 24 hours.

My e-mail said that I would receive it on December 24th.

Looking around the internet, I found a Olympus 4040 which was about 36 dollars more. On Amazon.com, the same camera is [a lot] more. So I ordered the other, it's in transit, and I CXLed the Amazon.com order for this camera.

It's a shame. I really like getting my product from Amazon.com but if it's not in stock I wish they would say that up front. They sent the memory disk that I ordered. Meanwhile it sits on a table with no camera to use it in.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: exceeded expectation
Review: Opened the package, installed batteries and memory card and took it with me on a month long jaunt across the U.S.A. from coast to coast and north and south in between. Without any difficulty at all this camera functioned admirably under all conditions (rain, snow, heat & cold). I deleted unwanted photos with ease and upon my return couldn't have been more pleased. It's incredible how much picture you get for your buck. Btw, this is my first digital and I'm hooked.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent camera - minor design problems
Review: I purchased this camera in August 2002 as my first foray into the world of digital photography and have used it a lot since. Overall I have been very pleased. It feels comfortable in the hand and takes extremely clear pictures with good color balance. I have taken pictures in environments ranging from the beach at mid-day to the top of the Empire State building at night and the camera managed well in all cases, though as with any camera, camera-shake at night is a problem and you might want to consider using a tripod. The only time I have had any problem with quality is when taking pictures in low light in a restaurant when speckling noise became an issue. Overall this is a very good and functional little camera which takes excellent pictures, gives you quite a bit of manual control if you want it, but takes very good "snaps" automatically if you don't. I take it everywhere and since each shot is essentially free, take far more photos than I would have done with a conventional camera. I would now not be parted with it.

However, while generally very satisfied, I do have some complaints as follows: 1) The lens cap falls off FAR too easily. You have to be really careful when putting the camera into a bag or the lens cap will definitely be dangling on its string. 2) The on-off / mode-selector dial can very easily be knocked from the Off position when handling / storing the camera. This turns the camera on in one mode or another, which is annoying. If you don't notice this has happened, the convenient auto timeout will save your batteries but it would be better if the dial offered more resistance when in the Off position. 3) The zoom control is somewhat unresponsive making it very difficult or even impossible to accurately zoom by a small amount. You have to nudge the control very briefly and then wait for the lens to catch up with the requested tiny adjustment. It's very counter intuitive. Zooming from one extreme to another is easy but minor adjustments are something of a practiced art. So for occasions that need rapid shooting, you may find this frustrating.

I have found that a 3x zoom is somewhat inadequate for anything other than generally modifying the framing and composition of the picture. Forget any hopes of sneaking up on wildlife or people, since for that you will need 7x or more and this camera is just not going to deliver. Frustrating but not a fault. You can see upfront what you are buying and if 3x is OK for you, then go ahead, if not, spend more money and get a more powerful zoom on a different camera. This is the issue more than any other that is making me think of trading up for a different camera. Too often, I just cannot get the telephoto shots I can see presented in front of me.

The Camedia software shipped with the camera is very good and I use it a lot in "slideshow" mode to view all my pictures. However, now that I have about 1000 pictures in one directory, it is apt to crash at startup if I do not allow it sufficient time to scan all the images before scrolling through the list of thumbnails. Irritating but not a major problem. The USB interface works like it is supposed to with Win2000. No problem, it does what it says on the box. Fast and error free.

All in all, a very nice little camera at a reasonable price. The bottom line has to be good pictures and this camera definitely delivers. If it had a longer lens and got the few niggles ironed out, this could be close to being my ideal camera.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: To be warned
Review: Several points to take warning about this Camera:

(1). Most serious: In one year since I owned the camera, the
image already shows two "Bright Spots" like the cell that fell
off your retina of your eyeball, and every picture has these
spots in bright red color. I wonder if they are result of
"PIXEL" that fell due to normal "were and tear"?

Anyway, now I have to doctor every single picture I take by
this camera.

(2). Second: the camera body feels delicate, almost ready to
fall apart, maybe due to poor craftsmanship, maybe just
planned obsolescence!!

(3). The setting up routing is too complicated, for college
mechanic department graduates only, definitely not for
artistic type of person.

(4). Poor manual, almost totally unintelligible!

(5). I think this camera has serious flaws, both in
design and in craftsmanship. Olympus is too big a company
to suffer from bad reputation brought by this camera.
But maybe it really doesn't care, thinking people will
just continue to buy their camera when one is out of
commission within 1 year!!

(6). You read these warning here!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Choice
Review: This is an excellent camera for the money and so simple to use.
Even a "dummy" like me had no problems. I will recommend this one to everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More Bang Less Buck
Review: This camera gives you a lot of bang for less of your bucks. This feature-rich camera could easily sell for much more. It's a digital camera secret. And Olympus let the cat out of the bag.
To really enjoy the features and benefits of this unit, please read the instructions and become familiar with the functions and features.
This camera can make an amateur look good and a professional even better with just a little tweaking and fine tuning.
Pictures are nothing more than a painting, a painting with light.
Paint it with your Olympus Camedia C-3020 Digital Camera.


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