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Olympus C-2100 2MP Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom

Olympus C-2100 2MP Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom

List Price: $899.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good overall but lacking in a couple areas.
Review: I had the chance to borrow this camera and use it for a couple days. The camera is easy to operate, looks nice, and produces pretty good results. This camera is proof that for 8x10 prints, a 2.1 megapixel CCD is sufficient...but I wouldn't go any bigger than that. 8x10 is really the limit with 2 megapixels. It's easy to connect to the computer and download images. The 10x zoom is sweet. After using this camera and going back to another camera with only a 3x zoom, I felt deprived. AND IT'S IMAGE STABILIZED!!! However, there are a few things that really bothered me about this camera:

a. Fastest shutter speed is 1/800 of a second in non-automatic modes. That's not very fast. If you're trying to capture fast moving objects, forget about it. Your picture will be a blur, especially if you're using that 10x zoom.

b. The purple fringing, aka chromatic aberration, you see on digital cameras sometimes is pretty bad on this camera. From what I've been told, this is common on Olympus cameras.

c. I don't like how the on/off/reset-settings selections are all on the same switch. It is WAY too easy to accidently push the switch up too far to the reset-settings selection, and wipe out all the custom settings you've made. Olympus really should've made this a seperate switch.

Overall I liked the results, but I decided not to buy this camera due to the faults I listed. If Olympus makes another camera like this, with what I listed fixed (and hopefully with a 3 megapixel chip as well), I'll be the first to buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great camera and lighter than you might think
Review: This is a wonderful digital camera. The stabilization feature helps me out alot, because it is so hard to hold anything completely still. I haven't taken a bad picture yet with this camera. I love how far I can zoom. It comes with it's own batteries and charger ! Make sure to get at least a 64 meg memory for it though (especially if you want the really wonderful pictures this camera is capable of). Believe me, you want this camera ! Buy it !

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a fine camera
Review: it's a pleasure to own this.. it is everything a photo hobbyist could ask for.. with the exception that " right around the corner" Olympus will be announcing the 3.4 or 4.0 etc. model of this same camera and I'll have to have that. Unlike the c3000 and c700, this camera feels and looks like a camera should ...solid constuction .. and controls that make sense and to the extent possible, save on battery expenditure..ie (the mode switch is separate from the on/off switch).. many more thing I could mention in comparison to some of their other models in the $... price range but time doesn't permit it ..nevertheless the C2100 is not only quality but "fun" to use.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bravo, Olympus -- this product is superb! (long review)
Review: I purchased this camera about 6 months ago, but wanted to wait until I had real experience with it to review it. I am 95% thrilled with this product!

Before I purchased I completed a very detailed feature/benefit analysis of this and four other advanced amateur products, including those made by Sony and Nikon, all within the same price range at the time. I was looking a camera with excellent picture quality, SLR-like image control (shutter priority, aperture priority, etc.), a powerful optical zoom lens, and a small footprint (as small as possible). Obviously with these requirements, there were some compromises - for example, this camera is larger than those with 3x optical zoom lenses, but among the 10x lenses at the time, it was the smallest. I decided on this camera because it had the best score on average of all my requirements, and because every single independent review that I read was excellent.

For advanced amateurs, the camera is excellent, with different shutter priority, aperture priority, bulb, fully manual and fully automatic. You can bracket exposure, flash intensity - hold the shutter button down and it will take 3 or 5 rapid shots of the same subject with different settings - then you can view them and delete the ones that you don't want. For beginners, the camera might be a bit overkill, but it has a fully automatic mode, which makes it hard to take a bad picture - even in almost total darkness, believe it or not! (When dark, the camera emits a red light that's used to focus.)

Olympus was one of the first companies to release the 128MB SmartMedia card, too, and it works flawlessly with the camera - and with my MP3 player - allowing me to store both music and photos on the came card - and use it interchangeably. There's no special formatting required, and the card retains the "special feature" (panoramic photos) that Olympus added to the card. (Just don't format the card or it will be lost!). The 128MB card and the included 8MB card were all I needed for a 10-day Caribbean cruise during which I took about 500 pictures.

Originally I thought that 2.1 megapixels might not be enough where there are higher resolution cameras available. But I rarely even use the highest resolution of this camera. Normally I use the second highest (1280x960), which combined with an online photo service like ofoto.com (or probably shutterfly or Yahoo) produces exceptional, vivid prints up to 5x7. I use the highest resolution when I want to print 8x10's.

The software with the camera allows you to "instant fix" your prints, too. This feature automatically balances the brightness and contrast. On bright days, photos taken with this camera usually don't even need to be fixed. But for some shots, this feature really brings the image to life. In one example, I took a picture of a skunk in my backyard at night in manual mode with the shutter set way too fast. When I viewed the shot on my screen it looked completely black. I ran it though "instant fix" and the image of the skunk was suddenly plain to see - though it looked like a black and white shot, I couldn't believe the detail that came from what I thought was a lost image!

On the down side: The camera has frozen on me a couple of times for no apparent reason. A couple of times I've needed to remove the batteries to get the camera to reset properly. This doesn't happen often enough to make it too much of a bother, though. Also, the viewfinder is digital (not optical), so it's still difficult to get a good focus sometimes. (When manually focusing, the image in the viewfinder doubles in size, which makes it a bit easier, but still it's not as easy as an SLR.) Also, I wish there was a focus ring on the lens like on SLRs - the hardware interface for focusing and aperture setting takes some getting used to. Automatic focus works very well, though.

The camera came with four high-capacity batteries and a charger. You'll want to get an extra set of batteries, too. Though the camera uses batteries slower than I expected, it always seems to run out when you least expect it. Unfortunately the camera doesn't give much warning when it's about to run out of juice. The charge indicator will go from "fully charged" to "empty" and blinking in a matter of minutes.

If you're an advanced amateur who likes exceptional picture quality and exposure control, plus lots of other cool features (too many to list), then you'll love this camera. When I studied these cameras, it was the best there was without taking the step up to true digital SLRs. If you're a novice, you'll find many features you don't use or don't need. You'll still like the fully automatic mode, though. And if you don't use the zoom a lot, you'll find the camera more bulky that your typical point-and-shoot. (The zoom, by the way, is exceptional - 10x optical with 2.6x digital - a total of 26x zoom, it's like having a telescope on your camera!)

I hope this review helps you in your decision!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I got mine 18 days ago. I would prefer more megapixels, but in the price range, I had to choose between megapixels and zoom, and I went with zoom. I simply like a strong zoom. I took it to the zoo to test it. For some animals you need a strong zoom and for some animals you don't.

I feel that the picture quality is better than the Canon Rebel 2000 35mm/Kodak picture CD combination. I used to get my film developed with the picture CD option, but that costs too much. I wanted to say goodbye to film. My Canon has easier to use manual focus, but my Olympus has easier to use exposure compensation.

You can shoot short films with the camera. 6 minutes fits on a 128 MB card. At the zoo, I filmed a bald eagle in flight.

For my new digital camera, I paid extra to get a 128 MB card, spare batteries, and AC charger. I would recommend those items.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: simply amazing
Review: I just got back from a motorcycle trip to bravaria where I took my new c-2100. It had to be light, easy to use, able to store lots of pics, be small enough to fit in a tank bag, and have a great optical zoom. also, I wanted it not to eat batteries. This camera more than made the trip successful. The zoom lens is made by Zeiss, the makers of the best optical scopes in the world. And it more than works on this Olympus. Zooming in on the castles from far away left the image clear and impressive. I went to an industry meeting where they had hired a professional photographer ... guess who got all the good pics! I fully recommend this one ... you'll love it

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love it
Review: Just got it 5 days ago, and I have very few wishes not acomplished: more resolution (3Mpix would be nicer), a hotshoe for the external flash, interchangeable lenses and under $... price. I have used SLRs for 20 years and this is great, the quality of the prints is amazing, even without using the flash indoors or low light conditions in witch a film camera would be useless, and this way you get to know that you DID got the picture. I'm using an HP SmartPhoto 1215 to print (it includes it's own SmartMedia card reader, wow!) and I'm extremely satisfied with the overall quality.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: C-2100 is the Best
Review: I've agonized buying a digital camera for about a year now. I liked the Sony FD-95 for the floppy disk feature and excellent picture quality (we use one at work).

I finally gave in and bought this camera. I bought 2 additional 64Mb smart cards. I would recommend this - each card holds 128 photos at the 1200 x 1600 resolution.

I took this equipment camping and was worried about running out of battery juice. I took 102 photos and had plenty of battery life leftover. (I used the flash ~ 10 times.) I recently took "candid shots" at a wedding ~ 86 shots total (all with the flash), reviewed the photos several times and the batteries finally gave out.

It comes with one set of NiM H batteries & charger. The photos are great, and the download time (via USB cord - included) was about 2 min total. The software installed without a hitch and worked perfect first time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Olympus C 2100
Review: I am a novice photographer but this camera is far and away the best camera I have ever owned.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great camera. Ignore the review by Della L Dunning
Review: This a great camera. I've taken thousands of pics and downloaded them to a PC just fine without any additional accessories. But I do reccomend an additional set of batteries. But you'd want an extra set anyway in case you run out of juice during a shoot. And it comes with a charger.


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