Rating: 
Summary: Grrreat Camera!
Review: This camera is so cool. It is lightweight and just so great. It has a wonderful optical lens that gets far away objects in fine focus. It's digital zoom comes out surprisingly crystal clear. Plus, the multi adjustable exposure is a pleasure to use. You can set the camera to take manual shutter speed or manual exposure or both. You can set the overall lighting for the scene from dark to light. You can also take movies for 16 seconds! You can take self photos-timed, snaps shot on its own. There are several sizes of photos you can take. There are screw threads on the lens so you can also purchase a separate adapter and use filters such as polarization and UV or wide angle lenses (check out Ebay and search "Olympus 720 filter"). You can take time exposures for blurred water flowing or car lights streaming past. You can check out the back of the camera on the sharp active matrix LCD screen and look at the photo you just took and delete ones you don't like. You can watch the movies on the LCD screen. You can use smartmedia cards (check out "Viking" at Amazon) to save photos/movies ...for the maximum size 128 meg card which saves about 50 photos at the largest size or about 650 at 640x480. I think the greatest thing about this camera is the lens. You can zoom in to objects that are VERY far away and have them in sharp focus. I took photos of deer recently this way. It's simple to download the photos with the USB cable. The software that comes with the camera is really cool. You can upgrade ... by purchasing a number online that links right from the software that comes with the camera. The upgrade software is absolutely outstanding. The free stitch mode in the upgrade software is especially cool since it really does an outstanding job of stitching photos-this upgrade software is NOT A BURN..-it's really worth it-compare to other software like this online. Plus, the camera comes with a 16meg card to save photos right away. It comes with a CD of the software. It comes with a lens cap and strap to connect to the lens cap and another strap to connect to the camera. It comes with lithium duracell batteries. It comes with a USB connector cord. It comes with a cord to connect to your TV (stereo cable port) to watch your photos on your TV! You can even set the camera to do a slide show of your photos on the TV. You can watch the movies from your camera on the TV. May I recommend purchasing a 12' extension stereo cord for the TV cable from Radio Shack so you can sit at the sofa and watch your piks on the TV. I really, can honestly say.. that this is an outstanding product. I read the whole manual and tried all the different examples to get all out of this camera possible. It's really fun! Give it a try-you can't go wrong. It's a wonderful family camera or even great for a profesional. It's a blast-I love that I got it.
Rating: 
Summary: Digital camera for photo buffs
Review: This camera, Olympus C-720 is for people who love photography and are familiar with cameras. It takes beautiful pictures. If you want a point and shoot camera this is not for you, try the Olympus D-550. If you use a 35mm camera and want to go digital this is the camera. The pictures jump off the screen at you. They print beautifully as well. I brought some of my shots to my locat photo shop just to see what they would look like on paper. I was impressed!
Rating:
Summary: You get what you pay for....
Review: this ditgital camera cost a bit more than many of the others but the thing that you should remember is that .. you will be using it a lot. You could spend less but the quality of the photos will show what you buy! This camera takes amazing clear photos. None of that fish eye stuff. It is very easy to use and you will be very happy with the look of the photos. Some digital photos have a funny look to them. This camera is as close to a 35mm film with it being digital as it comes.
Rating:
Summary: Take the time to learn
Review: This is a good camera, but if you really want to get the most out of it, take the time to learn how to use its features. Once you do, you'll get great pictures.The zoom is the selling point, and one should keep that in mind if they plan on buying this cameria. The zoom will allow you to capture items other off the shelf cameras won't. Take advantage of this feature!
Rating:
Summary: Overall superb value for the money
Review: This is my 2nd digital camera (the first being a Sony Mavica FD-7) and have found this to be great camera for both indoor and outdoor use. Macro shots are fantastic and the 8x zoom is tough to beat on the other end of the scale. It does have issues in low light at maximum telephoto and in those cases a tripod may be required. Overall, I have not experienced too many issues at maximum zoom. Add some decent rechargeable NiMH batteries, a 128MB SmartMedia card (holds about 60 SHQ or 175 HQ photos), and you're set. The camera is light enough to carry all day and small enough to tuck into a bike pack.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent camera... wonderful zoom and great battery life
Review: This is my 4th digital camera and they have certainly improved. I chose the 720 because of it's 8X zoom lens and small size, plus the use of standard sized batteries. I took it on a two week canoe trip in Ontario and it performed great. The photos are crisp and sharp. Even with the maximum zoom, the focus was sharp, although I did use a mono-pod for stability. I was particularly impressed with the battery life. Based on my older cameras, I took 6 sets of batteries for the two week trip.... but I ended up only using two sets: one set of NiMH rechargables and one set of lithium batteries was all it took for two weeks and over 600 photos, including lots of previewing with the LCD display.
I also found the LCD viewfinder more acceptable than I had first expected. It is a bit grainy and takes some getting used to, but it was brighter than most reviews have implied and it was great to be able to see 'exactly' what was going to be in the picture since it is 'through the lens'. Overall, I am very pleased with the camera. Very impressive.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not a camera for beginners
Review: This is my first digital camera and I did a lot of research before buying it. I bought it mainly for the 8x optical zoom and because of a retailer who recommended Olympus' lenses. The flaws of this camera were said by other reviewers - things like slow focus and blurry pictures. You CAN take good pictures with this camera, but it just takes a LONG time to learn for beginners (and after a lot of mistakes). And if you need somebody else to take pictures for you, it will be plenty of headaches. The paper manual that comes with the camera is the most user-UNfriendly manual I've ever seen - it assumes the user knows a lot about cameras. In conclusion, this camera is NOT for anyone who wants ease of use.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite digital camera so far
Review: This is my third digital camera. Previous to this camera I had a Nikon Coolpix 885, which I quickly learned to despise because I never knew if (or when) it had taken a picture. I sold it on eBay and bought this camera. Oddly, the first Olympus 720 I got was defective and would eat a set of batteries in 15 minutes. I exchanged the camera for a new one which is quite fine in this regard. The batteries last quite a long time and the camera is good at conserving power. What I like about the Olympus 720: First, the video viewfinder is actually through-the-lens like a proper SLR. This is great. I can see when the camera is in focus and when it is not. This also helps in an unexpected way: Because you see it out of focus, you will focus the camera. Thus when you want to take a photo, the camera is already focused and there is very little lag before the image is captured. With rangefinder digital cameras, you don't see it out of focus and therefore you may not squeeze on the release until the moment you want to capture. Of course then it has to do its focusing thing and sometime later actually take the picture. The settings can be viewed through the eyepiece in addition to the monitor. This helps me as I am now getting far sighted, and with the Nikon I had to put on reading glasses to view the settings on the monitor. Not so with the Olympus 720. I can see when the camera takes a picture. Like SLRs whose mirror swings up when the shutter is released, the Olympus momentarily blacks out the viewfinder when the image is recorded. You absolutely know that a photo was taken just then. You don't have to listen for a beep (Nikon 885 doesn't even do this), or wonder if the flash you saw was your camera or someone else's. Many times with my old Kodak 280 I'd get a blurry photo because I had already begun to put the camera down when it actually took the photo. 8 to 1 optical zoom. Not stinkin' digital zoom... optical zoom. Wow. Most digital cameras are 3 to 1. This is a real help. Scanning some of the other reviews here I can only assume that the people complaining about motion blur are simply inexperienced photographers that don't know that longer focal lengths require additional stability or shorter shutter times. AA batteries. I much prefer the flexibility you get using standard size AA batteries instead of some oddball or photo only battery. I got nice NiMH recharables. Works great. In a pinch you could use plain-Jane AA batteries but of course they'd get eaten up quickly. In general, the camera has lots of features as you'd expect. I use the PASM mode. In that mode it displays the f-stop and shutter speed through the viewfinder. Good stuff. What I don't like: Well, the image quality is not quite as good as I'd like. I'm going to experiment with the auto ASA to see if manually setting it to 200 or 100 makes for a better picture. Don't ask me why, but my ancient Kodak DC 280 takes the nicest looking photos of any digital camera I have seen. I wish the Olympus' sharpness and tones were as nice. The manual: There's a quick start guide, a paper manual, and a PDF manual. The paper manual while thick, is not complete. Print out the PDF manual. The quick start and paper manual neglect to mention that when you connect the camera to your computer via USB that you need to set the camera's mode to Image Review. Only the PDF manual reveals this vital fact. Body color: Now I'm getting picky. I would much prefer a nice black over the silver color.
Rating:
Summary: Beginner Photographer very pleased
Review: This is the second digital camera I have purchased, and I have to say that I am very pleased. I have had no problems so far with the camera, other than the fact that I tried to use it without actually reading the manual first. I do wish that the focus was faster, I have missed several shots because of that, but I'm still very happy with my purchase. My last digital was also an Olympus, and at this time, there is no other point and shoot camera that I would own. I liked it so well that I bought my Mom one for her birthday, and she bought my sister one for Christmas!
Rating:
Summary: Keep your subject still!
Review: This was my first digital camera and I was very encouraged by the positive reviews I had read. My biggest problem with the camera was motion blur. I got blurry motion in auto mode and sports mode from very simple movements (hand or head). I phoned Olympus and they agreed that there is motion blur and attributed it to the line of Ultra zoom cameras. They suggested going to manual mode and increasing the shutter speed. That made the auto point and shoot mode worthless. My wife is not a photographer and would never be able to handle that, especially in the short moments you get to snap a picture. These blurs occurred without any zoom. It was worse with the zoom, optical or digital. It would be great for still subjects and a tripod, but not for a simple picture of my dog. I have since gone to the C-4000 and am very pleased. I took a picture of a moving ceiling fan and it froze the blades perfectly. I have also used the C-3030 in the past and was able to take pictures out of a moving car. Not with the C-720. If you are considering this camera, make sure you try it out for yourself first.
| 
