Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Digital Camera

Reviewed by: fyigmokid

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Macro ability. Extensive exposure/camera settings. Image quality. CF and xD card capability. Size and weight.

Weaknesses: Manual focus on distant objects. Battery meter. Menu system.

Overall Evaluation: This is the most awesome camera you can buy for the price. I have the highest praise for this camera, and in almost two years of ownership have only had one issue (exposure sensor went bad), which was very quickly fixed under warranty by Olympus. The only real negative thing I have to say is regarding the battery meter. There's no graduated indicator like you have on other cameras, cell phones, or other electronic devices that tell you there's 60% left, etc. On this camera you have a green indicator for the battery, then, suddenly, it turns red and starts blinking that battery is almost dead. That can be a real pain when you're engrossed in photographing something and aren't mentally keeping track of either how long the camera has been on or how many photos you've taken, and like Murphy's Law the battery WILL die at the most inopportune time. At any rate, overall that's still a small issue and I absolutely love this camera. I highly recommend it to any serious photographer who wants to go digital.