Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Digital Camera

Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom

C-8080 Wide Zoom Digital Camera Review, by Tracey Capen April 21, 2004

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• Reviewed by: fyigmokid

  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: 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.

• Reviewed by: jimmm

  Strengths: Great picture quality. Solid feel. Lots of bang for the buck.

  Weaknesses: No manual focus. No image stabilization. Auto focus a problem in low light.

  Overall: Given my large hands, when holding this camera, because it?s heavy, small and rounded I?m always worried I?m going to drop it. A neck or wrist strap pretty much protects against this, but combine this worry with no image stabilization and I?ve basically relegated it to studio work where it always sits on a tripod. I?ve been using it for a little over a year. At first it had truly remarkable battery life, but recently that?s changed. This sounds like a lot of negatives, but pictures is what cameras all about and the superb 8MP images, combined with a solid feel and the price makes for a fine camera

• Reviewed by: Visk

  Strengths: Good picture quality, long lasting battery, good grip on camera

  Weaknesses: The on/off buttons, optical zoom and manual focus ring

  Overall: I use it for 8 months and for wedding photgraphy, It has superbs result especially ini low ISO. Great camera and all my customer agreed with that

• Reviewed by: sananablug

  Strengths: Picture Quality, Processor speed, build quality, ergonomics, intuitive mode menus.

  Weaknesses: Zoom,

  Overall: Wow, the first time i used this camera was in a nude photoshoot in a cave. The amount of detail that the long exposures picked up in almost complete darkness was breathtaking. The camera is extremely intuitive, and I found myself able to utilize many of the advanced features right of the bat. It has an incredible burst mode for a camera of such high resolution. The camera's build qulaity is outstainding, and its weight and proportions are reminiscent of my film SLR. The buttons are positioned so that your fingers always rest in a neutral position. I have yet to hit a button on accident. I only wish it had an optical viewfinder and a mechanical zoom, but nonetheless, I can't recommend this camera enough.

• Reviewed by: jnaspence

  Strengths: Picture Quality (and that is the point isn't it?)! Point and shoot performance. Abitlity to customize modes and access them immediatly.

  Weaknesses: Optical zoom and weight.

  Overall: We took over 200 shots in the first 3 days and close to 400 by day 8. Wow! I started in the point and shoot mode and it worked about 99% of the time. Being able to adjust flash intensity, shutter speed, aperture or just change modes means 100% of the time I can get the shot I want. It takes black & white, sepia and panoramic, which are fun to play with. The true test was printing the photos and having the picture quality equal to or better than a 35 mm. This camera does it. We even blew some up to 8 X 10 and there is no degradation. We compared it to the Nikon 8700, this camera blew it away on picture quality. I haven't accidentally hit the power button either. P.S. Print your pictures on a Fuji machine. We compared Fuji to Kodak and the Fuji looks so much better.