Olympus OLYMPUS C-3020 DIGITAL CAMERA

Olympus Camedia C-3020 Zoom

OLYMPUS C-3020 DIGITAL CAMERA Review, by Tracey Capen April 22, 2002

Show More Show Less

0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review

• Reviewed by: dreamer

  Strengths: Great image quality- very versatile. A lot of camera for the money.

  Weaknesses: You have to buy an accessory lens tube to protect the lens barrel, which extrudes from the camera body when you turn on the camera.

  Overall: Comment on previous reviews: (1) You CAN set the camera to remember its settings from session to session, instead of having it revert to default mode every time you turn it on. This even applies to the position of the zoom- a nice touch! Also, if there is a special group of settings you want to be able to recall, you can store them in a "My Mode" setting. (2) If you turn on the camera with the lens cap on, it will pop the lens cap off when the lens assembly extrudes from the camera body. I'm guessing this is not good for the camera. Solution: Buy an aftermarket lens tube for $15, plus an extender ring- then you can add filters (UV or Skylight etc.) and put the lens cap on the end without the lens barrel colliding with the filter or the lens cap when you turn on the camera. (3) It's true that the camera is complicated in terms of all the settings that can be adjusted. But this just means you have lots of options, if you want to fiddle round with the camera. You can also use it in point-and-shoot mode and not mess with any of the settings.

• Reviewed by: oversteer

  Strengths: Excellent picture quality, high flexibility, compatibility with add-on lenses and filters, Linux compatibility

  Weaknesses: Poor lens cap design as mentioned by other reviewers

  Overall: Got it for my birthday, what a present!:) Great overall flexibility, comparable with my regular Canon Rebel G except of course the selection of add on lenses, but it's still way better than a soapbox digital with a POS lens and no capacity for addons. Digital features also have many useful configuration options. Picture quality is excellent, probably in no small part due to a decent size and quality of the lens. The good low light performance also probably has to do with the size of the lens. It works with Linux as a standard USB-SCSI storage device! Just search Google for "linux camedia" and follow the first link, it will have setup instructions, a table of successful configurations, and links to related software. Four alkaline batteries don't last too long (~40 shots with some flash use), get rechargeables or NiMH as another reviewer suggested. It forgets last settings when switched off -- always starts in default mode, HQ quality, auto white balance and all. Have to use "My" mode but you always have to explicitly save the settings. It would be nicer if it would turn on with last settings, perhaps using one more mode on the main dial on top of the camera, which is underused IMHO -- selecting everything through menus is cumbersome. Couldn't find how to make the camera a TWAIN32 source, to get pictures directly into Photoshop or use it as a web cam. Overall -- an excellent camera, all I need for a few years to come.

• Reviewed by: elecrep

  Strengths: great picture quality, great battery life with NiMH

  Weaknesses: a little bulky, lens cap interferes with lens drive

  Overall: great overall camera if you are looking for a camera that delivers stunning printable quality photos. I have printed up to 8.5x11 on an Epson 785 epx using Epson photo paper and I cannot believe how good the perf free border free can be! It must all start with the lens and the Olympus has delivered on this for decades. It does take some getting used to to fully operate but with the 128mb card and NiMH batteries you can shoot till your hearts content in burst or succession modes..

• Reviewed by: conundrumg

  Strengths: The same as the other reviews,top performer.

  Weaknesses: If you happen to forget to remove the lense cap prior to turning the unit on you may break the cap.Very poor design.Caps are $10.00 each.

  Overall: Olympus should really have improved on this since the C-3000 had the same problem.They could make a cap that pops off if you turn it on or they could design the camera not to open the lense when you turn it on.

• Reviewed by: gato2575

  Strengths: High resolution, great detail, vivid colors and good flexibility.

  Weaknesses: Complexity of use. Cannot take photographs at the speed of a 35 mm film camera for action and picture succession.

  Overall: Great camera, can default to fully automatic to avoid selecting the wrong settings... can also be fully manual with user settings and controls. Can take up to 128 megabyte Smart Media cards which can hold up to 169 HQ... high resolution photos or up to 1350 lower quality photos at standard lower resolution. Exceptional and superior camera compared to Sony Mavica which I previously used.