Olympus CAMEDIA C 150

...do not last very long. Olympus recommend using either Lithium batteries or NiMH rechargeable batteries, although I have not tried this yet, it is something I am giving very serious consideration to, after all when using video cameras it is usual to use rechargeable battery packs. As most of the work done by the camera uses the battery (the screen, the flash and the zoom etc) it makes sense.

Instructions and specifications on the XD ...
...second part is the full Olympus Digital Camera Reference Manual. This is a 148 page document in PDF format (acrobat reader) This gives you all the specific details about the camera and what it can do. Since I have had mine I have only scratched the surface of what it can do, and I know that I have years of fun and learning ahead of me with this camera. Yes I have started to read this manual, mainly because I am so impressed with the camera that I ... more

I have looked and looked for a digital camera for ages, to be honest as I am no expert I found the whole thing quite daunting. I have always been a 35mm type person and I feel quite confident with most aspects of normal cameras. But the whole digital field is new. I have used a few digital cameras but buying my own and what do I want it to do, that was something else.

Then along came Christmas and the most amazing woman in the whole wide world had been out looking, researching and discreetly asking me about what I would look for. The end result is she gave me a really amazing present. I can honestly say I really had no idea that was what I was getting.

For some months now I have been playing with my new toy, now is the time to let you know how I have found it. I am one of those look at the manual later people, this was not too bad as the camera is simplicity itself.

As you read through this, you will find it crammed full of all those technical words that people hate, I have tried to keep this to an absolute minimum, but it is hard. I personally do not like all the jargon, all I want to know is does it take good pictures, yes. Is it easy to use, yes and is it good value for money again yes. Then is it easy to install the software again yes and does the software work well, yes again.

After unpacking the fairly large blue box that the camera came in, I was presented with a very smart looking silver camera, as well as some leads loads of books and a CD. So putting those all aside I opened the battery compartment and loaded the two supplied AA batteries. That's it I thought, hmmmmm how wrong was I. It did not seem to work, okay time for the manual. Amongst all the other stuff in the box was an “XD” card, this is where your pictures are stored (its the film if you like, only its reusable), now following the instructions its simply a question of opening a little door on the front and inserting the card.

The overall look of the camera is really great in a satin silver. On the front is the shutter, behind this is the lens, the viewfinder and the inbuilt flash. On the top right is the picture button, I know that most people are right handed but I have yet to see any type of camera where this is on the left. On the rear you see a four way directional arrow pad and two further buttons below this one is called the quick view the other “OK”. To the left is the eyepiece with an orange and green LED along with the 1.8inch LCD monitor.
The orange LED indicates if you need flash, when blinking that it is charging and a steady indication that the flash is ready.
The green when steady indicates that the focus and exposure are properly set.
Batteries are inserted underneath the camera, you will also find a screw hole for attaching the camera to a tripod.
On one side is a rubber cover, beneath this you will find, a video out socket and a socket for a direct 3.4v input.
On the other side is a place to put your wrist strap, another smaller rubber cover which houses the connection socket for the lead that goes directly to your computers USB and a door that opens to allow you to place the XD card.

The other stuff in the box for those who would like to know was..

You get a wrist strap, this just clips onto the camera, I always use one on every camera that I have owned, two very good reasons, first I find it harder to lose a camera when its on my wrist and more importantly if ever I drop the camera it does not go crashing to the floor.

A USB lead for connecting the camera to a computer.

A video cable. Until I started writing this, the cable had remained in the box. For the sake of being as comprehensive as possible I had a look to see what it did. Well one end plugged into the camera and the other into the TV video socket (yellow pin) when I pressed the quick view on my camera instead of it showing a picture on the cameras LCD it came up in full glorious colour on the television set. This will mean I can subject the whole family to pictures.
Even better though was when I opened the cover on the camera the television came to life this has endless possibilities one that I think extremely useful is if the camera is set up on top of the television, then self timer mode is selected you can all gather in a family picture and watch what the picture will look like before the camera takes it.

A 140 page basic manual in English, French, German and Spanish. This is at it says quite basic, it does give you all the important information about getting started, what the various parts of your camera does and how to use it.

A 68 page booklet about safety precautions in English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese. This tells you about batteries how to look after them and warnings to help you maintain your camera in good condition.

There is also a pink notice on batteries and this gives you a warning about how long batteries last. Well this is probably where all digital cameras fall down, the battery consumption is very heavy and even long life Alkaline batteries (Duracell) do not last very long. Olympus recommend using either Lithium batteries or NiMH rechargeable batteries, although I have not tried this yet, it is something I am giving very serious consideration to, after all when using video cameras it is usual to use rechargeable battery packs. As most of the work done by the camera uses the battery (the screen, the flash and the zoom etc) it makes sense.

Instructions and specifications on the XD picture card, the one that came with the camera is the smallest they sell its 16MB that is enough to store 45 pictures at a high quality setting and size of 1600 x 1200. Although the amount of pictures does tend to vary, the least I have had though is 41.

They also include a quickstart guide, this is the part that at first I overlooked in my haste to play with the camera, it really is worth a few minutes looking at.

Also is the chance to join the Olympuser magazine for £19.95.

A warranty card.

A strange card called Yellowtag. I have never heard of this, as yet I have not used it. But you log on at www.yellowtag.com and follow the registration details, you then put this tiny little sticky tag on your camera, the tag has a unique email address. If you lose the camera and it is found, then the finder will be paid a reward from yellowtag when they email the address on the camera. As the owner of the camera you will get an SMS text alert to your mobile along with an email all inside 15 minutes. This service comes with the camera and is prepaid for two years, I do not know how much it costs after the two free years are up. Something else I really must look into.

Instructions for installing the software onto your PC. Along with the software on a CD itself. To make the review easier to understand I will write more about the software at the end of the review.

This is where the fun begins, the time to become photographer of the year, well that is how I felt. The first thing is to open the front cover, this is a simple slide door that protects the lens when not in use. Having been a 35mm person I naturally found myself looking through the eyepiece (Viewfinder) to take a picture, this despite the fact that the camera incorporates a 1.8 inch LCD monitor. The viewfinder has a target when you use it, in the same way you get with most film cameras.
It did not take me long to start using the monitor to take my pictures, as you can see the picture that you can take and adjust accordingly, it’s even better than that though. For if you close the lens cover then press open view, you can look at all the pictures you have taken. This gives you the chance to delete the ones you do not want.
One real advantage of using the monitor is when you zoom in on a subject, you will see exactly what you will be getting in the way of a picture, this you cannot do with the viewfinder.
Another thing worth noting is when the camera card is full, you get a blue screen with red writing saying “CARD FULL”.

On the box it said that the camera has a 2.5x zoom, now I found this confusing, as I could not see how the lens moved nor could I see anywhere to add a zoom lens. Silly me its digital, and it does it all by itself, well not quite two of the buttons on the rear (the up and down on the directional arrows) are used for telephoto (zoom in) and wide angle (zoom out), its not called a digital zoom for nothing.

You can also use this for taking moving pictures, I have tried this and found it an ok thing. But it is only short duration, takes up your memory card and is nowhere as good as a VHS movie camera. Call me old fashioned, but products have uses. A phone is for talking and texting, in general they do a poor job of taking pictures, a web cam can also take pictures again with poor quality. A camera takes good pictures provided you have a high enough resolution. But for moving pictures you want a movie camera, one that is made to do the job.

The camera has four flash modes, off Auto-Flash, Red Eye reduction and fill in flash, these are selected through the four way directional arrow pad and the on screen instructions.

Also by way of the four way directional arrow pad you have other camera choices.

Macro Mode, this gives you close up pictures from as near as eight inches, very useful if you have items of jewellery that are valuable and you wish to have pictures for insurance purposes.

You can enlarge pictures that you have taken to look closer at them.

Protect pictures so they cannot accidentally be deleted.

Index display, two in one pictures and panorama shooting.

The software really has two main parts first the main program. From here you can transfer pictures directly onto your PC and save them onto your hard drive. One problem I did encounter is where the saved pictures were actually located, for those of you who are interested the following is where I found them on my PC. The reason I was so interested is I have other software packages that I prefer using for editing pictures, and if I wanted to email a picture it does help to know where it is. "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\OLYMPUS\Camedia Master 4\Album\Samples\WHATEVER YOU CALL YOUR ALBUM". I hope that makes life easier. You get a full user guide for the software in the form is a 149 page document in PDF format (acrobat reader), this will help anyone who really wants to get the most out of the software, from storing and editing through to creating postcards, calendars and a whole host of other features. As I said earlier I do not use the software for much apart from transferring to my PC. I think that most people will be the same, you find a software package that you like and tend to stick to it

The second part is the full Olympus Digital Camera Reference Manual. This is a 148 page document in PDF format (acrobat reader) This gives you all the specific details about the camera and what it can do. Since I have had mine I have only scratched the surface of what it can do, and I know that I have years of fun and learning ahead of me with this camera. Yes I have started to read this manual, mainly because I am so impressed with the camera that I want to get the most from it.

For a price of £119.95 I think that this really does represent great value for money and it is one of my favourite ever presents.
 

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