I will write this opinion now before I loose it or break it or do something that typically happens when things are in my care!
The C-1 Zoom is perhaps aimed more at the domestic or family user who will buy it to 'snap' pictures for the photo album rather than the those who will want a digital camera for presentation, professional or ultra high resolution images.
Firstly the C-1 Zoom comes in a very small box and you certainly don’t get many extras. The packaging includes the camera itself, a usb lead for connection to your PC or Mac, a video lead, 8Mb Smart media card and a non-rechargeable battery which I was not impressed with! Also included is the Cmedia Suite Software CD and a Olympus driver and reference CD along with a comprehensive manual in quite a few languages.
I will mention this battery again as I was disappointed that it states non-rechargeable on the side, yet
the camera has DC in 3V socket but no power lead was supplied… a bit of corner cutting here I fear.
The camera itself is very neat and elegantly styled with 6 small buttons beside the small 1.5 inchTFT LCD colour monitor. The only other buttons on the camera is the ‘take the picture button’ – (technical terminology here, I hope you understand what I mean!) and the zoom button. The camera is silver in colour and feels solid, fairly light and nice to hold.
When switched of the C-1 hides its flash which pops up when you slide the lens cover back. Sliding the lens cover back and fourth is also how you switch the camera on, when the cover is closed, the camera is either off or in play mode, ie. you can view or delete the pictures you have already taken via a simple menu system which is operated by a menu button and directional buttons. To explain exactly how the menu system works would be perhaps wasting time here but I can say that it is very easy even for those who are not technically minded.
The C-1 is a very straight forward digital camera and lacks the features such as video mode, Black & White mode etc.etc. of the more expensive models. The memory supplied with it is nothing to throw a party over. The 8Mb card supplied will store:
8 shots in Super High Quality Mode 24 shots in High Quality Mode 82 shots in Standard Quality Mode
I tend to leave it on High Quality Mode as the standard mode is a bit iffy in terms of photo printing quality.
This baby olympus is a cinch to setup, stick in the battery and open the shutter, then point and click. Instead of trying to explain all of its features I will list them instead in a bid to simplify things.
Image Resolution: 1280 x 960 (High & Super High Quality Mode) 640 x 480 (Standard Mode) 1.3 Megapixels
White Balance Control: Automatic, presets (Clear Sky, Cloudy Sky, Incandescent, Lamp and Fluorescent Lamp)
Lens: Olympus lens, equivalent to 38mm to 114mm with 35mm camera
Sequential Shooting: 2 frames/sec Max. 4 frames Flash Recharging Time: Approx. 10secs Flash Modes: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill-in Flash, Night Scene and Flash Off Self Timer: 12 secs delay
As you can see its functions are adequate but not abundant. It has a 3x Optical Zoom and also a Digital Zoom which must be selected in the menu.
To upload images to your PC is a doddle, you install in the software from the supplied CD and then connect the camera to the computer via the supplied USB lead. If you are a windows user, you should see a new drive appear under My Computer, which will be called removable drive, simply double click on this and browse your images as though they were on your hard drive, you can cut and paste or delete your images from the camera now by treating it as a new disk drive. Its very simple. Uploading a super fine quality image can be time consuming, perhaps 30 secs or more! :-( phew! but high resolution is more acceptable, each image can be uploaded in a matter of a few seconds (10 or so). The software also allows you to upload all images by one click although for some, my computer will not communicate with the camera through this software... :-(
I cant tell you how much the camera cost as I didn't have to pay for it (no such thing as a free lunch eh? :-)) but I have looked at the dabs.com website and the C-1 Zoom is selling for £175 at this moment.
Considering that the camera can be bought for £175 I think it is very good value and the only reason I may not be appearing overly excited is because I am used to working with the Fuji Finepix 6900 which retails at over £500 so I am looking at it from a spoilt view but if I was out to spend £175 of my own cash on a new digital camera then I dont think it would be possible to find a camera that offers much more than this little beauty.
The C-1 Zoom should make an ideal buy for consumers who want a fairly inexpensive way to ditch their old 35mm film camera in favour of something that can compete in the new 'digital age'.
Nice one Olympus!
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