Olympus CAMEDIA C 725 Ultra Zoom

Advantages: Reasonable price, good quality
Disadvantages: xD memory cards aren't always readable

When we decided that the Olympus D-395 that we were using just wasn't up to all the jobs we wanted - getting up close without getting too close - and our son, who is coming up 11, said that he would like a digital camera, the obvious answer was for us to get a higher spec model for ourselves, and pass the D-395 on to him. We ended up going to Apollo 2000 near Blackpool North station for a vacuum cleaner and noticed they had an Olympus C-725 Ultra ...
...from £199.99 to £229.99 using online search engines, although a newer higher spec version (the C-765) is available from Amazon at £179.99. Included in the price is:- 1 - Camera is a 3.0 mega pixel camera with 8x optical zoom and 3x digital zoom. 2 - Software disk containing Camedia software, which is simple to install and use, although limited in its use. 3 - 4 x AA batteries to get you started. 4 - 16mb xD picture card. 5 - Safety precautions ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to use & very light
Disadvantages: Poor auto focus & Very heavy battery consumption

I found the Olympus Camedia C 725 a very easy camera to use, also I liked the small compact memory cards ( M-XD256P XD CARD) which are easily installed into the camera just by pushing into the memory card slot. I did notice that the auto focus mode was very poor and that you had to take 3 or 4 shots of a subject to get a clear crisp image, although having a large memory card did compensate for this problem. I also found that the camera was unbelievably ...
...change the 4AA battteries before filling 2 thirds of the memory card (with view panel turned off), the only option to solve this problem is to have 8 rechargeable batteries on hand. The design of the camera is very user friendly although the quality feels cheap, I found the hinges to the panel for the computer cable socket had broken off whithin 2 weeks. I think that this camera is slightly over priced & should be around the £80-100 mark. ... Read review

Advantages: Nice zoom lens, good picture quality, nice controls, looks pretty good
Disadvantages: Eats batteries! Not too suitable for action photography.

Back in early 2005 I was looking for a good digital camera with as much 'real' optical zoom as possible (rather than just digital zoom). I didn't have the funds for a DSLR so I went down the compact digital route. After a lot of web searches and price comparisons I chose the C725. Overall, I like the camera and it has served me fairly well over the past 3 years. Plus points: It has a good feel in the hand and the weight isn't excessive. I think ...
...become second nature and once you have set up your custom settings, it doesn't need much altering. I have taken some lovely photos with this camera. The lens is pretty nice for its size. 8x optical zoom is still a notable feature to this day on a camera of this class. The super HQ is nice, fine pixel quality and correctly exposed shots don't tend to need any adobe photo-shop treatment. Minus points: Boy, does it eat AA batteries!! (4 at a time)- ... Read review

Advantages: good optical zoom, easy controls
Disadvantages: no sound on movie

I have used many digital cameras and own 5. This so far is the best one that I have used. I have used this camera for the last 6 months and have had no problems with it. It is a very good camera that is easy to use and gives you full control of the camera in the manual mode. The only draw back is no sound on the movie mode. The optical zoom is very good and you can use the digital zoom for better shots. If you use the digital zoom then it needs to ... Read review

Advantages: Impressive looking (not that i suppose that matters!) Great interface and good good quality photos for a camera of this price.
Disadvantages: Hard to get to grips with, the battery also runs out fairly quickly - although this isnt so much of a problem if you use rechargable batteries

As soon as i got this camera home i started taking photos and quickly realised how hard it was going to be to understand the camera, after a few weeks i realised the camera was not turning itself off but it was going into standby mode (Daft i know - but thats what you get for not reading the intructions carefully) This camera is definatly recommended for anyone wanting a middle-ranged camera and anyone just starting to move into digital photography ... Read review