Olympus C-21

Opinion: I think this is an awesome camera for the price.

Opinion: Bought it in Moscow for $600. Been using it for 4 months. Unfortunately, it lacks USB, but it's lightweight and compact (uses 2 (TWO) NiMH batteries, not 4 as is incorrectly stated on this site). Comparable to Fuji FinePix 4700 (no zoom and USB tho'), but for half the price.

Opinion: I bought the camera because it was the only high resolution camera which was light enough that I could easily carry it in my jacket pocket without noticing it was there. The trade off to obtain the light weight is ofcourse the lack of an optical zoom. There have been times when I have missed this feature (I don't believe the digital soom makes up for this) but on the other hand, the light weight is still more important to me. The picture quality to me seems to be slightly blurred - I aways choose to sharpen the image later. However, images which I have printed on photo paper have come out with a similar quality to normal photographs, so I think the image quality suffices. My biggest disapointment was the software I recived with the camera. The most useful software was only a demo version and not yet completed. The basic software for working with the images does not offer the level of usabilty that one expects these days.

Regarding value for money. When I bought the camera it was expensive (hence the average rating). Since then the price has dropped.

My main objective was to by a light pocket camera for every day use and this camera fulfills that requirement well.

Opinion: I bought this camera because it is very small and light. It serves as my "always with me" camera. There are trade-offs to be made to get a small and light digital camera. the major trade-offs for the C21 were no zoom and the use of two rather than four rechargable batteries.

Since this is a 2 megapixel camera, the lack of a zoom is rarely, if at all a limitation. there are enough pixels that one can crop in the software before printing. On the plus side is the bright viewfinder -- this makes it easy to compose quickly for that immediate shot.

The two batteries are the only serious limitation. And that depends on how much one uses the back LCD and flash. In normal use I get 40+ shots before needing to change batteries. A definite plus is the ability to use either the new lithium battery or two rechargable batteries. Ordinary akaline batteries do not have enough punch. Other small digitals such as canon and Leica (Fuji) require their own brand of small lithium batteries. This necessitates buying a second battery and charger for just that camera.

There is a top LCD where on can change quite a few settings. This is a nice feature and allows reduced use of the back LCD (which is nice and bright).

The C21 is essentially the C2020z without the z(oom). While it is not THE smallest, the canon elph (s100) is smaller it is the lightest and is the size of the canon s10 and s20.

At the current discount price of $330 it is a great bargain!