Olympus C-700 UZ Review, Phil Askey, May 2001

Review based on a production Olympus C-700UZ

The C-700UZ came to the market as a surprise announcement (to those who didn't already know) made almost exactly a month after PMA 2001. The C-700UZ is a 2 megapixel digital camera with a 10x optical zoom lens built into a relatively compact case.

Olympus have waved their typical feature laden wand over this camera to ensure it's fully loaded with a good set of manual controls (and exposure modes) as well as several pre-programmed scene modes and a movie clip ability (with audio). The other important detail of the C-700UZ is its price, with a street price of just US$650 it appears to offer an amazing amount of substance for your hard earned dollar (pound / euro etc.).

Taking a look at the current market at this price level there's nothing at this price with this resolution and features... That must make the C-700 UZ a top pick for users who don't need more than 2.1 megapixels and are looking for a compact camera, the 10x optical zoom looks like a deciding factor.

Compared to the C-2100UZ

	Olympus C-700 UZ	Olympus C-2100 UZ
Body	Front magnesium alloy, back plastic	All plastic
Street price *	US$ 650	US$ 750
Lens	10 x optical zoom, 5.9 mm - 59 mm 35 mm equiv: 38 - 380 mm F2.8 - F3.5	10 x optical zoom, 7.0 - 70 mm 35 mm equiv: 38 - 380 mm F2.8 - F3.5
Lens type	Extending	Fully enclosed
Lens thread	55 mm with optional adapter	49 mm
Image stabilizer	No	Yes
Sensitivity	Auto, ISO 100, 200, 400, 800	Auto, ISO 100, 200, 400
Sensor	1/2.7" 2.1 megapixel (1.92 effective)	1/2" 2.1 megapixel (1.92 effective)
Resolutions	1600 x 1200 1280 x 960 1024 x 768 640 x 480	1600 x 1200 1280 x 960 1024 x 768 640 x 480
Image formats	TIFF, JPEG	TIFF, JPEG
Digital Zoom	1.1x - 2.7x	1.1x - 2.7x
AF assist lamp	No	Yes
Manual focus	Yes	Yes
WB manual preset	Yes	No
Exposure modes	Auto, S-Prg (3 modes), Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual	Auto, S-Prg (4 modes), Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual
AE bracketing	Yes	Yes
Movie clips	Yes, 320 x 240 / 160 x 120	Yes, 320 x 240 / 160 x 120
Shutter speed	16 sec - 1/1000 sec	16 sec -1/800 sec
Flash	Pop-up (flip-up)	Pop-up
Flash range (max)	W: 5.5 m, T: 4.4 m	W: 4.0 m, T: 3.2 m
Ext. Flash	Yes, synch terminal	Yes, synch terminal
Remote control	No	Yes, supplied Infrared
Power	4 x AA batteries	4 x AA batteries
Storage	SmartMedia (up to 128 MB)	SmartMedia (up to 128 MB)
Storage included	8 MB SmartMedia card	8 MB SmartMedia card
Viewfinder	Electronic viewfinder (mini LCD)	Electronic viewfinder (mini LCD)
LCD	1.5" (114,000 pixel)	1.8" (110,000 pixel)
Weight	410 g (14.5 oz)	540 g (19 oz)
Dimensions	108 x 76 x 78 mm (4.3 x 3 x 3.1 in)	113 x 78 x 141 mm (4.5 x 3.1 x 5.6 in)
Review	You are here	Click for review

* Correct at time of review

That's how it looks on paper. Lets examine this digital camera in a bit more detail to see if it lives up to its billing.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Photographs of the camera were taken with a Canon EOS-D30, images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2001 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.