Olympus C750

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750. I picked mine up yesterday from the shop and did some out of the box shooting, all full AUTO. I already got some nice results, even indoors I do not seem to have real problems in focusing ??

I'm a real amateur, so maybe Is it that I'm just to easy, but I really like this camera so far.

Any comments on this ??

I have not heard one person who doesnt like it all together. A couple seem to dislike some things, but overall I think the camera is a massive winner, not just because I own one.

Speaking of light, I now dont use flash at all. I can take outstanding pictures in low light indoors. The only time I ever have problems with exposure or focus is outside at night when there is no light apart from the stars, but its not designed for that ;-). IMHO the low light thing has been blown out of proportion (not by anyone delibrately) to how big a problem it really is. Its not even noticeable to some.

Now the only thing I dislike is the menu, and that super macro is not on the dial or in a shortcut key (yes I can add one myself I know). But that is so trivial.

I love my camera! I rate it very very highly.

I own a 740 and I had a couple of problems regarding focusing in low light, especialy with spot mettering. This cameras realy need AutoFocus Assistance light and I hope to see it in something called 760 or similar

Thanks, I ordered mine some weeks ago, and the past few days I got a little scared because of all the negative remarks on the camera (although I never really took those really serious). When I got it yesterday, I was even more worried, because maybe the camera was not as good as I expected it to be, and I wasn't even experienced enough to see it.

I also really like this camera (its my second digital) and i hope to be able to post some nice pictures soon.

greetings,

it makes me wonder if other brand forums have people bagging certain models, even when those people dont own one.

I have read many many many reviews by c750 owners, and have to now only heard of one person who wasnt happy with it.

I can foucs and take photos in low light, which means I have an outstanding camera, and wouldnt trade it for anything (ok maybe a DSLR, but that would be it).

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750.

Click to expand...

I have written a string of replies in answer to criticisms. Two people have written to me directly.

I have owned a number of Olympus digicams, and I still own a total of four, and the C-750 is the best of them for my purposes.

I azm now busy taking pictures with the C-750UZ. A selection of eight of them is at

http://www.pbase.com/hfalkner/henry_falkner

--
H. Falkner

Digicat said:

it makes me wonder if other brand forums have people bagging
certain models, even when those people dont own one.

I have read many many many reviews by c750 owners, and have to now
only heard of one person who wasnt happy with it.

Click to expand...

I fully aggree, the problem is that the forum has on one hand the "experienced" people that post most of the messages, and on the other hand has many enthousiasts that are rather new to DP, and that just read the messages to decide on which camera to buy.

I'm affraid that many people, that would buy the camera of there lifes with the C750, are put off buying it, just because someone was dissapointed with his purchase. This is not a win - win situation, which the forum should be !

Digicat said:

it makes me wonder if other brand forums have people bagging
certain models, even when those people dont own one.

I have read many many many reviews by c750 owners, and have to now
only heard of one person who wasnt happy with it.

I can foucs and take photos in low light, which means I have an
outstanding camera, and wouldnt trade it for anything (ok maybe a
DSLR, but that would be it).

Click to expand...

here here,

Upgrading from the C-700 I sure can see & appreciate the improvements, definately a big step in the right direction.

I'm very happy with my C-750, it currently does everything a camera its size can do for the price, that is the bottom line.

George

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750. I picked mine up
yesterday from the shop and did some out of the box shooting, all
full AUTO. I already got some nice results, even indoors I do not
seem to have real problems in focusing ??

I'm a real amateur, so maybe Is it that I'm just to easy, but I
really like this camera so far.

Any comments on this ??

Click to expand...

Hi Platinum,

I am afraid I was one of those who initiated all the ramping about C750 here. I am not happy about many posts that followed. My post was to give MY subjective but first-hand experience. Read it, take note of things to check which you could otherwise miss, but take your decision yourself. That is how I expected people to see it.

I am glad you are happy with your camera. Use it, post your pictures!

Igor

Henry's statement sums it up best ...
""the C-750 is the best of them for my purposes.""
When one does opt to buy the C-750 you consider the f2.8/3.7 aperature.

Right there tells you that you have not bought the camera to do a lot of shooting in low light situations. Plain and simple, it's a fantastic camera for outdoor shooting. Indoor/low light situations have their drawbacks. The manualy focus settings can overcome that problem. A bit cumbersome, but it works. If I feel I do need a low light cam .. I'll consider getting another Digi for that purpose.

Signed,
Ed_who_is a_happy_C-750_User ;> )

Henry Falkner said:

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750.

Click to expand...

I have written a string of replies in answer to criticisms. Two
people have written to me directly.

I have owned a number of Olympus digicams, and I still own a total
of four, and the C-750 is the best of them for my purposes.

I azm now busy taking pictures with the C-750UZ. A selection of
eight of them is at

http://www.pbase.com/hfalkner/henry_falkner

--
H. Falkner

Click to expand...

I've had mine for two weeks and I'm about to send it back. If I take a picture in bright sunlight, close subject at ISO 50, the picture is great.

I tried to take pictures at a baseball game at early dusk and the auto focus had a lot of problems. Contrast problem?

Good luck taking a picture of something moving. You can't even get a shot of a child running. By the time the autofoucs decides it's in focus, the kid is gone. What's the solution? "Pick a spot and prefocus on that and wait for the subject to get to that spot?" So I'm supposed to tell kids in a soccer game to stop playing and go run over here where I'm focusing? Do you zoom out and focus on infinity, and then crop and zoom in on the finished picture and thus loose quality?

I tried taking picture of birds using the full 10x zoom, and the autofocus had problems. Small subject problem?

You can't zoom in/out when taking movies.

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750. I picked mine up
yesterday from the shop and did some out of the box shooting, all
full AUTO. I already got some nice results, even indoors I do not
seem to have real problems in focusing ??

I'm a real amateur, so maybe Is it that I'm just to easy, but I
really like this camera so far.

Any comments on this ??

Click to expand...

I agree except of this

jeff kay said:

You can't zoom in/out when taking movies.

Click to expand...

because you can! But I don't take movies with my camera.

Jeff,

I agree with you Jeff ... It's not a great cam for action photos. I find the lag time quite annoying after using an SLR for 25+ years. I believe you'll find that problem with a majority of Digicams. You have to research and buy the cam for majority of the situations you'll be shooting.

You can zoom in and out while taking movies if the sound is off.
(If I wanted a camcorder I would have bought one ;> ) )

All in all , you need the right tool for the job you want to accomplish.
I'm happy with my C-750 for the sitautions I use it for.

Signed,
Ed_Who_is_a_happy_C-750_user

jeff kay said:

I tried to take pictures at a baseball game at early dusk and the
auto focus had a lot of problems. Contrast problem?

Good luck taking a picture of something moving. You can't even get
a shot of a child running. By the time the autofoucs decides it's
in focus, the kid is gone. What's the solution? "Pick a spot and
prefocus on that and wait for the subject to get to that spot?" So
I'm supposed to tell kids in a soccer game to stop playing and go
run over here where I'm focusing? Do you zoom out and focus on
infinity, and then crop and zoom in on the finished picture and
thus loose quality?

I tried taking picture of birds using the full 10x zoom, and the
autofocus had problems. Small subject problem?

You can't zoom in/out when taking movies.

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750. I picked mine up
yesterday from the shop and did some out of the box shooting, all
full AUTO. I already got some nice results, even indoors I do not
seem to have real problems in focusing ??

I'm a real amateur, so maybe Is it that I'm just to easy, but I
really like this camera so far.

Any comments on this ??

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Igor,

i don't think you should feel that you started any "ramping" or made any inappropriate & disparaging remarks about the 750. we all realize that no one camera especially in this range/price/size can be perfect. what was perhaps putting some off were remarks by others, who, to put it tactfully, may have gotten a bit carried away with certain points in their research for a camera. i certainly appreciate your initial posts and reasons, and they are indeed useful for people looking for the right camera for them. if your experience with the camera helps them in the path to making a better informed decision, all the better. but some other things should have better remained unsaid. anyway just my two cents. certainly i do not regard your post in any negative way at all, and certainly it didn't start anything new.

Somy

Igor said:

Hi Platinum,

I am afraid I was one of those who initiated all the ramping about
C750 here. I am not happy about many posts that followed. My post
was to give MY subjective but first-hand experience. Read it, take
note of things to check which you could otherwise miss, but take
your decision yourself. That is how I expected people to see it.

I am glad you are happy with your camera. Use it, post your pictures!

Igor

Click to expand...

jeff kay said:

Good luck taking a picture of something moving. You can't even get
a shot of a child running. By the time the autofoucs decides it's
in focus, the kid is gone. What's the solution? "Pick a spot and
prefocus on that and wait for the subject to get to that spot?" So
I'm supposed to tell kids in a soccer game to stop playing and go
run over here where I'm focusing? Do you zoom out and focus on
infinity, and then crop and zoom in on the finished picture and
thus loose quality?

Click to expand...

even with the fuji 602 which is just about the fastest non dslr camera out there, you'd need to prefocus to get a good soccer shot. if you are looking for such on the spur focusing speed, i'm afraid you'd only find that in a dslr

jeff kay said:

You can't zoom in/out when taking movies.

Click to expand...

and rightfully so, after the first camera maker, i forget which, who decided to implement this found that the zoom mechanism was picked up -very- loudly by the microphone. all cameras by all makers that i know of have since locked zoom in movies. perhaps oly could've made it so soundless movies would not pick this up, but they didn't. anyway, remember this is a still camera, not a camcorder.

Somy

jeff kay said:

I've had mine for two weeks and I'm about to send it back. If I
take a picture in bright sunlight, close subject at ISO 50, the
picture is great.

I tried to take pictures at a baseball game at early dusk and the
auto focus had a lot of problems. Contrast problem?

Good luck taking a picture of something moving. You can't even get
a shot of a child running. By the time the autofoucs decides it's
in focus, the kid is gone. What's the solution? "Pick a spot and
prefocus on that and wait for the subject to get to that spot?" So
I'm supposed to tell kids in a soccer game to stop playing and go
run over here where I'm focusing? Do you zoom out and focus on
infinity, and then crop and zoom in on the finished picture and
thus loose quality?

I tried taking picture of birds using the full 10x zoom, and the
autofocus had problems. Small subject problem?

Click to expand...

Basically all ultrazoom cameras (consumer, not DSLR) have slower focus than the best 3x zoom ones, particularly at full zoom (and in low light). I'm afraid at this point that's a compromise one has to accept, or forgo the zoom and choose a 3x better focusing camera - but then you'll have to crop a lot in situations like soccer games, and still not get the close-up factor of the big zoom. The C-2100 probably had somewhat better focusing than the C-750, but it's only 2mp, and to increase the resolution manufacturers have to reduce the CCD size.
--
Misha

somynex wrote:
perhaps oly

somynex said:

could've made it so soundless movies would not pick this up, but
they didn't. anyway, remember this is a still camera, not a
camcorder.

Click to expand...

ah they did. my bad. but there you go. =)

Somy

somynex wrote:

jeff kay said:

I've had mine for two weeks and I'm about to send it back. If I
take a picture in bright sunlight, close subject at ISO 50, the
picture is great.

I tried to take pictures at a baseball game at early dusk and the
auto focus had a lot of problems. Contrast problem?

Good luck taking a picture of something moving. You can't even get
a shot of a child running. By the time the autofoucs decides it's
in focus, the kid is gone. What's the solution? "Pick a spot and
prefocus on that and wait for the subject to get to that spot?" So
I'm supposed to tell kids in a soccer game to stop playing and go
run over here where I'm focusing? Do you zoom out and focus on
infinity, and then crop and zoom in on the finished picture and
thus loose quality?

Click to expand...

Have anyone here heard of of Hyperfocus?

Set focal length 6.3mm
Set aperture piority to f5.6
Set subject distance manually to 5ft.
The DOP will be from 2.4ft (near distance) of your subject to infinity.
Save it to custom setting and snap away without anymore adjustment.
Shutter lag is at minimum (metering only as focus is taken care of)

Try this before returning your C750!!

jeff kay said:

I tried taking picture of birds using the full 10x zoom, and the
autofocus had problems. Small subject problem?

You can't zoom in/out when taking movies.

Platinum said:

Is their anyone who still "likes" the C750. I picked mine up
yesterday from the shop and did some out of the box shooting, all
full AUTO. I already got some nice results, even indoors I do not
seem to have real problems in focusing ??

I'm a real amateur, so maybe Is it that I'm just to easy, but I
really like this camera so far.

Any comments on this ??

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

heaming said:

jeff kay wrote:
Have anyone here heard of of Hyperfocus?

Set focal length 6.3mm
Set aperture piority to f5.6
Set subject distance manually to 5ft.
The DOP will be from 2.4ft (near distance) of your subject to
infinity.
Save it to custom setting and snap away without anymore adjustment.
Shutter lag is at minimum (metering only as focus is taken care of)

Try this before returning your C750!!

Click to expand...

I didn't know it was called as such. This was how I got sharp photos with a 28-85mm. I relied on the DOF to save me on the incacurrate focus. And indeed in most instances, my problem was not focus, but blurr from the movement of my subject (runners) due to slow shutter speeds in less ideal light. But in good light, I got away with it. But this was not with an Oly camera but a Kodak. But in principle this should work equally with any other camera.

But 6.3mm is only 38mm equiv to 35mm. I have already done quite well with 85mm at 3.5 or whereabouts. Can one make adjustments and go say 150mm or 200mm equivalent focus 20-30ft out manually to get a deeper DOF? Theoretically it should. Maybe not a sharp focus from 30 ft to infinity, but I would definitely hit the subject sharp from 30ft to maybe 40ft. And if my aperture is around 5.6, I might even get it further out.

Most events are at around 30-40ft, 50 ft at the most. And if one can keep onces equiv focal length at 4-5.6, then I presume, it's smarter to manually focus then. A DOF of at least 10ft to the back of a focus point is enough to get our subject in focus for many a shots except for those where movement is very, very fast, or towards the camera. The shutter trip lag, at least in the c-740 I've used is very quick to capture the image I am sure.

I am a bit busy now and it is raining here in the afternoons for me to test it with a c-750. Has anybody the time to try this out? A good distance would be 40 feet manual focus at 250mm, and we change the aperture from the lowest to around 6.3 and see how deep the focus range is.

If such modfications/workaround are possible, then soccer, baseball, basketball, track, volleyball games and some activities, can be photographed in confidence if we know our DOF range. One can set on manual a prefocus on estimated distance (the farther the better for greater DOF) to get more or less sharp pictures and increase the chance of capturing the moment. Of course the higher the aperture will give one more DOF giving one more lattitude.

IF this works out, then we have found a way to work around with a problem instead of merely complaining about it. Anybody has the time to check this out?

--

• Caterpillar