Epson PhotoPC 3000Z Review
Epson entered the 3 megapixel race with a truly interesting
camera. The PhotoPC 3000Z is Epson's first viable attempt to go after
the big boys in the digital camera market. Fitted out with a 3x zoom,
big diameter, fast F2.0 lens (I have a theory on the origin of this lens)
and (probably) Sony's 3.34 megapixel CCD. Solid and chunky the 3000Z certainly
looks the part and has a feature set that puts it up amongst the best
3 megapixel digital cameras.
Epson have also implemented their HyPict interpolation
algorithm on the Epson PhotoPC 3000Z which means that over and above the
standard (CCD native) 2048 x 1536 resolution you can also have a HyPict
image of 2544 x 1904 or a HyPict Panorama of 2544 x 952.
The Lens
After receiving the 3000Z I put it on my desk next to
a Sony DSC-S70.. That's when it struck me, it's the same lens. No, really,
bear with me. They're both 7 - 21 mm (F2.0 - F2.5) lenses, size, extension
speed/mechanism and internals appear identical.. Which is kind of confusing
because Sony put a Carl Zeiss badge on theirs, yet Epson simply say "Epson
Digital Camera Lens". Interesting, yes?
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| Lens from Epson PhotoPC 3000Z |
Lens from Sony DSC-S70 |
From the images above you can clearly see the lenses
are identical even down to the aperture diaphragm, which begs the question
is the lens in the PhotoPC 3000Z a Carl Zeiss design? We may never get
an "official" answer to that but on this evidence it would stand
it in good stead by at least having a high quality lens before even crossing
the starting line.
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Mar 1, 2001
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Aug 4, 2000
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May 4, 2000
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Jul 1, 2003
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