Olympus C860L 1.2MP Digital Camera

by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 5 x 2.6 inches ; 8.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000050YA2
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,319 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 20, 2000

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Olympus D-860 digital camera offers truly outstanding performance for its price range. It's basically the same camera as the Olympus D-360L with some extras included, and, like all the Olympus cameras in this line, the D-860 produces high-quality photos with amazingly accurate color. This camera also works well in low-light situations and offers a wide array of compression, display, and printing options, making it a good choice for both beginners and advanced users.With an interface much like a standard point-and-shoot camera, the Olympus D-860 combines ease of use with digital technology, 2x digital zoom, and through-the-lens autofocus with macro mode; these elements give you the flexibility to shoot a wide variety of subjects. The 1.3-megapixel CCD sensor ensures accurate color, while features such as automatic exposure, white balance, and four-mode flash enable you to capture shots in a range of lighting situations.The Olympus D-860 includes a 1.8-inch color TFT LCD monitor for picture composition and playback, onscreen menus, and on-the-spot lock/erase buttons so you don't lose pictures you want or waste memory. A PCMCIA adapter and a USB reader/writer, valued at $180, are included with this model as well. It also features a 12-second self-timer, video-out capability, and optional direct printing straight from the camera. The camera automatically shuts off when not in use to preserve battery life.The Olympus D-860 is easy to set up; all you have to do is put in the batteries and memory card. The included 8 MB memory card holds up to 60 pictures in the lowest resolution mode (640 x 480), and memory is expandable up to 16 MB. Taking pictures is a snap; you can easily adjust the exposure, change the flash mode, change the picture compression mode, and use the self-timer. We ended up referring to the manual to display and erase pictures, but once we learned the process, it was simple to display images in either thumbnail or single-picture mode. The LCD screen is clear and bright, and we preferred using it instead of the optical viewfinder. The D-860 does well in low light, focusing in dark situations and then providing well-lighted images via the flash (which has a red-eye-reduction option). Also, as long as you have something stable to set the camera on, the D-860 takes great night cityscapes or indoor nonflash photos.The Olympus D-860's strength lies partly in its high resolution--at 1,280 x 960, it's one of the highest-resolution digital cameras available for under $400. If you want the very highest picture quality, the D-860 can even record images as uncompressed TIFF files, eliminating any loss in quality suffered during compression. You can fit only two uncompressed images on an 8 MB memory card, but for certain high-end or professional applications, the uncompressed TIFF capability is a strong advantage.The only drawback to the D-860 is its relatively short battery life. Four AAs have enough power for only about 60 low-resolution pictures--not nearly enough for a day on the town or a friend's birthday party. It doesn't come with rechargeable batteries, but you should consider buying a few sets and a charger.Along with the Olympus D-860, you receive a removable 8 MB SmartMedia card, capable of holding 122 standard-quality shots, a Windows connectivity kit, a video output cable, a PCMCIA adapter, a USB reader/writer, four AA alkaline batteries, a user's guide, and a strap. You also get a CD-ROM with Camedia utility software for editing, manipulation, and panorama stitching, as well as Adobe Photo Deluxe and Trelix Web Creation software.

This camera is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh platforms and comes with a limited one-year warranty.

Pros:

• Bright, clear LCD viewfinder
• High resolution
• Provides uncompressed TIFF recording capabilities
• Compact
• Does well in low light

Cons:

• Limited battery life

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best digital camera for a new enthusiast!, January 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Olympus C860L 1.2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

I had hope to get the Olympus D360 and was a little disappointed to find they were sold out everywhere. The disappoint didn't last long. I found a better deal. I found this Olympus 860! It is the identical camera to the top rated, critically acclaimed and highly sought Olympus 360. The only thing that is different is the label and the extra accessories.

The camera works beautifully right out of the box. The pictures are absolutely fabulous in the detail. Everything you have heard about these Olympus cameras is true. The ease of use and the numerous features make this the camera that everyone who is new to digital photography should buy.

What makes the 860 better than the 360? The other accessories you get! After you take a few pictures, you'll want to transfer them to your computer. The 860 gives you three ways to do this as opposed to the one slow option that 360 users have. The first way is that slow, battery-draining option of connecting the camera to a serial port. This option works but it eats up your battery and takes forever (at least it seems that way when you are excited about finally owning a digital camera). The second option is an USB reader/writer. This one is made by Olympus specifically for their Camedia cameras. It is harder to find than the 360 and usually costs anywhere for $ to $. It makes transferring your images fast, very fast. What a convenience! You can even edit your images and put the improved picture back on the smart media card in milliseconds. The third option that comes with the 860 is the pcmcia card. It plugs into the pcmcia slot on a notebook computer and all you have to do is slide the smart media card into a slot on this reader. The notebook computer handles it like another hard drive and can access your images as quickly as any other data you might have on your computer. It ,too, costs anywhere from $ to $. It makes travelling with this wonderful camera and a notebook computer great, because there isn't a need to make room for additional cables and cords. Best of all, you still can transfer images back and forth in a matter of milliseconds. The other nice addition is the inclusion of Adobe PhotoDeluxe. The software that comes with these Olympus cameras is decent, but soon enough you'll want a better image editor and the ability to really "jazz up" your pictures. The PhotoDeluxe is one of the most widely used and most highly rated software packages.

So if you are looking for the best digital camera for a new enthusiast, this is the one. It gives you everything the Olympus 360 offers and then goes the next step of giving you all the extras that you'd buy in the first 3-6 months of owning a digital camera. Save the time and the money and get this Olympus 860 and be a step ahead of all of those who thought the 360 was the best deal out there.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vey Happy Owner Bronx, New York, February 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Olympus C860L 1.2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

I didn't know which Camera to buy D360-L or this one C860-L after reading the customer rating I chose the C860-L and to let everyone know I am very very please this is the best one for the money. The pictures are great and it is very easy to use. The reader-writer that it comes with is great it saves alot of use on your batterys. I don't know if I will ever use film camera again. I printed the pictures and they look better than any film camera. BUY THIS CAMERA IT IS GREAT. Good luck with it

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent price/quality relation, July 10, 2001

By 

Pieter Groenhart (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus C860L 1.2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

I've owned a lot of digital camera's before, and they always disappointed me when it came to the quality of the lens. Non-flash pictures with non-natural light always turned out yellow or had ugly spots in them, or were way too dark, which enhanced light parts in the picture too much when I enhanced it with a graphics program. But this one certainly didn't!

The camera behaves like a 800$ camera, it seems to be designed and developed with that price in mind, and I bet that 800 bucks was what it costed when it came out. But since 1,3 megapixel camera's are "passé" these days, even a camera like this has to lower in price, and that's where it gets interesting for all of us.

Imagine having a former top-of-the-range camera, with an excellent quality lens, a lot of changeable settings, a design that resembles a normal camera, and that also behaves like a normal camera, well, it's there, the Camedia C-860L, and it's amazingly cheap.

I bought mine in a shop in the Netherlands, and paid only 250 USD!! All right, I confess, that's without the usb reader and the pcmcia adapter, but it's still very cheap. Later on I bought this package (reader and pcmcia adapter, from a company called PixoMedia) for the price of 61 USD (I use www.currencycalculator.com to calculate this). So all together the price was 311 USD.

The editorial reviewer says it has high battery-use, but that's because Mr. the reviewer doesn't read manuals. The manual clearly states that they STRONGLY advise NOT to use Alkaline batteries, but to use NiMh or other rechargeable batteries instead, because they last much longer. That I did, and I bought 4 rechargeable NiMh 1600mA batteries with charger, for 38 USD. But actually, the battery-use isn't that bad with alkalines. It's definitely not 60 low-res pics, but more like 50/60 high-res (HQ) pics, with the use of flash regularly and the use of the LCD-display to look at pictures afterwards (not during taking of pics, ofcourse that drains!).

All and all I can now use the camera for a very very long time without ever having to worry about the battery-level, using the display to look a pictures, and even to zoom in, although this only can be done by choosing out of 9 different parts of the picture, but it's still very nice.

If you want proof on the quality of the pictures, visit my website on www.gekkevogel.com/midzomer.html and click on any of the pictures to see the full-size version, and you'll be convinced, just like me, that this is a kick-ass camera!