Customer Reviews

Olympus C60 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My previous digital camera was the C-50 and I shelled out the cash to upgrade to the C-60, and am greatly pleased. The advantages of the C-60 over the C-50 are:

-6 megapixel instead of 5 (not a huge deal if you're not printing anything bigger than 8x10s)
-Movies have audio (C-50 video only)
-Casing designed better (C-50 rubber flaps were always coming loose)
-SuperMacro mode as close as 4cm (C-50 macro mode was horrible, only about 20-30cm focus minimum)
-Mode dial more closely resembles other SLRs, with P/S/A/M options instead of having to navigate (C-50) through the digital menu to specify whether you want the shutter speed or aperature to be adjustable
-Supports up to 512MB xD cards by default (C-50 supports only up to 128MB unless you ship it to Olympus for them to install a BIOS update)
-Lens opens/closes more quickly (C-50 took 3-4 seconds)
-Better LCD review screen
-Supports higher capacity 12B Lithium battery instead of just 10B

And it's still the nice small size that fits in my pocket when I travel.

I recently fell into a river and irretrievably destroyed my C-50 (not Olympus's fault, obviously). Having been so happy with that one, I immediately replaced it with the C-60. What follows is a comparison between the two, in the form of a user review I wrote for the C-50:

[The C-50 is] a very powerful, versatile, and impressive little camera. For taking shots in conditions of plentiful light, this camera was hard to beat, at least when it came out (it's since been discontinued). When it hit the market, it was unquestionably the most powerful digital camera of its size.

There are problems, however:

1. On the little movies, there is no "sound" available.
2. You have to turn the camera off and close the cover to review the picture you just took!
3. This camera cannot take pictures in low lighting conditions at all. Not without the flash, at any rate. Starting from about the late afternoon on, this camera is all but useless for natural-looking shots. They'll be far too blurry; this is a constant annoyance.

Olympus recently came out with the C-60 Zoom, which is the new version of this camera. With that one, they have fixed problems 1 and 2 but not 3: still a major problem, but this is not the only brand of digital camera with this problem.

Also note: if you're replacing a c-50 with the new c-60, you'll be able to use your batteries, your battery charger, and your memory disks with the new version. You'll also be able to recycle the little cable that connects the camera to your USB port.

Also, the C-60 can take memory cards of up to 512 MB! This is pretty impressive (on the highest-quality setting, for example, this will allow you to take 118 pictures; on the lowest-quality setting, 6390!), although that's a pretty expensive little card. With the C-50, coming out of the box the most it would take was a 256 MB card, unless you bodily sent the camera in to Olympus for a "firmware upgrade," which was free if you provided proof that you had bought a 512 MB card. This is not necessary with the C-60.

Two pieces of advice:

One, despite the vast memory attainable with the 512 MB card, I would suggest merely buying two 256's. This is because, with this camera, the manner in which the card is inserted seems to increase the possibility of fatal scratches. And if you have all your eggs in one basket -- thousands of pictures on a single card -- and you get that "CARD ERROR" message, you'll be up the creek, my friend.

Second: when you're buying it, you'll probably want to stock up on a few extra batteries. The technology with the memory card and the image resolution is nothing short of astonishing, but it's surprising that the technology of these rechargeable batteries is not further along by this point. The batteries only last a couple of hours before they need to be recharged! If you're out shooting pictures all day, it's much more likely you'll need a new battery long before you'll need more memory. Keep this in mind.

Strengths: Very compact & light, quick startup (slower with bigger XD Media cards), lots of great features (like continuous shooting mode and red-eye reduction), long battery life.
Weaknesses: Weak flash, red-eye reduction not available in continuous shooting mode, slow startup with big XD Media cards.
Summary: This is overall a great camera (see list of main strengths above). My biggest complaint is that the flash is pretty weak, and cannot be brightened in "auto" mode. However, if you switch the camera to one of the manual modes, you have more control over the brightness of the flash -- but I've found that increasing the brightness washes out the subjects too much. So you're stuck between a rock & a hard place. The perfect flash I ever used was on a Nikon Coolpix 995 camera, but that camera is big & bulky & slow compared to this camera. So if you're going to be doing a lot of daylight shooting or outdoor shooting that doesn't require heavy use of a flash, this camera is for you. If you're doing a lot of nighttime or indoor shooting (like me), you'll be hard-pressed to get rid of this spritely little camera that's chock-full of features, and instead you'll find yourself turning on lots of overhead lights to flood more light into the room.

This is the third Olympus camera I have owned, with the last one being a C50. Overall, I am very pleased with the camera.

PROS:

1. Great metal body. Very sturdy and fashionable
2. Takes great pictures for a point and shoot. Bright pictures and the color is very good
3. Nice size. Can fit in a pocket, but you will notice it, but easy to carry around at parties and family functions.
4. Simple point and click if you want, or you can customize almost all aspects of a shot. It's the best of both worlds.
5. Great camera for the price. A ton of value at 300 bucks.

CONS:
1. Load time when turning camera on with a large memory card is very slow. Plan on waiting 5 seconds for the camera to enter "ready mode" with a large memory card.
2. Could do better at taking wide angle shots. Canon is better in this area.

Overall, I recommend this camera for those looking for a great point and click camera.

Simply love it, I purchased this camera about a month ago this is my 2nd olympus the 1st lasting for 5 years (and still going strong) but just a 1.3 megapixel only good for 4 x 6 prints My wife & I wanted a camera capable of larger prints. We have had 8 x 10s printed from the camera and they are excellent. We were told you could get a 20 x 30 print if we wanted. Some may have trouble with the controls but this is not just a "point and shoot camera" it has all of the bells & whistles that photo buffs demand, but also an Auto mode and the camera will do all the work.

I have been getting excellent results with this little beauty. I don't understand the comment on battery life, since I am getting 200-250 pictures on a charge. My only complaint is the size of the XD card that they supply with the unit. For a 6 Megapixel camera, you would think they would give you more storage to start with than 32MB. other than that the quality is excellent, pictures are high resolution and the Camedia software supplied with the camera does an excellent job.

I bought this camera last month and my husband loves it. He loves the 2:1 feature, the 15 second movie bit, and the ease to look at pictures already taken without having to close the camera. I bought an extra battery and larger XD card. These items go a long way to a better experience. All Olympus cameras have very similar menus to work with so it is easier to navigate through the menus if you are familiar with Olympus cameras. This is an easy camera to operate.

This is an excellent value for the price. It has very little shutter delay, is compact, and very good to stop action (excellent for animal photos). It can pick up amazing detail and one can do severe cropping in a graphics program with very little reduction in quality to the photo.
Sample photos taken with this camera at:
http://poodle.bizland.com/photos.html
I intend to keep mine for a very long time.

After reading the 1 star review by the person who abused her camera , I was somewhat confused. Why blame the camera? I find the picture quality excellent. Haven't used all of the features, but that's because Ive been too lazy to read the manual. The only problem Ive had is turning the camera off when I change settings. I need to learn not to get my fingers in the way of the front cover. I read a review of someone not liking the battery. I guess if I was isolated from electricity for a month, I would have a problem. But I put my battery on the charger at the end of the day when I have taken alot of pictures. I took a few viedeos with the camera and was surprised of the quality. I use a Sony DVD ($799) camcorder for videos, but for a shorty, the C60 performed well. For a $249 camera, the C60 is a real bargain.

Excellent pictures so far and I have not yet begun to use all the many features included with this camera! I haven't had time to read the manual - but have been able to use it right out of the box because the automatic mode is easy to use. Picture reviews are very convenient, too. You don't have to turn off the camera - which is great. I researched a lot of cameras before making a final decision and believe I got a great deal for the money spent - especially for a 6 megapixel camera.