Olympus Camedia C700 2MP Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom

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Product Details

Product Manual [5.31mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 7.5 x 4.1 inches ; 1.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005B6UF
• Item model number: 225285
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,470 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 31, 2001

Product Description

Product Description
The 2.1-megapixel Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom digital camera boasts an outstanding 10x optical zoom lens (plus 2.7x digital zoom-equivalent to 38-1,026mm) and an ultracompact size (4.2 by 3 by 3 inches). The impressive aspherical glass lens gives you excellent detail and sharp, clear pictures, plus the size of the camera makes it easy to bring along wherever you go. The C-700 also offers rapid succession firing--just over half a second per shot, and QuickTime movie mode for short video clips. Additional features include multipattern TTL autofocus, built-in flash, diopter adjustment, 1.5-inch color LCD monitor, self-timer with 12-second delay, auto exposure bracketing (three or five images), auto white balance, and special image effects such as sepia mode and black and white.

The C-700 stores images on removable SmartMedia cards. The camera can be operated in several modes: in programmed auto mode, the camera does everything for you. In aperture- and shutter-priority modes, you get to set the aperture or priority, and the camera does the rest. In manual mode, you have control over all camera functions, with shutter speeds as long as 16 seconds. Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB storage class connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows Me/2000 and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software. The C-700 also ships with two CR-3V long-life disposable lithium batteries (four AA batteries can also be used), an 8 MB SmartMedia card, lens cap, strap, retainer cord, and software.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

379 of 384 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome camera, September 28, 2001

By	NEIL A MCCORRISON (Lakewood, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This is my second digital camera. My first was the Olympus 340R which is still near perfect after 3 years of use. I do a lot of outdoor photography and needed something with zoom capability.
The pixels wasn't that big of a concern because the 1.3 mp of the 340R was suiting me just fine. I run my 19" montitor's resloution at 1600x1200 and the picture fills up the screen with awesome quality.

The zoom on this camera is amazing. It can take a picture of 8 pt text on paper from across the room (11 feet) and you can read it clearly. It's also pretty amazing how lighting is composed. Without the flash on, it still compensates for a lot of light. I was able to zoom across the neighborhood for about 1500 feet at night and still get a good picture of cars coming down a hill.

With my old camera I found that digital zoom is pretty much worthless unless you print straight from the card. If you need the extra zoom, you can do it on your computer. I tested this out: I took a 27X zoomed picture and a 10X optical zoom of the exact same object. On my computer I enlarged the optical zoom photo 300%. The detail was exactly the same in both photos. When you only use optical zoom, you also get more overall picture. What I mean my this is that you get more frame area to crop out if you need to, abling you to center the object easier.

One feature that no one has mentioned yet is the ability to record 4 seconds of audio with each photo. I find this really cool to mark my GPS location points. I mark the position on my GPS, take the picture, and then record what GPS waypoint the picture is of. The 4 second audio is only 32K on the card, so you won't even notice loss of space. You can even go back and re-record or add audio to pictures already taken.
When you play back the photos while connected to a TV, the audio plays with each photo.

The stability is somewhat of an issue when zommed in, but I also found the "action" mode to elimate any bluring.

A lot have mentioned the "lens cap of doom". It doesn't pop off the lense, it's held by a thumb spring. (mabe the older ones did just snap onto the lense, but my new one doesn't) It also comes with a retaining cord so it's no going anywhere. The camera didn't have a specific place to attach the lens cap cord, so I wove it into the neck strap. It's long enough that it doesn't stop the lens from pertruding out when turned on and you forget to take the lens cap off.

Viewing taken photos on the LCD is very quick. My 340R would take about 3 seconds to load each photo in to the LCD. The C-700 is almost immediate, and you can zoom in 3X and pan freely around the photo. After taking a picture, you can also view the last shot immediately and delete it if you want. To do this, press the LCD button [] twice quickly. I use feature this a lot because I like to show people the photo/video right away.

The last feature I absolutely love is the USB connection. I have a FlashPath (floppy disk reader) for my old camera, which won't be getting much use anymore. The USB is pretty much as fast a reading from a hard drive. A 4 meg video clip starts playing immediately straight from the camera.

138 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highest-rated 2.1 megapixel camera, July 1, 2001

By	Peter544 (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews

After having done an exhausting research which included reviews of many different cameras from about 10 digicam review websites both here and in Europe, and having had years experience with other digital cameras, I have chosed to purchase this camera based both on the ratings and the features it had.

The C-700 is truly an engineering marvel with absolutely astounding picture quality which exceeds other more expensive cameras and even cameras with a higher pixel count (!!!). The camera has good optics and is still the world's smallest 10x optical zoom digital camera. With the optional Olympus lens "tube" (screws in over the camera lens) you can use the Olympus wide-angle lens as I do, with the final 35mm camera equivalent being 30.4mm (38mm without the wide-angle lens).

Some of the minuses are: unlike the 2100 model it does not have the physical image stabilization so if you go at the maximum zoom you have to be careful to hold the camera extremely steady. Majority of other cameras also lack this feature, however, so it's not really that big of a minus. The camera does not have a way of turning off the internal LCD, even if only the large LCD on the back is being used, the lifespan of my 1600mAh NiMH batteries inside the new C-700 still far exceeds all of the other digital cameras I have used before, especially compared to the power-hungry Nikon digicams, so this is more of a gripe in principle than anything else. The C-700 CCD chip, LIKE ALL OTHER CURRENT digicams, creates a blue-ish halo around high-contrast edges (example: a tree or a roofline against a bright sky).

The pluses are plentiful. In the manual mode, you have almost complete control over the camera, plus (and this is very important) the camera has a MANUAL WHITE BALLANCE setting, as well as the standard auto and misc. presets. This is extremely helpful if you take photos in tricky lighting (studio lighting, etc.) I also really like the fact that you can record a 5 second audio clip with each photo, even after the fact after you review the images, just to keep yourself from forgetting what the photo object is (part number, name of the person, street address, etc.) The camera is very well balanced and feels comfortable when shooting.

I would recommend you getting an Olympus brand SmartMedia card if you plan to do any panorama shots, which greatly increases the efficiency of making them due to Olympus card's built-in ROM program. The software that comes with the camera is unusually well done, unlike most of the other packages I have seen with other makes and models. Panoramas get directly exported to Quicktime 360" web-ready panoramas, it's a joy to do this task. No need to get your hands dirty with funky 3rd party software and extra steps. Simply shoot with an Olympus card, 'stitch' the photos (automatically) using the Olympus software that comes with the camera and SAVE-AS 360 file. Then you upload it to the web, link to it and you have a rotating 360 shot! The software even knows what type of zoom you used for each photo, as that is embedded within each JPG file, along with complete exposure information, while still remaining fully compatible with PhotoShop, etc.

This is also the first camera I have ever seen that follows the standard external storage protocol which allows you to unload the camera to any computer (Win ME, Win 2000, Mac, etc.) WITHOUT installing any software or any drivers. The camera simply shows up as yet another drive when plugged in to a USB port, without rebooting.

Olympus really did a great job on this camera and priced it extremely aggressively considering the features, in order to further increase their digital camera lead in the marketplace. This camera produces up to 8x10 photo quality inkjet prints and about 4x6" (excellent quality) in 300 dpi for magazines, etc. (a lot of my photos get published in misc. travel magazines). If you need to do magazine work with photos bigger that the 4x6", check out the 4+ megapixel Olympus E-10 (price), though I cannot comment on it as I have not yet used it first hand.

137 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent unit--especially if you need to use a lot of zoom., March 6, 2002

By	David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I'm the unofficial photographer for my kid's high school tennis team. I go to all the matches I can and take a zillion photos that I then upload to the net for use by the school and the kids on the team and their parents. I need a versatile unit that works well in all lighting conditions, which is good for action photography and has very good dtorage capacity.

This camera more than fits the bill.

Picture resolution is exceptional even on zoom action shots on the court. It works well with a variety of lighting conditions, a feature I especially like as a lot of my work is in the very late afternoon/early evening time when the court lights come on but some sunlight is still available but changing minute by minute. Changing settings is quick and easy. The only major flaw I can detect for the whole unit is the fluorescent lighting setting is lousy-stay with the standard incandescent setting for better results.

The camera has good storage capacity. It quickly shifts between photos in "view" mode, a feature I like as it allows me to ditch less desirable shots on the fly so as to maximize card storage capacity.

The unit also does excellent close up work. On a recent vacation to Nova Scotia I took a lot of wildflower pictures and they turned out fantastic.

The USB connection is easy to set up and use. There is a Camedia CD for working with your pictures on a pc but it is very basic and offers somewhat limited utility-I use a different photo-shop type program.

A lot of people gripe about the lens cap on the Olympus products. While it's true they were a disaster in previous times, it has improved greatly. Just weave the strap onto one of the side strap bars and all will be well.

I personally find the viewfinder a bit awkward to use and usually just use the LCD on the back to view and set up the pics. On the other hand, my wife loves the viewfinder and that's all she ever uses. I think this is a matter of taste rather than any particular engineering issue.

On the whole, an excellent value for the price on a slew of fronts. I don't see how you could be disappointed with this camera.