Olympus C-220 Zoom

Overall the Olympus C-220 Zoom is a great little unit, my only complaint is that the lens mechanism is easy to break if you inadvertantly close the lens cover before the lens is fully retracted.

I have had the Olympus C-220 Zoom camera for nearly two years now and have no complaints other than the slow flash recycling rate. But as the camera was bought specifically for taking pictures including close-ups for selling items on E-Bay, I have only praise for it. All my pictures are taken out of full sun as I do not want severe contrast or shadows interfering with the detail required for selling on auctions. I always use a small sturdy tripod to minimise camera shake and the results at full zoom (optical + digital) when used with the close-up facility gives superb results and will virtually fill the frame with a fountain-pen nib. I do use the camera to photograph flowers and insects using the optical zoom plus close-up and I am amazed at the quality of the A4 prints that I get from my Epson Stylus Photo 830 printer on photo paper. I assumed, when I bought the camera that the quality, bearing in mind the number of pixels, would only be good enough for internet use but I am entirely happy with this product. I have used Olympus equipment for over thirty years with great success including the OM range of cameras with the specialist close-up equipment and can only say that this camera is up to the standard that I personally expect of Olympus equipment. I realise that it is not made the same as the OM1 to OM4 range of 35mm cameras, but it is cheap, particularly now. Memory cards are also available cheaply now and as I am not interested in the panoramic facility, the non-Olympus cards are good enough. I also use the largest capacity NiMh batteries that I can get (2000mAH or more) and always carry a few fully charged spares. So there we are, I love it.

This Olympus C-220 Zoom is an ideal first digital camera, it does everything you would want it to do and more! Takes great pictures, has 3X optical zoom, and even more digital zoom! The viewfinder is clear and you can see in detail what your photos are going to look like. Its about the size of a normal camera, and feels like a quality item. The camedia software is nice, quick and easy with enough editing features to improve shots. The batteries are used up that fast, the alkalines lasted me 3 days of intensive use, where I was playing with it, zooming, flicking through photos, using the flash generally learning how to use it!

I now have rechargeable batteries 2000mAh and they last for ages! So are highly recommended!

This camera is really cheap at the moment, 79.99 on amazon with a free leather case, so thats another great reason to get it! Also you can pick up smartmedia cards pretty cheap so a 128Mb will store hundreds of normal quality images!

This is my first digital camera and I would say it is at least as good as if not better than cameras my friends own which cost twice as much, it has the same features and produces the same quality pictures.

I find that my Olympus C-220 Zoom digital camera works perfectly, the image quality set on high will end up giving you a picture 22 x 16 inches if wanted! Flash pictures can be a little less vibrant and if I get a weak picture it probably means I was too far away when trying to use the flash. It only takes a few minutes to correct if you know what you're doing with Photoshop or similar but poor pictures have been few.

Batteries, well, if you use alkaline's you're asking for trouble. The company don't recomend them either.

They recommend rechargeables with a 1700ma rating, although the Uniross NiMh rechargeables that I use are 1300Ma and they do the job well. Only yesterday I took 44 pictures at High Res and using the Zoom to boot! A good camera and well priced - who needs to pay more than this for good pictures?

The Olympus C-220 Zoom Digital camera looked good to begin with, all the pictures I took looked fine, but then again all of those pictures were taken outdoors when it was bright out. When the camera is used indoors the quality is not so good and if I have to use the flash then things get very bad. The flash takes so long to recycle that I can only take about one picture in a minute. In all I would have to say that I am VERY disappointed in this camera and I am looking for a new one and you can bet it will non be made by Olympus

I do not recommend this Olympus C-220 Zoom Digital camera, the battery doesn't last long at all even when buying the recommended CR-V3 lithium battery, you have to wait ages between taking each photo as the flash needs time to recycle.

overall the Olympus C-220 Zoom is a great camera compared to precious camera. for the price i found it to be excellent quality. and provides great films in a range of lights.

Having had previous experience of the Fuji Finepix zoom I find there are many advantages with this camera. It fits in the pocket much better and the controls are much more easily accessed. Much easier to get the correct flash setting, macro setting and self-timer.

Picture quality is excellent and colours very accurately reproduced.

I was warned of high battery consumption when I purchased it but to the contrary I have found the batteries last well. This may be due to the picture just taken not automatically being displayed.

The projecting flash worries me in that it could easily get knocked. So far no problems but it is always something you have to think about when closing down.

The zoom, optical and digital, is easy to control. Overall this is a great little unit.

I have found that the C220 is only good in very bright conditions, otherwise the images appear under-exposed. This is made worse by the under-powered flash, which is also slow to recycle. This seems to be a compromise to prolong battery life, which is good when using 1700 mAh NiMh rechargeables (the camera takes just two). You can also turn the LCD off completely or to come on for a few seconds after taking a picture which also eases the drain on the cells.

The finish of the plastic casing is all too easily damaged, easpecially by the sliding lens cover which catches the cover of the Smartmedia slot, leaving unsightly scratches on the front of your nice new camera. It should be noted that Olympus do not supply a carrying case with the standard package.

The lens sounds horrible when zooming in or out. I had an old Canon 35mm compact with a zoom lens which was whisper quiet in operation, the C220's sounds poorly engineered by comparison.

I've used others and didnt use many of the functions that they had.

This one has everything I need and a few pleasant surprises (toys)

boot. Not sure about batteries yet think I might get the AC adapter.

TV adapter is cool. I like the picture quality. Even on medius res it looks great on the monitor. Overall I'm fairly stoked. not sure if this is normal but the objects in motion shots are not very clear.