Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63637 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Olympus
• Model: C-220Z
• Dimensions: 2.20 pounds
• Display size: 1.5

Amazon.co.uk Review
Olympus has squeezed a lot of good features into this 7.5x zoom digital camera, but still manages to keep the price attractive. Olympus has used the same design for its digital cameras for the last couple of years, so the Camedia C-220 Zoom doesn't appear that different from earlier models. It still looks like a compact 35mm camera, with a lens guard which also acts as a power switch.

Slide it open, though, and an Olympus auto-focus zoom lens telescopes out of the front. A miniature flash head also pops out of the top of the camera body. On the back of the camera is a 39mm LCD display, a diamond of control buttons to navigate on-screen menus and an optical viewfinder. The Camedia C-220 Zoom actually has two zooms; an optical magnification of 3x from the lens, augmented by a 2.5x digital zoom, resulting in 7.5x zoom overall. The zoom control comes from a little jog-switch next to the shutter release on the top of the camera.

The camera has a two-megapixel CCD array and can take pictures up to a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200, though you need to choose a lower resolution to store more than five of them on the 8-MB SmartMedia memory card supplied. It runs on two AA cells--alkaline are provided, but you could also use rechargeables. To get the images out of the camera, Olympus provides a USB lead and a copy of its Camedia Master 4 software. With Windows XP on your PC, the Camedia C-220 Zoom is recognised as a standard camera type and you can then also use the Camera and Scanner Wizard to import, view and print your pictures.

Picture quality is good, with natural, well-balanced colours and a high level of detail. Overall, this is a very good camera for its asking price, neat and with the image quality we've come to expect from Olympus. --Simon Williams

Manufacturer's description
With a 3x optical lens, 2 megapixel resolution and a stylish design, the beautifully shaped Camedia C-220 ZOOM makes discovering digital photography a real joy. The extremely compact and easy-to-use camera is available at a highly attractive price and will appeal to beginners as well as ambitious photographers. Olympus is renowned for its high level of opto-digital competence and its expertise is confirmed once again by the impressively realistic pictures this new model produces. Olympus Camedia was one of the first brands in the digital camera consumer market and it still holds a leading position today.

Offering 1.95 megapixels (effective resolution), a high-performance 3x optical zoom lens as well as incredible value for money, the C-220ZOOM is sure to impress. This new model follows its predecessor--the award-winning Camedia Camedia C-220 ZOOM--as the ideal solution for price-conscious newcomers to the world of digital photography. Of course, it is also of interest to hobby photographers who value cameras that are very user-friendly and ergonomically-designed. The results obtained with the new compact zoom are not only convincing on a monitor or LCD screen but also look great on paper. Printed shots can easily be compared with those from analogue compact models in terms of their sharpness and brilliance.

With the camera's combination of precise automatic shooting, high-quality zoom and versatile range of flash options, taking great pictures is almost child's play. Directly after installing the batteries and the SmartMedia card in the camera, the user can simply point and shoot. The procedure is virtually the same as with conventional 35 mm cameras but with one significant difference. Instead of having to wait for the film to be developed to see whether the results are okay, there is an integrated LCD monitor that enables checking of shots immediately.

In addition, the 3.8 cm LCD display can be used as a viewfinder which also allows the photographer to check camera settings, memory capacity and battery levels as well as the date and time. There is a multitude of functions built into this compact Olympus camera. For example, to suit the ambient conditions, it is possible to adjust the white balance, make exposure corrections or utilise one of the diverse flash modes. Furthermore, two light metering systems are available: digital ESP and spot metering. The camera's arrow-keys enable users to scroll through easy-to-follow menus displayed on the LCD monitor, allowing effortless adjustment of various settings.

Besides colour shots, the Camedia C-220 ZOOM can also capture images in black and white or sepia and record short video sequences. Especially interesting is the panorama function which enables the photographer to capture scenes such as an endless desert landscape with breathtaking effect.

For quick downloading of image data, the Camedia C-220 ZOOM has a USB interface with AutoConnect compatability (The computer must support USB AutoConnect.) so that the camera is automatically recognised as an external drive when connected to the computer.

The new software Camedia Master 4.0, also supplied with the camera, allows the user to easily archive, manage, edit and process image data (stills and movies). There is also a choice of different templates for individual photo albums, calendars and postcards.

With an ergonomic design, compact measurements (62 [h] x 112 [w] x 35 [d] mm) and weighing only 174 g, the Camedia C-220 ZOOM is perfect for almost every occasion--whether at parties, on holiday or at work.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

A quality camera at a bargain price!
If you resist the temptation to spend lots of money at the technologicalcutting edge and take a look at digital cameras that have been around fora couple of years then you can come across great bargains like the OlympusC-220 Zoom.
Two years ago when this camera was introduced in the UK it must have beenselling for 2-3 times the price it is now. You are buying a top qualitycamera at a great price now. The 2 Million pixels are adequate for goodquality photos up to A4 size. The menus for setting-up, taking photos andplayback are intuitive and easy to use. It has 3x optical zoom and a macrofacility for close-ups. To save battery power you can switch off the LCDmonitor and take photos using the optical viewfinder as in steam-agecameras. The camera comes complete with all the cables needed to downloadto PC and also to playback direct from the camera to your TV. Once pluggedin, with a couple of clicks on the menu buttons on the camera back you canenjoy a slide show of your masterpieces on the TV. The camera uses SmartMedia cards rather than the xD cards on the new Olympus models - but heywho cares - Smart Media cards are cheaper :-) The 16 Mb card supplied onlyallows 20 or so shots, so buy one or two 128 Mb cards to avoid runningout. Oh and don't forget to buy rechargeable batteries (2000mAh orbetter).
Only disappointment is the supplied Camedia software. Cameracomes with version 4.0 (don't forget to get a free upgrade to 4.1 at theOlympus web-site) but to get at extended features in the Camedia-Proversion (e.g. Album, back-up to CD-ROM) you have to pay Olympus another 20Euros. Come on Olympus - give us the full package up-front! For the albumfacility try a Google for JAlbum (free HTML Album generator).
Overall a great camera at a knockdown price (oh and Amazon was the lowestprice I found).

Good quality, easy to use camera
I bought one of these last summer and haven't been disappointed. The camera is simple to use and the pictures are bright and sharp with good colours.The 3x optical zoom is perfectly adequate (I haven't used the digital zoom) and the macro mode works really well.
Pictures are stored using SmartMedia (a 64 Mb card is recommended) and are easy to download. They can also be previewed on the television using the AV cable. Battery consumption varies but is fairly good if you use the TFT screen sparingly.
The only minor gripe is the slight unpredictable delay between prssing the button and the photo actually being taken.
Overall though, I would recommend this to anyone looking for a basic, easy to use, good quality digital camera.

Hot cakes...
By the time this review gets posted they'll most likey have sold them all. It's a great camera for £80. I got it to replace a worn-out Nikon 775 which had pretty much the same spec and cost £300 when I bought it just a couple of years ago. The C-220 gives better looking pictures without editing. It also focuses better on the subject and gives better exposed flash pictures. It doesn't have to lose your settings when switched off - just set the 'Reset all' function to 'No'. Use NiMH rechargable batteries. Digital cameras don't like alkalines - I used the two that came with the C-220 in a torch. SmartMedia is becoming obsolescent but for now that's a good thing - you can get relatively cheap high capacity cards. A 128 MB card will keep you going - it will store over 80 SHQ (super-high quality) pictures. The supplied 16 MB card will store about 10. Best not to use the HQ setting if you are concerned about quality rather than file size - in HQ you will see JPEG 'artifacts' like fuzziness around edges of faces. I don't see any significant image-compression problems in SHQ mode.
If you've read all this it may be too late to buy one...