The Olympus C-3030 offers the same level of control as most of its rivals in the multimegapixel market, from fully automatic to fully manual shooting. In addition to a playback mode, the camera’s Power/Mode Dial has three “record” positions; one for QuickTime movies and two for still shots. The “P” (Programmed auto) and “A/S/M” (Aperture priority/Shutter priority/Manual) settings seem redundant, as the camera will function automatically, even in the latter position, until you access the menu and select A/S/M Mode.
Autopilot This shot of South Falls in Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park was taken using the C-3030’s automatic (“Program”) setting.
Taking pictures in automatic mode requires removing the easily lost lens cap (mine was gone within a week – $10 to replace it), turning the Power/Mode Dial to an “on” position (causing the lens to extrude from the camera body), looking through the viewfinder, and snapping the shutter. Pressing the Monitor button lets you frame the shot in the LCD screen instead of the viewfinder. Unfortunately, to view pictures you must also remove the lens cap, since the lens inexplicably pops out in Playback mode as well. In my opinion, this annoying peculiarity is waste of batteries and my patience.
I like the C-3030’s handy Quick View function. If you press the Monitor button twice after taking a picture, you can review the most recent shot without having to turn the dial to Playback mode and back again to continue shooting. Like the CoolPix 990, the C-3030 lets you trash the picture you’ve just taken with a single button-press before proceeding.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on May 5, 2000
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