*** From the Archives ***
This article is from May 5, 2000, and is no longer current.
Olympus C-3030 Zoom Misses its Mark
Assault on batteries
When it comes to power-consumption, the most catastrophic quirk is the camera’s failure to automatically power down until four hours have elapsed! By then, AA alkaline batteries are toast and even rechargeables will be too weak to leave home without a good juicing. Three times I was faced with dead batteries after downloading images and failing to turn the camera off when I was done (Of course, an AC adapter-a $70 option-would have averted this problem. It’s a shame one wasn’t included). I have never before encountered a camera that didn’t power down inside of a minute or two.
I was disappointed that the $999 C-3030 did not come with rechargeable batteries (a $35 option) and a charger, as do even the less-expensive Epson PhotoPC cameras. I was unable to find replacements for the camera’s odd “paired” disposable lithium batteries at either my local camera shop or Radio Shack. I sprang instead for a rechargeable NiMH battery kit.
Exorcise your options
Heavy dependence on the menu — and thus the LCD screen — exacerbates the drain on battery life. Menu functions are easily accessed with compass-point directional buttons above the LCD screen, but getting to some functions is like raising the dead. With the exception of the flash mode and macro settings, all the C-3030’s functions-even exposure compensation, which you would typically adjust while in the throes of shooting-require menu navigation. By contrast, the CoolPix 990 lets you adjust exposure with a function button near the shutter.
The digital zoom function is buried too far down the menu tree to be useful. I had to press 10 buttons each time I wanted to go beyond the C-3030’s 3x optical zoom and invoke the 2.5x digital zoom. By contrast, the Nikon CoolPix 990’s 4x digital zoom kicks in when you hold the optical zoom button for an additional two seconds. That’s a much more intuitive way to use the zoom feature.
Another deeply interred function is the image-resolution selection menu. While the C-3030 offers a wide array of image-quality options (anywhere from 1 to 165 images can be stored on the included 16-MB SmartMedia), exhuming your choices can require more than 20 pushes of a button! Even after reading the manual three times I found that I could never remember the necessary steps once I was out in the field. Nor did I want to use up battery power wading through long menus. Consequently I shot almost all my pictures in the default mode. Nikon’s CoolPix 990 offers a much more practical implementation: an Image Quality button that cycles through all the options on the LCD.
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Many statements of “fact” that are totaly untrue. Flowers (last photo) are not Columbines but Dwarf Larkspur.
I’m afraid it appears that the author of this review had a terribly bad day. At least he didn’t blame the camera for his getting stuck in the snow.
While the 3030Z does have a complex menu structure, I find that it is not nearly as bad as described here. To change from one image quality to another only takes 7 or so button pushes – more than I might like, but nowhere near the 20 claimed by the author.
In addition, I find the battery usage of this camera to be quite reasonable. Perhaps that’s because I, unlike the author, can remember to turn the camera off when I’m not using it. By the way, the camera does enter a power-saving ‘sleep’ mode when left on for ~3 minutes.
Also, I can’t understand why the author was complaining about having to crawl behind his PC to plug and unplug the USB cable – I guess he couldn’t figure out that it can be left plugged in, even when not in use. I also wonder where he shops, for he quoted a $100 price for a SmartMedia reader. A very cursory look at most any shopping site finds them being sold for well under $50. The prices he quotes for other accessories are quite odd, as well.
I will admit, however, that he does have a couple of valid points. I think that the lack of ‘in the box’ accessories is a disappointment. A lens cap tether, set of NiMH batteries, and a carrying case would be logical freebies to be thrown in with a $1000 camera. Overall, however, the camera is a joy – much more than I can say about this review.
Donald Laird
[email protected]
Bad days aside, let me address some issues raised here.
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D. Laird said: “To change from one image quality to another only takes 7 or so button pushes – more than I might like, but nowhere near the 20 claimed by the author.”
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Depending on the resolution and size desired, selection can require *up to* 20 button pushes, as I stated in the review.
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D. Laird said: “In addition, I find the battery usage of this camera to be quite reasonable. Perhaps that’s because I, unlike the author, can remember to turn the camera off when I’m not using it.”
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Remembering to turn off the camera is certainly a good idea with the C-3030, however I am not in this habit because all the other cameras I’ve used turn themselves off in minutes.
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D. Laird said: “Also, I can’t understand why the author was complaining about having to crawl behind his PC to plug and unplug the USB cable – I guess he couldn’t figure out that it can be left plugged in, even when not in use.”
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Because I often test mulitple cameras simultaneously, in addition to using other USB devices, I can’t leave them all plugged in at once. Not only is a shortage of USB ports an issue, but some cameras’ download software gets confused or crashes when multiple cameras are attached.
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D. Laird said: “I also wonder where he shops, for he quoted a $100 price for a SmartMedia reader. A very cursory look at most any shopping site finds them being sold for well under $50. The prices he quotes for other accessories are quite odd, as well.”
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Where possible I have taken prices from respective vendors’ websites. Prices will always vary among retail vendors.
-Marty Beaudet, author
You don’t have to click thru the menu each time you want to access digital zoom. When once activated, a slide scale appears on the LCD screen. As to automatic shutdown, my 3030 does so in exactly three minutes, not four hours. Colors of the flowers had a blueish cast on an overcast day? Of course they would. Why didn’t you switch to “cloudy” white balance? And your USB complaint about “crawling” behind the computer to change it because of multiple uses for your USB port. Wouldn’t the same be true if you connected a Nikon or Epson reader to your USB port?
Think about this, have you ever used a REALLY GOOD 35MM camera?? At least with my Nikon FG and my 2 Pintex K1000’s all the lens that they have use lens caps that do not have a teather. This camera is made up put Digital, and 35MM together with the manual features that it has. So why wouldn’t it have a non teathered cap. With my old Sony cam I had it had a teathered cap and it kept either getting in the picture or in front of the LCD, that did me more harm then good. On the subject of the carrying case. I would rather use my handy backpack that I store all my camera supplies in then have to have a seperate one for my DC. In conclusion, the author of this article had some good drugs that day because I love my 3030, it is starting to replace my 35mm cams, how you could not like this DC I don’t know.
Chris Hileman.
http://www.chrishileman.com – Where everything is FREE!