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Olympus C-3000 Zoom Olympus develops a slightly slower, but lot cheaper version of the C-3030 Zoom. (Looks like a great bargain!) Select a topic Reference: Datasheet C-3000 Zoom Test Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. What's Different With the C-3000 Zoom? 3. Executive Overview 4. Design 5. Viewfinder 6. Optics 7. Exposure & Flash 8. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 9. Operation & User Interface 10. Camera Modes & Menus 11. Image Storage & Interface 12. Video, Power, Software --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 13:Test Results & Conclusion Review First Posted: 5/30/2000

Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the Olympus C-3000's "pictures" page.

As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the Olympus C-3000 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.

Overall, the C-3000 Zoom produced exceptional images, in every way the equal of it's close relative the C-3030 Zoom. Given that the lens, sensor, and most of the electronics are identical between the two cameras, it's no surprise that the image quality was essentially identical. Consequently, the results reported here are virtually identical to those from the C-3030 Zoom.

We shot with the automatic white balance setting during the majority of our testing, since it was able to handle most light sources. We did notice, though, that the automatic setting had a tendency to be a little warm, particularly noticeable in our Davebox shot. The C-3000 accurately reproduced the large color blocks in the Davebox test target, though the yellow appeared slightly weak. Tonal handling was also very good, as the subtle tonal variations of the Q60 target were visible up to the "B" range. Other than a slightly warm cast in some of the images, the C-3000 does a nice job with color balance..

Like the C-3030, the Olympus C-3000 performed toward the top of the current range of 3.3 megapixel digicams in the resolution department, with a resolution that we "called" as between 850 and 900 lines per picture height in both the horizontal and vertical directions. While just a hair off from the sharpest performance we've seen to date, the 3030 deserves credit for not applying heavy-handed in-camera sharpening in an attempt to boost the apparent resolution.

The C-3000 provides excellent exposure control, with Automatic, Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority modes, as well as a full Manual mode and a Program AE mode. The user can also control sharpness, metering, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance. The C-3000 performed very well in our low light tests, as we obtained reasonably bright, useable images as low as 1/8 of a foot candle (1.3 lux). At these low light levels, with exposure times of two to 10 seconds, there is a moderate amount of noise present in the images. (We direct readers to Mike Chaney's excellent Qimage Pro program, for a tool with an amazing ability to remove image noise without significantly affecting detail.) To put the C-3000's low light performance in perspective, an average city night scene under modern street lighting corresponds to a light level of about 1 foot candle.

The C-3000's optical viewfinder appeared to be a little tight, showing approximately 82 percent accuracy at wide angle and about 81 percent at telephoto. (Note that we've changed our nomenclature on this to better reflect what you see looking into the viewfinder: We previously would have referred to the C-3000's viewfinder as "loose"...) These numbers are from the 2048 x 1536 resolution size but the smaller, 640 x 480, resolution size numbers are similar at 83 percent accuracy for both wide angle and telephoto. We also noticed that the framing slants just a little to the left vertically, possibly the CCD on our test model was shifted a little. The LCD monitor proved to be much more accurate, showing about 97 percent frame coverage at wide angle and slightly over 100 percent accuracy at the telephoto setting. (The covered area is just barely inside the darker lines we use to frame the viewfinder accuracy target.) As with the optical viewfinder, the smaller, 640 x 480 image sizes weren't too far off from the larger ones (about 96 percent accuracy at wide angle and over 100 percent accuracy at telephoto). We generally like to see the LCD monitor as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, so the C-3000 does a pretty good job in that respect. We also shot at the 2x digital telephoto setting (our studio wasn't long enough to accommodate the full 2.5x), which probably would have produced close to 100 percent accuracy if framed properly. One problem with the digital telephoto is that framing is difficult because of the softer, slightly distorted image on the LCD. Additionally, the resulting image is somewhat soft, which is a usual side effect of the digital zoom.

The C-3000 performs nicely in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of 3.35 x 2.52 inches (85.21 x 63.91 mm). This is about an average minimum coverage area among digicams we've tested, but the body threads of the C-3000 in conjunction with Olympus' CLA-1 filter adapter permit the addition of external macro lenses for much tighter focusing. The resolution, color and detail all look good, although the brooch appears just slightly soft (possibly due to a limited depth of field). The C-3000's flash does a reasonably good job of throttling down for macro images, although the shiny coin proves to be a bit tricky (as is the case with many digicams). Overall, though, the C-3000 does a nice job.

Overall, we found the C-3000 Zoom to be every bit the worthy contender it's cousin the C-3030 is at the upper end of the current (May 2000) digicam spectrum. Image quality, resolution, and sharpness are all very good, and the camera provides excellent exposure control as well as very good low light capability: An impressive performance!

Conclusion
When we reviewed the Olympus C-3030 Zoom, we found it to be a very worthy successor to the earlier 2 megapixel C-2020 Zoom. Now, with only minor tradeoffs in performance, and what we view as very modest reductions in the overall "bundle" (memory and software), Olympus has created a camera with virtually the same feature set as the C-3030, but for literally hundreds of dollars less. The C-3000 Zoom represents high-end quality, features, and performance, but at a price that makes it an exceptional value in the three-megapixel marketplace. A big thumbs up to Olympus for this one!