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Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom

4.0 megapixels, a sharp 10x zoom lens, tons of features, and an affordable price!

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Page 11:Video, Power, Software

Review First Posted: 03/02/2003, updated 10/17/03

Video Out

The C-750 has an A/V Out port for reviewing previously captured images and movies, or running slide shows from the camera. It also shows all of the LCD menu screens, as well as the preview display from the LCD viewfinder. (This last means that you could use a TV monitor as a "remote viewfinder" if you wanted to.) Through the Setup menu, you can set the Video Out signal to NTSC or PAL.

Power

The C-750 is powered by two CR-V3 lithium battery packs, four AA batteries (alkaline, lithium, NiMH, or NiCd), or an optional AC adapter that can significantly extend battery life if you're doing a lot of downloads on the computer or working in a studio environment. The table below shows the power drain I measured in various operating modes for the C750, as well as projected runtimes based on a set of four NiMH batteries with a true capacity of 1600 mAh. (This is rather conservative these days, as you can now find NiMH AA cells with as much as 2000 mAh of true (vs advertised) capacity.)


Operating Mode
Power
(@6.5 volts on the external power terminal)
Est. Minutes
(Four 1600 mAh NiMH cells, true capacity)
Capture Mode, w/LCD
396 mA
179
Capture Mode, EVF only
359 mA
197
Half-pressed shutter w/LCD
388 mA
183
Half-pressed, EVF only
354 mA
200
Memory Write (transient)
648 mA
N/A
Flash Recharge (transient)
883 mA
N/A
Image Playback
265 mA
267


Overall, the C-750's battery life is quite a bit better than I've come to expect from digicams with electronic viewfinders. Generally, the issue with EVFs is that you can't turn them off, so they continue to draw power whether you need them or not. (You can often save significant battery power on cameras with optical viewfinders, simply by leaving the LCD display turned off.) Even in its worst-case power-drain mode (capture mode, with the rear panel LCD display active), projected run time is nearly three hours. This is much better than average for a digicam powered by four NiMH AA cell batteries.

Despite it's good battery life though, I strongly recommend that you purchase a couple of sets of high-capacity NiMH rechargeable AA cells, and a good charger. Read my NiMH Battery Shootout page for the latest on actual battery performance, or my review of the Maha C204F to see why it's my favorite charger.

Included Software

The software they didn't include...
(But that you should)
Few people realize just how *much* you can improve your digicam images through clever processing in Photoshop. Greatly (!) increased sharpness, reduced noise, and even ultra-wide dynamic range (light-to-dark range) by combining multiple exposures. Fred Miranda and uber-Photoshop expert Fred Miranda has packaged some of his Photoshop magic in a collection of powerful and affordably priced "actions." Check out his site, the results are pretty amazing!

The C-750 comes with a nice complement of software on the supplied CD. Direct camera control and image downloading are provided by Olympus' Camedia Master software package (version 4.1) for both Mac and Windows platforms (Macintosh OS 8.6-9.2/OS X, Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000 Pro/XP). USB drivers for both platforms and an Apple QuickTime reader are also included.

Camedia Master lets you download and organize images, as well as perform minor image correction and enhancement functions (such as adjusting contrast, sharpness, and color balance). For panoramic images, Camedia Master supplies a "stitching" utility to piece together shots vertically or horizontally. A complete printing utility works with the DPOF settings and allows you to print images directly to Olympus or other DPOF-compliant photo printers.

In the Box

In the US, the C-750 ship with the following items in the box::

  • C-750 Ultra Zoom digital camera.
  • 16MB xD-Picture Card.
  • Four AA-type alkaline batteries (or two CRV3 battery packs).
  • USB cable.
  • Video cable.
  • Camedia Master software CD-ROM.
  • Neck strap.
  • Lens cap with strap.
  • User manuals and registration card.


 

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