Olympus C-2100 2MP Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom Review

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(More customer reviews)If you own fine 35mm and/or large-format cameras, and have toyed with the idea of trying digital, read on at your own risk. You may -- like me -- never pick up your Leica M4P or Canon F1 or Mamiya 645 systems again.
Let me tell you the only negative about this camera first: The color correction of the CCD under low tungsten illumination and fluorescent lighting resembles Ektachrome 400, circa 1970.
That's it. That's the only defect.
You're going to love this camera. Many reviewers wish for a 3.3 megapixel chip, vs. the 2.1 mp chip in this 2100. The recent introduction of cameras with the same image stabilized 10x lens/2.1 mp CCD system from Canon and Sony suggests some rethinking among the manufacturers of these cameras. Simply put, the ability to fill frames with image trumps the cameras with 3.3mp CCDs and smaller zoom ranges. To accommodate those 3.3 mp CCDs, one needs a larger buffer memory...which means a longer write-time...which means either a slower-shooting camera or a greater battery drain, or both, to match the frame-to-frame shooting capability of this lens/CCD/buffer combination. It also means your storage media demands will escalate dramaticaly, as will your needs for imaging media. Add the image stabilization feature, which has some kind of gyro motor running all the time, and you'd end up with unacceptable battery drain, if your had a 3.3 mp CCD.
This camera offers two displays -- one the traditional 1.8 inch "TV" display, and the other, an SLR-like eye-level display. At first, you'll be disappointed in the graininess of the eye-level display. And yet, you will be surprised at the speed with which you'll accommodate that.
The camera offers a 35mm lover's range of creative control, plus features you'd never dream of finding in an SLR or rangefinder. You can select the ASA of the CCD's sensitivity -- 100 to 400 ASA. You can select white balance, although it's not great under low-light-level tungsten or fluorescent, as noted. You can -- now get this -- choose black-and-white or...SEPIA toned imaging. The latter is a magnificent trip back to the 1950s and 60s.
But nothing matches this lens. It's the equivalent of a 38-380mm zoom lens. The image stabilization means that, if you carefully brace yourself, you will easily -- and I mean EASILY -- shoot 380mm hand-held shots at under 1/20th of a second. It's a razor-sharp lens.
The image compression algorithm in this camera works extremely well. The standard "HQ" mode generates images of around 400k size, which means you get a whopping 128 images on a 64mb Smartmedia card. You can switch to the SHQ mode and get 45 images on a 64mb card, but for most images, you can't see the difference in an 8x10 print. The write-to-buffer/write-to-Smartmedia time increases, limiting your frame-to-frame shooting speed.
If you half-depress the shutter release, locking the focus and exposure, you can capture great sports action shots. If you put the camera in a manual mode, you can shoot almost one shot a second in the HQ mode.
Flash reach is astounding. I have easily shot perfectly exposed images in dark rooms at 30+ feet. Recycle time can be iffy -- I minimize it with a Digipower external battery pack that plugs into the AC adapter jack -- but the flash mode seems to generate more data, which takes more time to write to the buffer and then to the Smartmedia, which slows the shot-to-shot time.
You can get through about 150 frames with a single charged set of 4 NiMH 1600ma batteries -- I can't imagine going anywhere with fewer than a single well-charged extra set. The camera will kill a fresh set of alkaline AAs in about 10-12 shots -- the deep drain of a digital camera is totally incompatible with this kind of service.
The camera is light, well-balanced. Its controls fall under the fingers neatly. Viewfinder controls work well, but I could argue that controls for the manual focusing could be better placed under the left fingers, rather than under the right eye, forcing you to focus with the right thumb.
I purchased a C-2040 for my 14-year-old daughter's middle school graduation, and with those two cameras, our family is now fully digital.
Stop looking for a new digital camera -- you've found it.
You will be tempted to use the different controls and shooting modes. The iESP ("P") setting works so well, for most shooting, you'll leave it there.
The only kind of shooting you might wish for a 3.3 mp CCD is for scenics -- digital cameras don't handle fine detail as well as 35mm film. I'd prefer a metal camera to a plastic one, like the the $2000 Olympus E-10. But I tried that camera, and it's S-L-O-W by comparison to the C-2100, and lacks both the zoom range and the imaging stabilizing features of the C-2100.
For frame-filling portraits, there simply isn't a better camera.

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The Olympus C2100 UZ's most impressive feature is also its most obvious one: the massive 10x optical zoom lens that protrudes from the camera. Normally, it would be difficult to take advantage of a lens this powerful without using a tripod. Why? At full zoom, the camera focuses on such a small area that even the most minute movements result in a blurry image. Fortunately, Olympus equips the camera with optical image stabilization, a complex system that senses shakes and wobbles and continuously adjusts the lenses to compensate.
Olympus adds yet another high-tech feature on this camera by replacing the traditional optical viewfinder with a camcorder-style electronic viewfinder (EVF)--a tiny LCD screen inside the eyepiece. The benefits of this arrangement are obvious: the EVF provides a traditional SLR-style through-the-lens viewing experience, works well even in bright sunlight, lets you hold the camera in the more stable, traditional position, and helps to extend battery life. The 2100 UZ does have a standard 1.8-inch LCD on the back to compose, review, and share images as you would on most digital cameras.
With the exception of the lens and the electronic viewfinder, the 2100 UZ is essentially a 2-megapixel version of the popular C-3000Z. If you like tinkering with your camera's settings, you'll love this camera--it features shutter-priority and aperture-priority modes, manually adjustable focus, adjustable ISO, manual exposure, exposure compensation, and even a multimode flash with slow-sync abilities.
Olympus has been criticized for "only" having a 2.1-megapixel sensor in this camera, when many new cameras (including several Olympus models) are now shipping with 3- and even 4-megapixel sensors. Though we certainly wouldn't mind if Olympus released a 3-megapixel version of this camera, we found that the sharp optics and minimal compression used by Olympus resulted in crisp, sharp prints even at 8 by 10 inches.
If you're currently using an SLR and are considering a digital camera, the 2100 UZ is a great choice. Its lens isn't removable or interchangeable, but is flexible enough to capture virtually any photo, and the full range of manual controls will help an experienced photographer to get the exact shot he or she wants.
Pros:
10x optical, 2.7x digital zoom
Optical image stabilization
Full manual controls

Cons:
2.1-megapixel sensor is adequate, but 3.3 megapixels would shine

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