Olympus C-720 UltraZoom Review

Click to take a QTVR tour of the C-720UZ

Based on the popular Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom, the C-720 Ultra Zoom is targeted at the photographer ready to step up to a more powerful camera that is still easy-to-use and affordable. The C-720 Ultra Zoom offers a 3-megapixel imager and an 8x zoom, which is 40 to 320mm in 35mm photography. With a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 sec., it's perfect for distant fast action shots such as sporting events, wildlife, school graduations, and performances.

The C-720 Ultra Zoom is extremely easy to use. In Programmed Auto mode, the camera offers basic point-and-shoot simplicity for flawless picture taking in typical situations. The easy-to-use Scene Program on the mode dial provides fully automatic exposure adjustments for the photographer who wants optimum results in a wide variety of settings: Portrait, Landscape-Portrait, and Sports shooting. The special "My Mode" feature saves time by letting the user assign a frequently-used function to the mode dial for quick access.

Olympus high-quality photos are known worldwide for their vibrant, sharp and photo- realistic image quality. This is achieved with a host of key technologies including Olympus' high-quality all-glass lens (with aspherical lens elements), which provides the equivalent of 40 to 320 mm f2.8-f3.4 in 35mm photography. The 3 Megapixel CCD with Olympus' True Pic technology allows users to retain the realistic high-quality look of their photographs, even with large print sizes over 8" x 10".

Experienced Photographers will appreciate the C-720 Ultra Zoom's manual settings with controls for aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual operation. Advanced photographers will also value the full information Electronic Viewfinder (EVF), which displays aperture, shutter speed, and image quality settings. Other controls include digital and spot metering; adjustable white balance; multiple flash settings including slow sync flash; and auto bracketing and exposure compensation.

Transferring images to the computer has never been easier with the supplied Auto-Connect USB cable for "no software required," hassle-free image downloads. Images may also be viewed on a television with the supplied video out cable.

C-720 UltraZoom Features:

• 8x optical zoom lens equivalent to 40-320mm in 35mm
• 3-Megapixel CCD for up to 1984x1488 pixel images
• 0.5-inch color EVF viewfinder
• 1.5-inch color Wide-View TFT LCD monitor
• Uncompressed TIFF, JPEG and QuickTime movie formats
• Program AE, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority and full Manual exposure modes
• 1.2fps burst to 5 frames in HQ mode
• f2.8 - f7.1 aperture settings in 1/3-step EV
• 1/1000 to 8 second shutter speeds
• iESP auto TTL white balance with presets
• Digital ESP metering with Spot option
• Built-in mutlimode popup flash
• Macro focusing mode from 3.9" to 6.5'
• Exposure compensation, AE Bracketing and AE Lock
• ISO auto or fixed at 100, 200 or 400
• B&W and Sepia image effects
• Adjustable image sharpness and contrast
• Automatic pixel mapping (map out bad pixels)
• USB 1.1 connectivity
• Uses four AA or two CR-V3 batteries

The C-720 Ultra Zoom will be available June 2002 with a street price of about $599. It includes an Auto-Connect USB cable, Video Out cable, carrying strap, lens cap with retainer cord, 2 LB-01 CR-V3 Lithium batteries, a 16MB SmartMedia card, Olympus CAMEDIA Master Software 4.0, instruction manual and Quick Start guide.

Physical Views

Even though it has a big 8x zoom lens it's still very compact.

C-720 Ultra Zoom Specifications