The Camedia C-3020 ZOOM appears to be a basic run of the mill happy-snap digital camera. But its professional features betray the camera's modest Olympus chassis.

The camera is aimed squarely at the keener photography enthusiast. It can be operated in an automatic point-and-shoot mode, but to do so would lay waste to a dearth of semi-professional features. If you're not content to settle for the fully automatic mode, navigate through the options on the mode dial to switch to manual mode; it shows the camera's true potential.

With the Camedia you are able to control every facet of the picture you wish to take. With a 6.5 to 19.5 mm lens, this camera will go well beyond the needs of the snap and go user. The aperture and shutter speeds are adjustable between F2.8 to F11.0 and 4-1/800sec respectively, and the ISO can be adjusted 100-400ASA. All your photographic settings are visible on the 3020 3.5cm viewfinder before and during shooting. This is a little disorientating at first and a moderate knowledge of photography is required, but it's more convenient than clicking back and forth from menu screen to picture viewer.

Battery life is reasonable -- we noted that about every hour on the charger will be matched with you equivalent battery life. The camera does have power input but a set of rechargeable batteries is a must if you wish to keep the Camera mobile.

The 3020 ships with a 16M smart media card (the format is expandable to 128M) and it will need every byte of that. At high resolution the camera's 3.24-million pixel CCD will produce some very large files. Image quality can be adjusted to vary file size. The quality of each individual shot or video clip can be adjusted from standard to super high quality. The amount of pixels used per shot able is selected and displayed on screen.

Another feature that we found useful was the ability to save shutter, ISO, aperture and various style configurations. This meaning, the user, when viewing the pictures, is able to see these settings and make corrections, comparisons and so on. This feature makes precise photography less of a hit and miss affair. If the image is to your liking, you can reproduce the settings that created it in other scenarios quickly and easily.

Pre-set styles shots have been programmed into the camera to take some of the hard work of experimentation away from the lazier photographer. You can select one of five image modes ranging from portrait for still shots, sport for action, nature for outdoors, and night for darker environments. The camera adjusts the settings automatically to produce a sharper, higher quality picture within those conditions.

A related feature, the user can control elements of the image that, previously, could only be manipulated in picture viewing programs like Photoshop. These elements include colour levels (images can converted to monochrome), sepia tones, and special tools for taking shots of white boards and blackboards.

The 3020 could be best described as a para-professional camera for the photography buff; a professional photographer you would look for a dedicated camera. For some, all this control may be unnecessary. If you want a digital camera that requires little intellectual overhead look for something easier to use. However as a value proposition the camera becomes attractive; the extra features don't attract an exorbitant premium.

Olympus Camedia C-3020 ZOOM
Company: Olympus
Price: AU$508
Distributor: R.Gunz Photography
Phone: 

Editors Note: The price of AU$508 quoted for the C-3020 the article above is incorrect. The correct price is AU$1,400 SRP. ZDNet Reviews apologises for any inconvenience the error may have caused.

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