The
Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom is a 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera that features advanced optics and controls.
The Lens
The camera has a 10x Ultra Zoom lens (6.3mm-63mm, or 38mm-380mm in 35mm-equivalent terms). The lens uses aspherical and extra-low dispersion glass (ED glass) elements for low distortion, better sharpness and contrast. Unfortunately, the lens doesn't go as wide as 28mm in 35mm-equivalent terms and thus you might want to find the one that does if you plan on taking a lot of pictures on European narrow streets.
Also, you have to keeo in mind that this camera, unlike Panasonic and Canon models with high zoom, has no image stabilization and thus will require a tripod if you want to use the telephoto range of the zoom.
The camera has a lens cover that is not built-in and not attached to the body, thus care should be exercised not to loose it.
The lens aperture range of f/2.8 - f/8 (adjustable in 1/3 EVE steps) and the shutter speed range is 1/1,000 - 15 sec. The camera’s lens produces sharp images with excellent contrast. At wide angle, there is slight barrel distortion (straight lines bow out), but it is so slight as to be virtually unnoticeable.
At full telephoto, the maximum aperture is f/3.7 (and it goes to f/8), which lets you use relatively fast shutter speeds, which helps if the camera is handheld or it the subject is moving.
The camera zooms smoothly and quietly, but the zoom reaction time does not let you have the same responsiveness as a good old SLR or any other camera with mechanically-linked zoom for that matter.
Keep in mind that at telephoto (high magnifications), either the shutter speed has to be fast or the tripod has to be used, otherwise the images may be blurry because of the camera shake. At full telephoto, the shutter speed has to be faster than 1/400 sec to be able to shoot handheld, whereas at wide angle, the shutter speed faster than 1/40 will suffice.
Controls
The controls on the rear panel of the camera look similar to the ones on other recent Olympus digital cameras. On the left of the 1.8” LCD screen, there are menu control buttons with “OK” button in the middle. Above the LCD is the red power button and above it is a row of buttons that make access to some functions easier than on lower-priced models.
The camera uses a mode dial, similar to the film SLR models. The dial makes the camera easier and more intuitive to use than “Virtual Dial” or menus in other, cheaper models. The dial has positions for the full Auto mode, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night, Movie, A/S/M, etc.
The A/S/M (aperture priority, shutter priority, manual) gives you a lot of control over the exposure. In aperture priority, you set the aperture and the camera adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. This way you can try to blur the foreground and the background of the picture in telephoto shots by using larger aperture.
In shutter priority mode, you set the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture accordingly. This way, you can try to freeze the action and/or eliminate blurring caused by the camera shake by using faster shutter speeds or use slower shutter speeds and follow the subject to blur the background.
Manual mode lets you control both shutter speed and aperture.
In front of the mode dial is the shutter release button which has a wide/telephoto ring around it. I find the wide/telephoto control not as convenient as some other designs - when I push/pull it, the camera rotates around its vertical axis. Not good.
There is an electronic viewfinder (EVF) in the upper left corner above the LCD and it has a dioptric adjustment for eyeglass wearers.
Camera Body
You can see how the camera looks (front, rear and what it comes with) at the following address (you can cut and paste it into your browser's address area):
http://www.review-shop.com/Olympus_C765/Olympus_C765_1.html
The camera body is partially made of metal and feels sturdy and durable. The camera is relatively compact.
LCD
The camera has a built-in 1.8” color LCD monitor and also has an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which is accurate for framing and overlays information that you need, but unfortunately freezes during focusing and thus makes it difficult to follow the moving subjects.
Flash
The camera has a built-in flash that pops up to reduce red eye effect by increasing the distance between the flash and the lens’ optical axis.
The flash takes more than 6 seconds to charge - another testament to the fact that the camera could use better battery.
Noise Reduction
The camera has automatic noise reduction for exposures of 1 second and longer. It is effective for reducing noise at longer exposures, but the image noise at ISO 400 (as is the case with many consumer-level digicams) is still noticeable.
USB
You can connect the camera to your computer using USB 1.1 interface with a supplied cable. As soon as the camera is powered on, the camera appears as a new removable drive from which you can copy (or drag-and-drop) JPEG picture files.
In addition to this, you can connect the camera to any PicBridge compatible printer directly using the USB cable and print without having to involve your computer.
Media
The camera uses sD-Picture memory cards and comes with a 16Mb card. You will definitely need to get a larger-capacity card.
Battery
The camera uses proprietary Li-Ion rechargeable battery, which doesn’t last long. If you plan on using the camera throughout the day, bring a spare.
Picture Formats
The camera can take and store pictures in uncompressed TIFF or compressed JPEG formats in the following resolutions.
TIFF: 2288x1712, 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x760, 640x480
JPEG: 2288x1520, 3200x2400 (interpolated, I don’t recommend it)
The camera can also shoot movies at 320x240 or 160x120 resolution at 15 fps.
Picture Quality
The camera produces pictures that are well-exposed (unless you use manual exposure and screw up), well saturated with good white balance, excellent sharpness and contrast. Aside from very minor (virtually unnoticeable) barrel distortion at widest angle, the camera produces excellent pictures (make sure you use high resolution modes with low compression to store them).
Focusing
The camera’s autofocus is pretty fast in good light (significantly less than a second) and works well (it is TTL contrast detection system), but in low light takes longer and might not work at all.
Exposure Compensation
You can set exposure compensation in the range of +/- 2EV in 1/3 EV steps and you can also use exposure bracketing (5 images).
Shutter Lag
The camera exhibits good shutter lag of less than a second without pre-focusing and almost no shutter lag when pre-focused (pre-focusing is performed by depressing the shutter release button halfway).
Bottom Line
The Olympus C-765 produces excellent pictures and gives you a lot of creative options. And even if you are new to photography, you can set it to manual mode and just "point and shoot", with good results. Highly recommended unless you expect to do a lot of low-light shooting.
My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras
Canon:
Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon Powershot S1 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A520 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A510 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S500 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S410 / Digital IXUS 430 Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD300 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD400 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 6x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ2 Digital Camera with 12x Leica Lens and Optical Image Stabilizer Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1 Digital Camera with Optical Image Stabilizer and 12x Leica Lens Review
Olympus:
Olympus Camedia C-765 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera with USB and ED Lens Review
Olympus Stylus 410 4-Megapixel All-Weather Digital Camera Review
Olympus Camedia D-580 / C-460 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-565 Zoom Digital 4-Megapixel Camera Review
Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-595 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Sony:
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T33 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T7 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W7 Digital Camera Review
Others:
Kodak EasyShare Z740 Digital Camera Review
Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Digital Camera Review
Pentax *istD Digital SLR Camera Review
