Olympus Camedia C-3020 Zoom Digital Camera

The official camera of the official team photographers for the Milwaukee Brewers . . . maybe. Officially.

So there I was, sitting anxiously in my bedroom this past June; my departure rising ominously over the horizon of time, and I as unprepared as the proverbial dinner table sans silverware. The who? Me. The where? Melbourne, Australia. The when? July to November, 2002. The why? A semester abroad. The how? Singapore Airlines. The what? . . . I don t know what the what is. Argh.

But one obstacle remained in the packing for my journey down under: I, an avid antic-provoker and bedlam- choreographer, had no manner of camera with which to record the escapades that were sure to ensue; additionally, my parents - the omnipresent souls that they are - pointed out that Australia is not unknown for its breath-taking vistas and valleys; mountains and moats. Clearly, the idea of a camera was more than a fleeting suggestion; it was a bare necessity, to be grouped with other such requisites as socks and Fruit Roll Ups. But which camera was my holy grail?

That s where Epinions.com, and its contender for the annual Nicest-and-Most-Helpful-Dude-Ever award came in to play. I did some perusin in the Digital Camera section, for I, as a child of the digital revolution, would have none of this film nonsense. Almost immediately into my search, I noticed a standout: good ol Howard_Creech, resident advisor, lead, and omnipotent camera connoisseur. I dashed him off a quick email asking for some recommendations in the dangerous world of the sub- $500, 3-megapixel camera, and he replied with what has come to be known as the most helpful email ever. I quickly cross-referenced his suggestions with the PCWorld.com top 10, and I seemed to have found my digi , as I ve affectionately dubbed it: the Olympus C- 3020 zoom.

Next, an internet savvy consumer such as myself needed to find the best place to purchase the camera; after all, only a sucka pays retail anymore with all of the glimmering gems buried in the sands of the internet. The 3020 retailed for $500 at the time; the first place I found had it at a cool price of $350. It seemed too good to be true.

It was.

A half hour later, after the necessary 128 memory card, the necessary lens filters, the necessary battery charger, tax, and shipping, the price had swollen to $611. Being the internet- skeptic consumer that I was, I checked with the Better Business Bureau, and found that the company from which I was ordering had more complaints filed against it than . . . ah, I dunno. The analogy factory isn t up to par today. Regardless, I quickly cancelled my order with this company (whose name eludes me, but has since been removed from the PriceScan listing, which I used to find the store) and continued my search. I soon stumbled across BuyDig.com, which had the camera for $420 plus reasonable shipping; additionally, they also had a good reputation. I dropped my order in, and within the week I had a brand new camera, replete with that lovely new-camera smell. Incidentally, as is often the story in the tumultuous technology world, the price has since dropped, and you can regularly find this camera for under $400. As for the accessories, I picked up a 128 mb card, a fast battery charger w/ batteries, and a pair of ol school Reebok pumps on eBay, all for far, far less than retail.

With this history established, we ll now travel via the magical time machine that is hindsight to the present: I ve had the camera for a solid five months now, during which it s seen over 1000 inane pictures pass through its memory banks. And, while I shan t even try to write a review as thorough and technical as that of ol Howard s, I figure I can offer the perspective of the uninitiated; the rambunctious college student and aspiring tech geek.

I elected to go with a 3 megapixel camera after reading that 3 megapixel quality allows for photo-quality 8 x 10s, and I m a man who loves his 8 x 10s. Glossy. Additionally, I figured that it would allow for high detail in landscapes, but could also be sized down for internet pictures. Boy, was I ever right. The photo quality is amazing; the standard setting is HQ mode, on which I can get 180 or so pictures on a standard 128 mb memory card. It also has SHQ and Tiff modes, which halve and then halve again that number. I m not sure what s going up as the quality does, and I haven t noticed that much difference twixt the levels, but y know. You can also scale down the quality, and end up fitting something like 17,087 640 x 480 shots on a memory card, if that s your thing.

Now, I purchased the camera with the plans to get into photography a bit, and so I wanted a bit of versatility. For one, the ol 3020 allows for changeable lenses, which is something that some comparable 3 megapixelers didn t. If you want to add all sorts of fancy wide angle and telephoto lenses, it s nothing more than unscrewing the existing lens and ploppin the new one in. Not too shabby. Additionally, the camera allows for all sorts of adjustable modes. The most basic, naturally, is point and click. However, for the intrepid cameraman out there and I know you re out there you can also step it up to manual mode, which allows you to adjust the aperture (from an F stop value of 3.2 or so to 11), shutter speed, or both. You can also access all sorts of fancy menus that all for adjustable film speeds , from 100 to 400, as well as brightness and flash speed. There s a sequencer mode for all of those action packed photo-takers, as well as a timer mode if you re vain and like to sit in your dorm room alone and take pictures of yourself, unlike me.

Moving up yet another notch, you get into all sorts of special programming, of which there are five settings: portrait, landscape, action, night, and movie. Portrait s the standard, and I haven t been able to tell what landscape or action do. Night mode can be either immensely cool, or immensely annoying. Either way, though, it s immense. When engaged, it simulates an extended exposure time. Subsequently, you need to be still. Real still. For someone like yours truly, whose hands shake more than Shakira s hips, this has posed a problem, and as a result I have an entire folder of pictures with brilliant streaks of light, all looking straight of a 70s psychedelic, LSD- influenced movie. Pretty sweet though. When I ve found something flat to set my camera on, though, night mode works remarkably well, and I ve garnered some crisp night shots. A tripod would be a wise purchase if night-modin it is your thing. Unfortunately, the camera doesn t accommodate a cable trigger, which I ve been told is useful in night shooting, and I haven t been able to find a way to affect exposure time, if there even is such a thing on a digital camera. Movie mode has proven to be useful as well, but yields a Charlie Chaplin film at best; inexplicably, the designers left out sound. Other comparable cameras do have sound, so if movies are something you re interested in . . . well, I d probably get a digital video camera. Much to my surprise, the movies don t take up too much memory card space, either.

One especially fun feature that I ve delved into on the camera is the macro mode, which allows for extreme close ups. My understanding is that macro mode shuts off the typical focus, and when used with spot metering, you can get crisp, very immediate photos of things. I ve employed this setting many a time, and it s provided some of the most captivating pictures known to man, usually of odd things like Q-tips or my ears. My captivating ears. Pictures of flowers come out particularly nice with the macro mode, but I wouldn t know that cause I m not a sissy, and only sissies photograph flowers, unless they re just learning how to use macro mode and flowers are the only subject around.

The camera also boasts a 3x optical zoom, which gets you . . . a little closer. I would personally prefer a bigger zoom, and am shopping around for wide-angle lenses as we speak. You could use the additional 2x digital zoom to bump it up to 6x, but digital zooms are terrible and distort your pictures. If you want to digitally zoom, you may as well wait and do it in Photoshop, because it s essentially the same thing.

As far as ergonomics go, we re dealin with a very high birth - weight baby here. This is no pocket camera, which has been unfortunate for those rowdy nights at the bars with friends; I ve been too afraid to bring this beast out, whereas other friends were snappin away with their pocket sized cameras. It s a trade off, though, for the smaller cameras generally don t accommodate bigger lenses or the like, so it depends on what you re going to use the camera for. Despite its size, the design feels great in your hands and the layout of the zoom button is all very natural. You can use either the viewfinder or LCD screen to snap your shots, and viewing and deleting shots on the go , as they say, is a cinch. The camera came with a sturdy and comfortable neckstrap; so comfortable, in fact, that I sleep in it. The lens cap can be annoying, as it s the only way to protect the bulbous lens; plus, since the lens extends a centimeter or so when you turn the camera on, if you forget and leave the lens cap on, the motors all grind and crunch and you can just picture things exploding inside. It s an awful sound.

My biggest qualm with the camera is the batteries; this dog goes through batteries like I go through fruit roll ups, and that s no small amount of batteries. I use rechargeables, cause I m a broke college kid, and the camera won t even make it through a full day of busy shooting on one set of batteries. If you re one who uses the viewfinder or special options a lot, the batteries are drained even quicker. If you drop the camera in water, the batteries are drained even faster yet. It can be an ugly thing, and I m constantly recharging batteries; plus, many a time I ve been left standing with that Pulitzer winning photo opportunity just yards in front of me, and I hear the telltale low battery beeping that is camera speak for you re screwed . It s times like those in which I would ve smashed my camera on a large boulder, were I not such a sensible lad.

But listen to me rant here; when it comes right down to it, this is a fine piece of equipment, and a welcome addition to my technological arsenal. When Pops and I were shopping for a camera, he would routinely ask me if I thought I needed all the extra features and manual capabilities; after all, I was a photographic virgin at that point. To him I would coolly answer, Yeah, I might as well , and I couldn t have been more wise. Now that my photographic virgin-hood has been stripped from me, I ve become all but insatiable, even deviant, in my endeavors. And I owe it all to this lil (big) camera. If you re a novice, you ll find everything you need, plus some extras that I guarantee you ll end up toying with and loving. If you re more advanced, the camera has all of the manual features you could want, and then some. If you re an expert, you already know far more than I do and I ll abstain from giving any potentially embarrassing advice.

So now my travels and quasi-studies in Australia have come to an end, an in a week my digi and I return stateside to wreak artistic havoc. Oh man, y all won t know what hit you.

Meanwhile, this turned out to be a very long piece, and I m now famished. I m off for a taco.