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Photography, a personal journey, Part 3, digital matures.

February 14

This is part 3 of my photographic journey.  It is now November of 2000 and we finally have cameras that can rival film.

c3000

The C-3000 Zoom camera was finally a camera. Made by a camera company, with Olympus glass lenses, optical zoom, LCD viewfinder, and a flash that could light up a large room.   The optical viewfinder even had a diopter adjustment for people with glasses.  The image quality was surprisingly good, considering it was over 12 years ago!  I think the only major limitations were the SmartMedia card and the use of AA batteries.  SmartMedia cards maxed out at 128megs, which is not all that much for a 3.3 megapixel camera.   The AA batteries are surprisingly heavy, but available everywhere.

On the plus side, even now, the styling would not look out of place.  Great ergonomics and solid as heck.  Another really cool feature was the included IR remote, that could control the zoom and shutter.  A well used camera that taught me a lot.

Full specs are here.

Sample Images:

As you can see, the image quality is acceptable for all but the largest prints.  We had this camera from late 2000 to March 2004.  Cameras were improving a lot year to year in the mid 00’s, so it was time after almost 4 years to upgrade.

olympus_c5060_lcd

Ah, the C-5060WZ (Wide Zoom).  A heck of a camera that served us well for almost 8 years!  This was the camera that took Glenn’s (our son) first picture and hundreds of other important moments in our lives.  Rock solid magnesium body and an amazing twist-able, reversible LCD screen, great for versatile shooting.   Just shy of a SLR, it even had a hot shoe for an external flash.  Color reproduction was great, and it had a proper lithium-ion battery pack for extended shooting.  For a 5.1 megapixel, it took amazing photos, mostly due to the superior lenses.  Lasted over 30,000 shots before it developed a serious issue, the auto focus system failed.  It also had a IR remote and gobs of features even modern cameras lack.

Images taken two and a half years ago, during a beautiful fall day:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I remember taking the above photos, experimenting with exposure bracketing on the camera.  I was truly sad to see this camera go, but technology and good old fashioned wear and tear did it in.  For a while I used only my cell phone for photos.  More on that in the next post.

 

Posted by on February 14, 2013 in Photos

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