In summary
The test camera produced images with similar colour balance, contrast and saturation levels to those from the C-760 UZ. Not unexpectedly, significantly less noise was found in low light shots, especially at the highest ISO settings. Digital zoom shots were also clearer, but marginally over-sharpened. Artefacts were visible along the edges of contrasting tones, but compression artefacts were not detected. The flash also appeared to have more punch. . . [more]
Full review
The Camedia C-770 Ultra Zoom is almost identical to the C-760 UZ but has a 4-megapixel CCD, wider angle of view and a hot shoe that accepts OlympusFLseries flash units. It also offers better video facilities, being the first in the Olympus range with MPEG-4 encoding, which creates files that are roughly 1/6 the size of regular Motion JPEG files. VGA clips are recorded at 30 fps, and are noticeably smoother than those the C760 produces. Sound captions can also be recorded.
The test camera produced images with similar colour balance, contrast and saturation levels to those from the C-760 UZ. Not unexpectedly, significantly less noise was found in low light shots, especially at the highest ISO settings. Digital zoom shots were also clearer, but marginally over-sharpened. Artefacts were visible along the edges of contrasting tones, but compression artefacts were not detected. The flash also appeared to have more punch. We found no colour fringing in backlit shots, suggesting the lens is a good performer.
Responsiveness was slightly better than the C-760, with capture lag (focus plus shutter lag) consistent at 0.75 seconds on average, reducing to 0.3 seconds with pre-focusing.
Strengths
- Good handling and range of controls
- Excellent close-up performance
- Conservative power consumption
Weaknesses
- No image stabilisation
- Slow AF in low light (no AF assist light)
- Poor auto white balance in incandescent light [BG05]
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.34 x 4.01mm CCD with 4,110,000 photosites (4.0 megapixels effective)
Lens: 6.3-63mm f2.8-3.7 (equivalent to 38-380 mm in 35 mm format)
Zoom ratio: 10x optical, 4x digital
Dimensions (wxhxd): 104.5 x 60 x 68.5mm
Weight: 300g (without battery and card)
Retailers
CamBuy
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Canterbury Northcote
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Ph: 1300 365 220
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1300 801 885
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Ted’s Cameras
1800 186 895
Big range of cameras and photographic products with stores in most states and online.
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