Olympus Camedia C-725 Digital Camera

Back in early 2005 I was looking for a good digital camera with as much 'real' optical zoom as possible (rather than just digital zoom). I didn't have the funds for a DSLR so I went down the compact digital route.
After a lot of web searches and price comparisons I chose the C725.
Overall, I like the camera and it has served me fairly well over the past 3 years.
Plus points:
It feels good in the hand and the weight isn't excessive. I think it looks smart too.
The majority of the controls become second nature and once you have set up your custom settings, it doesn't need much altering.
I have taken some lovely photos with this camera. The lens is pretty nice for its size. 8x optical zoom is still a notable feature to this day on a camera of this class. The super HQ is nice, fine pixel quality and correctly exposed shots don't tend to need any adobe photo-shop treatment.
Minus points:
Boy, does it eat AA batteries!! (4 at a time)- Even with the back screen default set to off, review off and power save on, you have to be ready for the last gasp red battery warning after a couple of hours.
I go to airshows quite a lot and for a full day's photography I usually have AT LEAST 16x rechargeable 2300mAh AA cells in my bag! - I would be anxious with any less.
For action shots it is less than ideal, due to the 1/2 to 3/4 second it takes from pressing the shutter to the shot being taken. During this delay, the viewfinder goes black. I know this is the case with many compacts, but I kind of expected better performance from Olympus. My only way round this was to set it to take 3 frames continuous, as this does speed up the subsequent metering and shutter time. Despite this, I have lost a lot of potentially great aircraft shots due to the blackout effect. That said though, landscapes and general leisure photos are fine on this camera.
The viewfinder is very pixellated due to its low resolution and this makes checking for perfect focusing rather difficult. You have little choice but to trust the camera, which usually works out, but not always. The back screen is pretty small too, but I dread to think how long the battery life would be if they had one much bigger and you used it!
If you aren't going to be taking many action photos, then this could well be a good choice. I'm sure there are some bargains to be had on ebay.
Overall, this camera has served me pretty well and even though I have recently purchased a digital SLR, I will keep the C725 as my holiday camera and for anywhere that I don't want to lug a big SLR and lenses around.
I do recommend it, but only if you don't mind carrying spare batteries everywhere and if you can get one for a good price.

For a point and shoot the most obvious feature of this camera is it's lens. This has a 8x optical zoom, that covers the equivalent range of 40-320mm.
It's only 3Mpixels, which by today's standards is quite low, but the optics make up, letting in plenty of light. This gives very pleasing results and also means that the tiny flash still has a reasonable range.

takes good images and feels a solid camera,the only thing i do not like is it is a bit of a chromatic abberation bucket, tops of trees are a bit blue pitty, as it is a very nice camera and in very good condition.8 times zoom and runs on aa,s, also takes upto 2g xd cards,also uses tiff as well as jpeg and has lots of manual modes to boot so you can take lots of pictures as you like them.
ok, but a pitty about the blue tree syndrom its not to bad at 7 by 5 prints. over that i feel it would be a real wicked blue monster cock up.
jeff.ps i have used better but this one is a good second so it is worth a try.
i would give this thing a 8 out of 10 just,i do not like blue trees..

Just as described. An excellent camera at a bargain price. There was no lens cap - but Olympus provided one free of charge. Great deal

super quality product, very well presented, very amenable and efficient friendly and communicative seller

this camera is excellent for the beginner as it is great for point and shoot but you can get as involved with the settings as you like to experiment with images.
the only downside is that it eats batteries like mad, i would suggest putting to one side 20 quid to buy yourself 8 aa rechargable batteries and a charger and you will be snapping all day.

great camera try to buy for between 40 and 60 to be sure of a good one.

I needed to replace my Pentax Optio 60 as I wanted a camera with more zoom,after a search through E Bay I found an Olympus Camedia C-725 for sale very cheaply on a buy it now basis and it was duly delivered to me in Malta,Boy was I surprised when I tried it out the 8 x zoom is fantastic and the maximum of 24x is even more impressive dont let the low mega-pixels put you off the lens more than make up for this.I have found no problems with battery life having taken over 100 photo's with comparitively cheap Minwa 2500ah nmh rechargeable batteries.All in all I would say if you see one cheap on E bay i,e average between £25 to £45 buy it you wont be sorry its a great camera with loads of features and easy to use especially if you are just starting out in photography.