Olympus Camedia C-350 Zoom

The 3.2megapixel C-350 Zoom is a smart little snapper encased in a sculpted, frosted silver case. The integrated lens cover slides back to power up the unit and allow the lens to pop out ready for use.

At the back of the unit, a large 1.8in LCD, which is bright, if a little grainy, allows you to frame your composition, and there is also a regular viewfinder. These controls are similar to those found on the C-220 Zoom featured in last issue's group test.

The button marked 'OK' calls up the straightforward onscreen menu, which is navigated using the four cursor buttons that double up to give fast access to macro, flash and self timer modes. There is also a 'quickview' button to review your images.

Image quality and resolution are combined to give four options selected via the menu: super high quality or high quality at 2,048 x 1,536 resolution, down to 640 x 480. There is also a selection of scene modes including portrait and panorama.

Handily, the bundled software will stitch the panoramic shots together when you download your images.

The self-portrait mode is a zoom preset calculated according to the average size of a person's head and the length of their arm to give you the optimal frame for your shot. In use, the depth of field turned out to be very shallow, so you're likely to lose detail in the background of your picture.

Image quality was generally good, especially in macro mode where the C-350 captured sharp detail right into the corners of the image. In auto mode, though, the corners of the image tended to be blurry and the camera had trouble capturing areas of extreme highlight.

Colours, on the other hand, were faithfully rendered and lifelike, and the C-350 Zoom differentiated well between areas of similar tone.

Contact: Olympus 0800 072 0070
www.olympus.co.uk

Specifications:

• 3.2megapixel resolution
• 3x optical
• 3.3x digital zoom
• 35-105mm focal length (35mm equivalent)
• On, off, auto, red-eye reduction flash modes
• 1.8in LCD
• 16MB XD-Picture card
• 170g
• 108 x 40 x 57.5mm
• USB cable
• 1yr warranty