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Even in 2000, the Olympus C-2100UZ’s 2MP sensor was a bit behind the times. Plenty of other cameras offered 3MP sensors, but what the C-2100UZ lacked in resolution it sought to make up with a huge (at the time) 10x stabilized zoom. That 38-380mm equiv. F2.8-3.5 lens was matched with a full slate of manual exposure controls, built-in EVF and a focus assist lamp that ‘actually works’.
The C-2100UZ shared a lot of features with the C-2020Z on which it was based, which offered a 35-105mm equiv. F2-2.8 zoom. Shared features included a 1.8″ 114k-dot rear LCD, which site founder Phil Askey noted was in sore need of an anti-reflective coating.
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The lens was obviously the C-2100’s biggest selling point. At the time, the only other ‘compacts’ to offer a lens this long were Sony’s floppy disk-based Mavica cameras. There wasn’t much out there to get you to 380mm equiv. on a DSLR either, so the C-2100’s relatively compact, stabilized lens was a pretty wondrous thing. Phil Askey noted some slight chromatic aberration in images, and lamented the camera’s over aggressive sharpening algorithm.
The C-2100 cost $ 1300 at launch, but a dip in street price to $ 900 later made it much more competitive in its class. Askey revised his review in 2001 to give it a ‘Recommended’ rating reflecting its new price. Do you have fond memories of the C-2100? Let us know in the comments.
Read our Olympus C-2100UZ Review
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)