The C-7000 Zoom (known as the C-70 Zoom in Europe / SE Asia) is a new design direction for Olympus, looking back through their previous range the only similar camera could perhaps be the C-60 Zoom, although that only had a 3x optical zoom lens and had a sliding lens cover / power switch. It's certainly a departure (as was the C-8080) from cameras like the C-5060 / C-5000.

This new camera was announced on 16th September 2004 in the weeks before the Photokina trade show. It has a compact and fairly narrow body with a soft rubber hand grip and five times optical zoom F2.8 - F4.8 lens. In the grand scheme of Olympus's current camera range the C-7000 fits somewhere between the four megapixel Ultra Zoom C-765 / C-770 and the excellent eight megapixel C-8080.

Five $700 seven megapixel digital cameras

This review was produced as part of a group test of five seven megapixel digital cameras, all of which offer similar features and all of which cost (at the time of posting these reviews; 2nd Dec 2004) around $700. The 'Compared to...' section of this review is shared with the other reviews. The five reviews (in alphabetical order):

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions.

We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X, Y, and Z and ideally A, B, and C.

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