Epson entered the 3 megapixel race with a truly interesting camera. The PhotoPC 3000Z is Epson's first viable attempt to go after the big boys in the digital camera market. Fitted out with a 3x zoom, big diameter, fast F2.0 lens (I have a theory on the origin of this lens) and (probably) Sony's 3.34 megapixel CCD. Solid and chunky the 3000Z certainly looks the part and has a feature set that puts it up amongst the best 3 megapixel digital cameras.

Epson have also implemented their HyPict interpolation algorithm on the Epson PhotoPC 3000Z which means that over and above the standard (CCD native) 2048 x 1536 resolution you can also have a HyPict image of 2544 x 1904 or a HyPict Panorama of 2544 x 952.

The Lens

After receiving the 3000Z I put it on my desk next to a Sony DSC-S70.. That's when it struck me, it's the same lens. No, really, bear with me. They're both 7 - 21 mm (F2.0 - F2.5) lenses, size, extension speed/mechanism and internals appear identical.. Which is kind of confusing because Sony put a Carl Zeiss badge on theirs, yet Epson simply say "Epson Digital Camera Lens". Interesting, yes?

Lens from Epson PhotoPC 3000Z Lens from Sony DSC-S70

From the images above you can clearly see the lenses are identical even down to the aperture diaphragm, which begs the question is the lens in the PhotoPC 3000Z a Carl Zeiss design? We may never get an "official" answer to that but on this evidence it would stand it in good stead by at least having a high quality lens before even crossing the starting line.

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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