C-211 Zoom Digital Printing Camera - Hardware Review - Evaluation

Industry Standard, The, Oct 16, 2000 by David Pescovitz

Olympus www.olympus.com

There's something about Polaroid cameras that make them timeless technology. True, they are bulky. And the picture quality isn't great. But Polaroid's power is the instant gratification it provides. And now Polaroid is bringing its technology into the digital age.

The Olympus C-211 Zoom bundles a Polaroid film printer into the body of a 2.1 megapixel digital camera. The first thing you'll be bummed about is, again, the bulkiness. At 1.67 pounds, it's bigger than a fat paperback book, and a beast to handle. And that's without the Polaroid film or the four AA batteries required. As a digital camera, the device performs as well as its nonprinting competition. The included 8 MB SmartMedia card (the removable memory chip) holds 16 images of 1,600-by-1,200 pixels at its maximum compression level.

The included Camedia software is used to download the digital images to your PC via an included USB cable, or optional SmartMedia adapters that let you insert the removable memory into a PC-card slot or floppy drive.

The fun really begins, though, when you drop in a pack of standard Polaroid-type film (not included) and slide the intuitive interface dial to "print" mode. Select an image in the two-inch LCD viewfinder, crop it or add a time and date stamp, then hit the Print button. Less than 30 seconds later a baseball-card-sized snapshot pops out of the camera and develops in about two minutes. The quality of the prints matches -- and sometimes exceeds -- what you'd get printing similar resolution images on an inkjet machine.

While too big to be your main digital camera, the C-211 Zoom successfully translates the pleasure of Polaroid into digital media. Too bad that, like old-school Polaroids, you still have to shell out a buck a print for the film. But at least you get to pick what you want to print.

THE DETAILS

SCORE (1-5): Utility: 4; Design: 3

EST. LIFESPAN: Two years (expect models with a higher resolution and smaller size)

PRICE: $799

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 98 and 2000 Pro running on a Pentium or higher; CD-ROM drive; USB port