Olympus c765 UZ or c770? or OTHER?

[lgb]

Agonizing over these ultrazooms. Love to take the digital on hikes and am always annoyed that our zoom is too small.

Anyone have experience or thoughts about these cameras? Suggest another? Size is key (which eliminates most). Don't care about movies...
Would love an optical VF, but none seem to offer that.

[speaklightly]

07/25/2004

You are not going to find an ultra zoom any smaller than these two digital cameras. We own the C-765 and like it a lot. It and the C-770 both use an EVF rather than a optical viewfinder. However, we find the EVF on the C-765 to be superior to the EVF on our older Olympus C-750.

Sarah Joyce

[John_Reed]

Agonizing over these ultrazooms. Love to take the digital on hikes and am always annoyed that our zoom is too small.
Anyone have experience or thoughts about these cameras? Suggest another? Size is key (which eliminates most). Don't care about movies...
Would love an optical VF, but none seem to offer that.

If you need to make your purchase right now, those may be your only choices. However, the new Panasonic DMC-FZ3 has just been introduced; it's pretty small, I don't know the precise size comparison with the Olympuses, but it is slightly smaller than their older FZ1 model. There's a hands-on preview here. But with its O.I.S. system, greater zoom range and faster lens than your Olympus choices, it's worth a look, I'd think.

[AJS]

I am keen on buying the C770 as well, primarily for its size, but have noticed in the DCR review that it doesn't have "Image Stabilization" nor is it good in low light.

I'm a relative newcomer to digital photography. Can anyone tell me if it's worth waiting for Olympus to release a future UZ with the above features?

AJS

[Jake Conner]

Olympus hasn't had a stabilized camera since the original "uzi", the C2100 ultra zoom, 5 years ago, so I wouldn't count on another. However, Panasonic recently introduced the FZ3, a 3MP, stabilized compact ultra zoom with a 12x Leica lens and AF assist for better low light performance. It'll ship in september.

Jake