Olympus first introduced SLR (single lens reflex) to digital cameras in early 1998 in the form of the Camedia C-1400L. Shaped much like a film-based SLR camera, the association in form and function opened up the world of digital cameras to a more professional/enthusiast market that have otherwise stayed away in droves due to digital camera's inherent complexity and cumbersome ways of framing the shot. The latter has traditionally been through an imprecise compact camera-style optical viewfinder usually backed up by a LCD screen that offered digital TTL (through the lens) viewing, but were typically hampered by bad refresh rates and an inability to be viewed in some outdoor lighting conditions.

When Olympus designed the C-1400L, it did away with many defacto conventions of digital camera design and came up with a different approach - camera rather than PC-based operation. Combined with excellent picture quality and a range of professional features, the Camedia C-1400XL (Labs tested issue 17, p75) followed a year later with an improved feature set over the C-1400L and earned PC Authority's Quality Award in our Digital Cameras comparison in April last year. The new Camedia C-2500L is the successor to the venerable C-1400XL and consequently becomes the new flagship model in Olympus's digital line-up. Including the same range of useful features as the model it replaces, the C-2500L also manages to build on its strengths by adding an extra slot to support both SmartMedia and CompactFlash cards simultaneously. A dedicated button allows you to easily switch between the two media standards.
Styled in a similar form pioneered by the 1400-series, the C-2500L feels like a traditional SLR film camera in your hands and it's possible to cradle the lens in your left hand properly to steady your shots. The only other digital camera we've seen that comes close to this professional feel is the Canon Powershot Pro70 (Labs tested issue 25, p71), and perhaps to lesser extents, Sony's Cybershot DSC-F505 (Labs tested issue 25, p76) and Mavica MVC FD91 (Labs tested issue 17, p79). None of these however can claim to be SLRs, which of course makes all the difference to enthusiasts and professionals alike who prefer to see through the lens via an optical viewfinder. Because of this design philosophy, the C-2500L, unlike most other digital cameras, does not allow you to use the 1.8in TFT LCD screen as an alternate viewfinder, keeping it strictly as a means to access the menu settings and playing back your shots.

The controls and settings are reasonably intuitive and easy to access with a single button to activate the on-screen menu. One aspect which might confuse first-time users though is the various recording and playback modes that are selected through a rotating dial, and depending on which mode you are in, the on-screen menu will offer different options. But a more difficult to find set of functions are the various focus modes, including manual and Super-Macro, which are toggled via a different button on top of the camera just under the monochrome LCD screen. Though it doesn't quite match the user-friendliness of Sony's Cybershot DSC-F505 as far as the controls are concerned, the C-2500L is still a significant leap over most other 'professional' digital cameras in terms of ergonomics.

Like any well bred digital camera though, the C-2500L's priorities are in the quality of its CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and lens. The former is a large two-third inch wafer with 2.5 million pixels, and the latter features a 3x optical zoom equivalent to a 36-110mm lens on a 35mm camera. In HQ and SHQ modes, the C-2500L captures images at a sizeable 1,712 x 1,368 pixel resolution and a choice of 1,280 x 1,024 or 640 x 512 in SQ mode. I would have preferred to be given the choice of selecting a smaller resolution, say 1,024 x 768, in the HQ and SHQ modes but retaining a 'fine' grain which will reduce the size of each picture file while maintaining the same quality.

Among its many features are an aperture priority mode, three white balance modes, slow-synchro and rear curtain flash. All are useful manual controls for creative photography or just getting the right exposure and lighting in the frame. I found that the C-2500L struggled in low light conditions when set to automatic, but fared considerably better under manual control if you know what you're doing. Then again, this camera has primarily been designed for and marketed at people who are fairly well versed in photography.

The C-2500L has improved over the C-1400XL in every respect and has the price tag to show for it. However, judging by the sales of the previous model, Olympus shouldn't have any problems selling every unit it ships.
Simon Tsang