Olympusi Zoom 3000

The Olympus i Zoom 3000 is a product of the post-millennium hangover, when production lines wound down and unsold stock filled department-store shelves — a aps zoom compact paired with a Olympus Zoom 21–58mm f/4.4–11.3 (7 elements in 6 groups, 2 aspherical) — 26–73mm equivalent. Some backstory: announced on 7 February 2001, it was the budget member of Olympus's 'i' series of Advanced Photo System compacts, sitting under the i Zoom 75VF-E.

Format

APS

Year

2001

Lens

Olympus Zoom 21–58mm f/4.4–11.3 (7 elements in 6 groups, 2 aspherical) — 26–73mm equivalent

Shutter

Programmed electronic, 3.3s – 1/500s

Min. focus

0.6 m (auto macro)

Flash

Built-in, six flash modes, approx. 5s recycling

Battery

1× CR2 3 V lithium

The Olympus Zoom 21–58mm f/4.4–11.3 (7 elements in 6 groups, 2 aspherical) — 26–73mm equivalent covers wide-to-short-tele in one barrel — one lens, no decisions, point and shoot. APS film has been out of production since 2011, so you're shooting expired stock from eBay and sending it to one of the handful of labs that still handle IX240 — confirm both before you commit. It runs on CR2 lithium cells, still stocked online but worth ordering a pair before a trip. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 0.6 m (auto macro), close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. Something that catches new owners off guard: at 145 g it was one of the smallest 3x-zoom APS cameras ever sold — Olympus's own press material compared its footprint to a credit card. Built for family events, holidays and anything where you'd rather reframe than walk.

Zoom compacts are still the bargain corner of the film market — pick up the Olympus i Zoom 3000 cheap, run a roll through it and judge whether the convenience outweighs the slower aperture. File away for later: two aspherical elements do the heavy lifting in a lens that is only f/4.4 at the wide end and f/11.3 at 58mm, so it really wants ISO 400 film.

• §1Announced on 7 February 2001, it was the budget member of Olympus's 'i' series of Advanced Photo System compacts, sitting under the i Zoom 75VF-E.
• §2At 145 g it was one of the smallest 3x-zoom APS cameras ever sold — Olympus's own press material compared its footprint to a credit card.
• §3Two aspherical elements do the heavy lifting in a lens that is only f/4.4 at the wide end and f/11.3 at 58mm, so it really wants ISO 400 film.
• §4APS film stopped being made in 2011, so this is a display piece unless you find frozen IX240 cartridges — and a lab that will still process them.