Olympus 2100 Ultra Zoom

This digital camera has a 10x optical zoom lens plus 2.7 x digital zoom . Coupled with fully user programmable controls and an exposure time of up to 16 seconds, it lends itself well for astronomical use as well as normal applications. See SOFTWARE page for a control program.

My main reason for buying it (January 2001) is a forthcoming trip to Africa for the total Solar Eclipse in June 2001 - it should be all I will need to record the eclipse, and of course it will be excellent for wildlife photographs with the long zoom lens. The 35 mm equivalent of the optics is 38 mm at f 2.8 to 380 mm at f 3.5. A very comprehensive review can be found on this site .

Added later - it definitely did the business in Africa, for holiday photos and the Eclipse.

See the Olympus Pics page for Astronomical photos taken with this camera.