Olympus C1400-L 1.4mpx fixed zoom lens DSLR

by David WIlson
(Jesus Pobre, Spain)

The fixed lens DSLR no longer exists as a category of digital camera but in the late nineties this type of camera was quite popular.

Mine was a 1997 model which has a RRP of £1300 when it was introduced. I bought mine in 2000 as a bargain bin end of line offer from Dixons in London for £300 to complement my Pentax 35mm.

I could see the way things were going with digital, and it seemed like the right time to dip my toe in the water.

The C1400-L produced excellent quality images which gave good 6x4 prints, but was hopeless in low light - anything less than good light, not only would it not provide a focus lock, if you did manage to persuade it to take a frame without using flash, it would reward you with a dose of dark blocky pixelated mush.

Eventually I sold it to the son of a friend and upgraded to a Canon Powershot A40. 4mpx -wow! I'm now on my fourth A series Canon, and also own an Eos 400D

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A 1997 model - a real pioneer! I remember well the problems with digital cameras and low light. I used to stand there waving the camera around just to get something that it could focus on.

Usually I took the shot anyway and ended up with an awful lot of poorly focussed photos.

And moving up to a whopping 4MP! I don't think it's even possible to buy a 4MP camera any more.

Thanks for the submission David, and lovely photos too!

Darrell.