Rating: Summary: I love Olympus, but NOT this camera!!!!! Review: I've been using Olympus digital cameras since 1997. I've bought five over the years for different reasons and loved them all - but NOT this camera. For the first time, I have ended up returning a camera and buying an entirely different model.
First, I have to completely concur with the battery-sucker commentary others have mentioned. It's terrible, and it uses up batteries within 20-30 pictures, even worse if you are using the flash consistently. I have had three other Olympus D-model cameras (including the 560) and have NEVER had such problems.
Second, the flash is completely overwhelming. It whites out almost everyone I took a picture of at even a moderately close range, and when it was NOT used, the slow shutter speed made a clear picture when the camera was hand-held almost impossible. In addition, even with red-eye reduction, the flash was so bad that nearly everyone I took a picture of had their eyes closed.
Third, and this was the worst, the shutter speed was terrible. As the batteries wear down (which is extremely rapid), the shutter speed gets slower and s-l-o-w-e-r. The auto-focus takes between one and three seconds at a MINIMUM between the time the button is pressed to the taking of the picture, and this is when the camera was already focused using the half-button-press method. I was VERY disappointed by this. My favorite subjects are my children (four years old and three months old) and if you want to catch them smiling that's simply an unacceptable delay.
I returned this camera and traded up to the Olympus C-765. The C models have far better creative control, including flash-intensity control, many more picture-taking modes, aperture control, etc., but I'm also very pleased by the point-and-shoot (auto) mode as well. In addition, the C-765 has a much better lens (meaning much better shots) and a 10X zoom, which is ideal for me to capture the wildlife in my area - I got shots of animals I'd never been able to get before.
Don't waste your money on this camera unless you are using it for strictly out-of-doors, well-lit shots that have very slow or not-moving subjects. For family pictures or a lot of indoor use, don't bother - and make SURE you buy several packs of rechargeable batteries - and CARRY THEM WITH YOU - if you decide this is the camera for you!
Otherwise, buy a different Olympus camera altogether. I was incredibly disappointed by this but am thrilled with the C-765.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Camera Review: It is an excellent camera for this price (I bought it for $250 about 2 weeks ago). Last week I used it to take pictures in Niagara Falls during day and night. The pictures during the day are crisp. During the night, I held it by hand to take pictures of rapids and the water falls (without flash). The water flow effect was surpringly clear and bright.Its TruePic Turbo image processor is indeed very fast. I used the camera to take pictures of fireworks. During 10 minutes I took tens of pictures. However, it is quite necessary to have four recargable Ni-Mh AA batteries with this camera. It uses battery power pretty fast.
Rating: Summary: Great Value! Review: This camera is an excellent value! It is very cheap for a four megapixel camera, has zoom, takes great, sharp, and colorful pictures! I bought this camera for my girlfriend based on what I had read about ease of use for this camera. You would be hard pressed to find a more user friendly camera in this price range or above. THe auto focus on this camera is excellent! We have taken lots of picures with this camera during the day and night and little have come out anything but clear and colorful. Two of the night photos I took of fireworks came out blurry but this is to be expected when not using a tripod. This is a great camera that has a very powerful flash and is easy to use. A word of warning would be not to even try using Alkaline batteries, they will be spent in about 20 shots. One warning, for outdoor wildlife enthusiasts, the zoom motor on this camera is very loud! Instead get one of the Lithium CR-V3 batteries which give excellent picture taking volume in this camera. I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for an easy to use, great working and low priced camera.
Rating: Summary: Great Point & Shoot Camera Review: This is a great little point & shoot camera. I paid $199 at Costco.
It take really nice pictures and is VERY easy to use. The only downside is it's slow to focus in low light.
I keep the flash off and the LCD off to save batteries.
It's a great first digital or travel camera.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Camera Review: This is my first digital camera. I was looking for something that was easy to use, took excellent pictures, and wasn't too expensive. After looking at Fujis, Kodaks, and Canons, I decided to go with this one. Boy am I glad I did! The picture quality is excellent, it's really easy to use, and has enough options for a beginner without going overboard. Screens and options are easy to navigate through; you can start using this camera in no time. There were no problems getting my computer to recognize the camera. The only compliant is there were some minor problems with the installation software for the included photo editing software. The installation program thought the serial number wasn't correct even though it was. I just had to click the back button then reenter it again to get it to work. Overall this is an excellent camera, especially for only $299.99. I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a great point and click 4.0 mega pixel camera.
Rating: Summary: Great little camera Review: This is my second Olympus and I really like it. Small and compact, takes great pictures. Easy to understand instructions. Great point and shoot camera. I wish the lense cover and body were a bit stronger. Lense cover seems a bit flimsy - like it may not last a long time without breaking. But we will see. I have only had it about a week. I bought the Cannon A75 and hated it and took it back. Olympus takes much better pictures and it much more amature user friendly. Cannon seems to be for the professional that knows how to manually set the settings. But if you want a great little point and shoot camera "Cheaper" than cannon, then go with Olympus. I think my next one will be the Olympus Stylus, since it is made for all weather and a all steel body. I wish I had gotten the Stylus, but it is a bit more expensive.
Rating: Summary: Camera is nice, software bundled is a swindle Review: We got this camera for a good price from Costco, and we're pretty happy with the pictures we're getting. Like most people would, we moved the files to our hard drive using the software that came with the camera: Camedia Master. The program freezes up on me frequently, but that isn't my beef. In order to e-mail the photos you take, to move them to a disk to get them processed, to move them back to your camera, really to do anything except print them or use them as wallpaper, you have to pay for the 'pro' version, which costs $20. By the time most consumers discover this and start using another program to upload their photos, they will, as we have, already put dozens of photos in this program where they will be irretrievably locked until they pony up $20 they hadn't bargained on when they bought the camera. This kind of business practice is really underhanded, because it makes basic functionality a premium product. Buy the camera, by all means, but don't use the software at all, or budget into the endeavor an extra $20 to do the very minimum you'd want to do with digital photos.
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