Rating: Summary: Ease of Use of Olympus Camedia Digital D-520 Review: This camera, my first experience with digital photography, is superb in its ease and simplicity of use, while being highly flexible and capable of accommodating a wide range of photgraphic needs. Generally speaking, the more functions and properties a device has, the more complex is its usage; in this case, however, the road maps to special functions is so clear that it can be tuned on the spot to a particular need. The shift to spot metering, white adjustment, telephoto or wide angle, for example, are practically instantaneous. Unless I am after a particular class of photos, I do not fix the setup, but prefer to adjust for each case. The default settings are excellent for a wide variety of conditions in any case. For a 2MB system, the quality (a range of qualities are actually available and are easy to select) is excellent. A note of caution: for use with the panorama function, make sure to use the Camedia Smart card, since many other cards, while convenient for all other purposes, do not admit this function. I am very pleased with my choice.
Rating: Summary: I love the pictures Review: I bought this camera for my youngest daughter and her husband so they could take pictures of my 2-year-old granddaughter to e-mail to me. So far, all of the pictures have been great! Paula loves the camera, but if there are any negatives about it, she wouldn't tell me.
Rating: Summary: Great camera-lousy Software Review: I really like my new Olympus Camedia D-520. The camera itself is very easy to use, work with, set up, and hook to the computer. If I can handle it, just about anyone could! In limited use to date, it takes really great crisp clear pictures.However, the software that comes with it absolutely stinks! It is complicated, not user friendly, and doesn't use any of the logic usually associated with windows based programs. For instance, it won't let me save the pictures that I input to a directory where I want to save them, I must save them to a software directed/created album. Trying to find these albums on my computer without the software is almost impossible. I did finally figure out how to copy and paste the pictures to a directory of my chosing, but this seems like a whole lot of extra unnecessary work.
Rating: Summary: Digital Camera for Dummies Review: This is a wonderful camera, especially for someone - like me - who isn't that good with cameras. I bought it primarily for selling items on eBay, so the ability to get good close-up shots was important. It takes great close-ups with very true color. I like the built-in flash. It takes good outdoor/daylight pictures, too. It's simple to use and I couldn't be more pleased.
Rating: Summary: It works! Review: I'm only a beginner when it comes to photography, and I didn't need that many features and such. My dad told me that this camera was a high-scoring model on Consumer Reports. I have encountered no problems so far, but I'm still not fluent in usage, especially pertaining to flashes and such. Overall I'd say it's a great camera.
Rating: Summary: blurry Review: I don't like the d-520 one bit. You just can't get the clairity that you get from 35mm. i am looking for something better.
Rating: Summary: Small, lightweight, great pictures, inexpensive! Review: We've had this camera for a couple weeks now, and really enjoy it. We also purchased a 128M SmartMedia card, which is almost a requirement for this camera, since 16M will run out really quick if you're taking high-resolution pictures! Picture quality is great, although red-eye is a bigger problem than it was with my previous, 35mm camera (though I haven't tried the red-eye reduction flash mode yet). The software that comes with the camera has a red-eye filter, but it doesn't look very good (imaging taking a black crayon to your picture, and you're not far off). I haven't noticed the focusing problems that some people have reported. The time between when you click the button and when the picture is taken isn't long, IF you first press it slightly to set the focus -- if you set the focus first, the actual picture is taken almost immediately. If not, there's about a two second delay before the picture is taken. This isn't that different than some 35mm cameras I've seen without a fixed focus -- it takes the camera a second to adjust the focus to where it should be before it snaps the picture. It does take several seconds to reset between pictures (much of that time appears to be the time it takes to write to the card -- switching to a lower-resolution format may change how long you have to wait between pictures). Fresh batteries seem to help minimize this delay -- get four high-capacity (1800 mAh) NiMH rechargable batteries, and charge two while two are in the camera. Swap the pairs before you start getting any low battery indicators, to keep the pair in the camera fresh. You really need to read the manual with this one -- the controls aren't difficult, but some of them aren't intuitive (if you want to review the picture you just took while the lens cover is open, you have to "double-click" on the view button). It's easy to hand it to someone to just point-and-shoot a picture -- it's the more advanced features that aren't intuitive. Once you learn a couple shortcuts, it's not hard to use at all, but you won't be able to just pick this up and use the advanced features without reading the manual first. Many of the complaints I've seen in other Amazon.com reviews about things this camera can't do, it really CAN do -- you just need to know how. I really love the fact that once you set the time on the camera, all your pictures are stamped with the date/time that you took your picture (and even what the camera settings were at the time). This makes it a lot easier to sort through pictures later, or to remember how old someone is in the shot. This may be a standard feature of digital camera, but it's a nice one. Using this with Windows XP Professional was a snap -- just plug in the USB cable, let Windows recognize it, and copy the files to your hard drive. We had it a week before we installed the software that came with the camera, and even then we only use what's built into Windows. There's even a way to print sheets of pictures (a bunch of wallets, or several 3x5s, or a contact sheet with dozens of thumbnails) built right into the OS (the "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer"). Overall, we've been very happy with this camera. Good quality, inexpensive (less than most 2MP cameras that don't have optical zoom!), easy to use.
Rating: Summary: Olympus D510 Review: I have had the 520s earlier version for a year...while snow showing I stopped to take a picture and dropped the camera for a nano second in the snow...I mean it barely touch the snow. I had just opened it so the lense got a speck of snow on it and the lens has not moved since. I thought once it dried out things would work fine but no....I thought Id just buy a new 520 but if it still has that delay while shooting I may have to try another camers.
Rating: Summary: Not as great as you think it is... Review: Although I do like Olympus products I haven't been too impressed by the D520 model. It does take great pictures during the day, but at night is a different story, every image ends up blurred, no matter how you change the settings or how still you hold it. Its TERRIBLE for concert pictures! I'm also disappointed with it's mpeg feature, friends of mine have dig cams with up to a minute of video AND sound, while this camera only has 15 seconds, no zoom and no sound, and they paid much less for their cameras. The D520 also has an annoying tendency to pause before taking the picture, making candid shots impossible to take. The camera itself is nice looking and does have some good effects, all in all, I would recommend buying it used, as the new price is not worth it.
Rating: Summary: LOVE IT!!! Review: I love this camera! It's easy to use and takes great photos! I've taken HUNDREDS of pictures with this camera and I have no complaints! It even uses regular AA batteries!
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