Rating: Summary: Wonderful camera! Review: This is a great camera, particularly for the price! It has excellent definition, great color, and is easy to use. It's closeup feature lets you take very detailed up-close shots. It will make about a one-minute movie with no sound. I use it with the 128 meg "Smart Media" card, which I would recommend. The camera comes with an 8 meg card. I also use the Viking IntelliFlash, which allows instant downloading of all pictures into files. Also an excellent product. This beats using the time-consuming USB routine. Taken together, these products make this a really swell system. But the camera is a winner, just by itself.
Rating: Summary: Still figuring it out Review: While a lot of people will rate for ease of use, some who have experience with computer graphics will realize that the camera is limited to JPEG images (no option of using TIFF's which are pixel for pixel stored, no loss).. I'm getting a pattern on my images that looks a little like what one sees with video cameras in dark rooms, the images are slightly blurry, the images have inconsistent tones with patches of pink - purple - blue - black - etc. This would say to me that although its high resolution array, the per pixel tone is shabby.. I've seen better pixtures coming from my brother's Kodak digital camera with a similar pixel resolution. There is no way to adjust image loss (what if its set to Jpeg's default of 85?).. Also its a macro lens, dispuportionate images, stuff at the edge is blurry.. Flash direction is not adjustable.. Its only been an hour that I've had it, I'm thinking about sending it back.. And yes it was quick to get the software setup, download from USB is quick, About 8 seconds or so to download from a 8 meg card (USB is usually about 800K a second), I got about 20 images out of the camera in low light, tried flash white balance, incadescent white balance and auto, tried with flash, tried without, tried light metering settings, in all cases (except where there was overexposure) the blackish areas and greyish areas were multi-colored without a continuous tone over large areas where there should be say white or gradations of black, and so forth.. If you really don't care about your images, or find as much beauty in single shots from a video camera, you will be okay with this camera, but forget about using it for photo-quality work. Hey I haven't tried it in sunlight, I took pictures at 10 at night, so its probably a different camera in the day time. I compared all images to images my brother took with his camera in low light.
Rating: Summary: 2MP is all you need for normal every day pictures. Review: I just got my camera today and immediately went to work trying to figure out how to operate it. All you have to do is study the quick sheet that comes with the camera and you know most all you need to know about how to operate the D-380. You will see the 2.5 on up to the 4 MP camera her but you don't need that. If all you are going to do is take some pics and download them to your computer, the D-380, or any other 2.0MP camera will fit the bill. With the 8 meg card included with the camera, I can take 30 photos that look really good. This is by far not the highest resolution the camera offers, but nor is it the lowest. I found this setting to be optimal. Think about it: Why would you want to take a picture that is bigger than your monitor screen? The black and white setting is great also. There is nothing like a good black and white picture. For the money, this is a great deal considering you also get a 32 meg memory card to boot. The only thing that i have found that i do not like is the USB port on the camera. The company changed the size of the port so you will have to use THEIR cable. The model before this one could use a regular USB cable. This is the one thing that will probably make me sell this camera and search for another one. I have five computers and I am not going to continually unplug the USB cable and haul it around my house to the other computers. I give this camera a solid 10. I give the people at Olympus a big fat zero for being so greedy as to change the USB cable port so that buyers would have to use THEIR cable.
Rating: Summary: Great introduction to digital photography Review: I bought this camera about 4 months ago, and it is the most satisfying purchase I have made in quite some time. It is simple to use, takes quality photos that are easy to upload onto my computer, creates great prints & is not a battery hog. Here are a few random comments related to this item: - I bought a 128Mb smartmedia which holds about 256 photos-- I highly recommend it. - Through the simple USB connection, I can upload 50 photos in about 1 minute. (I bought a flashlink because I was told it was much slower, but have since returned that item.) - I uploaded some photos to Ofoto and had prints made-- and they look magnificent! (Plus, through Ofoto, you can allow friends & family access to your photos so they can order their own prints.) - The battery is still going strong after 4 months and over 700 pictures. I bought rechargable batteries which I am sure I will use someday-- but not yet. ...
Rating: Summary: Easy and fun to use Review: I'll admit it, my decision to purchase a digital camera was a very spontaneous one. Following some short research sessions I ended up with Olympus's Camedia D-380 2MP, and I couldn't be more happy. For starters, the D-380 is incredibly user friendly for beginners such as myself. I found I was up and snapping pictures within 10 minutes of removing the camera from the package. The display monitor on the back of the camera allows you to preview your pictures exactly how they will be before you shoot. Other features include an auto-flash indicator, which turns on and off flash automatically at appropriate times, along with different types of flashes that remove the "red eye" phenomenon. Also included is a self timer, and the ability to shoot up to 15 second videos. The 2 Mega-Pixel limit is just fine for those of you who are going to be taking point and shoot type pictures. Plus, with the D-380's excellent zoom feature you have nothing to worry about in terms of distance. The advantages to picking up this Camera are clear. For one, with the appropriatley sized memory card you can hold up to 128 pictures. Plus, with the included cable which plugs easily into your computers USB port, you have an almost unlimited amount of storage space. I must say however that the D-380 eats up your batteries pretty quickly, however that can be solved with rechargable batteries which I highly recommend. So for those of you looking to make the jump to digital don't hesitate any longer and pick up the Olympus Camedia D-380, I highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: A MOST excellent Camera Review: My Olympus D-380 is such an excellent camera. I received it one day & left for Europe the next day, without the instructions. It was so easy to use, takes great, sharp photos, the zoom lens works well. The only negative reports I saw on other reviews of this camera was that it is a "battery hog". I used the camera daily for 3 weeks on one set of batteries - why? It is not necessary to use the display every time you want to take a photo. If you turn off the digital display & use the viewfinder like a regular camera, I find it easier to center the shot AND your batteries don't dry up. Lastly, as I can be a klutz at times...I dropped my camera 4 times on floors hard enough to make the batteries pop out and it never quit on me. It is a tough device.
Rating: Summary: Great camera for the price Review: It didn't take long to get into a routine with this camera. It's simple and easy to handle (and lightweight!). The photos come out great and they transfer over very fast. You can choose to download all the images or just the ones you think you want. We upgraded to a 128 MB card (per Amazon's special sale) and it holds well over 200 images at 1024x768 resolution. We loved the different flash features and zoom and all in all are very happy with our purchase. The only downside is the software that came with it, but other programs can be used so it's no big deal.
Rating: Summary: As advertised... Review: This camera comes just as advertised, and as said in many of these customer reviews-it's a great camera for the money. I waited until I got some prints made before writing this (from Ofoto), and they came back super sharp-as big as 5x7. I haven't tried any bigger, and probably won't. The software is functional, if a bit limiting. It can be upgraded for 20.00, and I probably will. The images upload to your computer very fast, no real waiting at all. Battery life is better than I thought, but I still bought a Nimh battery set and charger, just to have no worries. With the enclosed 8mb card, you get about 16 images per default settings. You could get more by using a different setting. I've bought a 128 card for our vacation, so I should get about 250. The nice thing is you can edit what you've taken, and dump all the dogs-you only keep the ones you like. In my mind, that's a huge plus over film photography. The flash works well, as does the close up feature. The fill in flash works nicely as well. I really have no complaints. For an entry level camera it's great. Sure there's no optical zoom, but this camera is a good value, and I recommend it for anyone.
Rating: Summary: Great camera for the price. Review: I just got this camera a few days ago, and I love it already. I don't usually take many photos, because I never remember to buy/develop film. So, I decided to get a digital camera - if I could find one in my price range, with the high quality I was looking for. The D-380 is just that. Two megapixels is more than enough for the average point-and-shooter, and the camera itself is easy to use. The LCD screen is very sharp and easy to see in all conditions. And one particular, minor feature that I noticed (and liked)- the button that turns the LCD on and off is set lower in the plastic, so it's not easily bumped (thereby rendering your batteries dead, hours later). Smart thinking on somebody's part ;) The camera's video ain't that shabby either - and the Quicktime movies aren't as big (in filesize) as you'd think they'd be. I could email somebody a 10-second, lower-quality movie without clogging their inbox. Adding on to what somebody said below, about the Camedia software not letting you send pics via email or save them to disk - who cares? You don't need any kind of software to do that. Just drag the files off of the SmartMedia disk, and on to your computer. It can't get any easier!! I haven't even bothered to install the software - you don't need it.
Rating: Summary: Good entry level camera at a good price Review: I've been waiting for a while to get a 2 megapixel camera for [this price]. This one fits the bill nicely. The image quality is good (as expected from Olympus), the battery life is good (surprisingly so), and the control interface is OK (too few buttons control too many features, lots of back-and-forth). I particularly like the body design form-factor. The clamshell case is nice and tough, feels good in your hand, and -- this is a BIG plus -- does not have that wacky pop-up-flash that the Olympus D-5*** models have. I suppose they had to do that to make room for the zoom lens, which this model lacks. The lack of optical zoom is, of course, the biggest drawback of this camera. Bear in mind, though, it's what enables the...price, so it's a trade off. The optical zoom works acceptably, though the image quality does degrade. Again, that the trade off. Finally, a word about the software. I'm a long-time Photoshop user, so (in my experienced opinion) the freebie "photo-editing" software that comes with any digital camera is [cruddy], not worth the CD it's burned onto. They may offer some value as a way to catalog photos, but their retouching abilities are a joke. Just out of curiosity, I tried running it on my Mac. It crashed the machine when I tried using the red-eye reduction. I realize that non-pros are not going to buy the...full-version of Photoshop -- but the [less expensive] Photoshop Elements (formerly "LE") is pretty good. Quite frankly, a digital camera without decent photo-editing software is a bit of a lame duck. Consider investing in such software as you would any essential accessory, like a tripod or case or memory card. All in all, I'm glad I bought this camera and feel like I got a good deal. I haven't made many consumer electronics purchases recently I can say that about.
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