Rating: 
Summary: Good Decision -- Finally
Review: I joined the digital parade after an agonizing 6 months of comparison and indecision. I liked the Sony Mavica features, especially the floppy disk method of storing images. I've used my work's Mavica 91 and loved its simplicity and great ability to take indoor pictures without a flash. I also loved the rechargeable 'smart' battery which Sony sells with its product; it actually tells you how much time you have remaining before a battery change is required. It could also do short MPEG motion pictures - with sound. The big negative: it's huge and weighed a ton. It's resolution wasn't sufficient either.I finally ended up with the Olympus 450z because of its high resolution, its available floppy adapter, its many features for the price, and its compact size -- its virtually identical to my old 35MM model. It takes great pictures, but isn't as capable in low light conditions as the Mavica 91. The Panaroma picture capability was a feature which I never thought of using -- until I saw the software demo which was included with the camera. It's like magic -- it puts together a panarama of pictures into a single composite image. Truly amazing. In summary, the 450 is a great camera, albeit only slightly better than the 400 - and doesn't include the floppy adapter as the 400 did. Great - yes, but the price really hasn't dropped as I had hoped. Finally, if you're thinking ahead, you'll order 8 or 12 NiMH batteries and a recharger, a 16 or 32 meg SMART Card, and the Floppy adapter. You've suddenly got yourself a $700-$800 camera outfit. Shop around - there are cheaper places to buy your camera.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera
Review: I love the camera. It is so easy to use.This is my first digital camera and within one hour after opening the box I was shooting with it and E-mailing the photos to my friends.I now carry it with me everywhere I go.Because I don't have to worry about film anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera... once i read the manual.
Review: I love this camera i feel like it has changed the way i look at digital photography. I recieved the camera and it was broken but theres always something. That was taken care of in no time. I read the never ending novel of a manual and was shortly after I was having fun and taking photo quality images this camera is for everyone it is easy to use and gives professional results. there is a feature for every thing zoom, macro lenz, five flashes, rapid shooting and more this camera is a great value its equivliant in other brands is twice the cost. Serial port downloads are quick and high in quality I reccomend that you do not waste money on a floppy adapter or usb downloader unless you use a imac,G3,or G4. Software bundle is a great collection and has everything you need. Im glad I went with Olympus.
Rating: 
Summary: Recent purchase
Review: I purchased this camera after reading the reviews and have not been disappointed. This camera is light and small enough and has all the functionality you would want (except if you're a professional photographer). Once you get familiar with the icons, the camera is pretty staright-forward. And if you're looking to buy rechargable batteries along with this camera, do not buy the Olympus ones. I bought the Kodak recharagble batteries and charger and they work fine. Another tip, get the PCMCIA card for faster uploads if you have the slot and get the Delkin Devices one, it is cheaper yet just as good. I saved myself quite a bit of money this way. I also purchased an additonal 16 Mb NewMedia film card but you can buy other brands for cheaper. All you'll have to do is format the card and it'll work fine with this camera.
Rating:
Summary: Olympus D450 is perfect
Review: I received this camera for Christmas. It has made many wonderful pix to date. Love it. I would reccomend it to anyone. Great features and optical zoom that gets you in close. Download time slow. Needs a USB plug. Optional.
Rating:
Summary: The 450Z could be the best digital camera for the money.
Review: I started out thinking I was still a year away from affording a new digital camera with the features I wanted. I decided to hold out for a zoom lens and at least 1024 x 768 resolution, or wait. After a lot of research, I knew I wanted an Olympus, because of their excellent optics and their camera-first, digital-device-second approach, and because my Olympus 35mm point-and-shoot had served me well. I thought my best deal would be on a used or discontinued model; however, because the original price of the 500L, 600L, and 400Z had been so high (in the $800-1200 range), the asking prices for these had not come down as much as I'd hoped, and what I had to be willing to pay had crept up as I shopped. When I saw what the 450Z was going for, I whipped out my credit card. Now that I've played around with it for a few weeks, I can't imagine there's a better digital camera for the money right now. I've compared with a couple of friends that have Nikon CoolPix cameras, and I suppose there's something that's better about them, but I can't honestly tell you what that would be, and the Nikon is twice the money! The 450Z is an improved version of the well-received 400Z, but at a radically lower street price. Some of this is due to the packaging -- the 450Z leaves out the FlashPath floppy adapter (typically $70-90 alone) that was standard in the 400Z -- but clearly the manufacturing costs are coming down rapidly. This camera performs incredibly well on the bottom-line measurement: It takes stunningly detailed and accurate pictures under a wide variety of conditions. We've gotten used to accepting less than perfection for pictures taken in other than bright sunlight at normal distances. The 450Z adds several categories of picture-taking where you can now get predictable results: Flash, macro (including with flash), indoor lighting, low light, etc. There are just enough features to make the camera useful over the range of conditions, but not so many as to intimidate the snap-shooter. Because of the intelligence of the autofocus, exposure control, and white balance, it is still a great point-and-shoot camera. Many features are related to getting the picture right at the right resolution, such as spot metering, exposure override, mode (resolution), different flash modes, macro, etc. Other features are related to viewing and managing the pictures you've taken. You can plug the camera into a VCR or TV monitor (RCA video jack) and give a quick slideshow of what's in memory. You can get around the small size of the LCD display (and this is one of the better ones) by zooming in on one segment (out of a 3 x 3 grid) of an image, to make sure the detail is there. One other feature that other reviewers have found important: The 450Z will store images uncompressed, if you choose (the file size is huge); most other cameras up to this point perform at least some compression, even on high-quality settings. The only thing I couldn't do well -- and this may just take some practice -- is action shots. All digital cameras have some lag between the time you decide to pull the trigger and the time the image is committed to memory, and this takes some getting used to, but the 450Z is quicker in this respect than its earlier counterparts. One significant feature is the "burst mode", which allows you to keep capturing images (about 1-2 a second) as long as the shutter button is pressed, and until the buffer fills up (seems to be about 6-10 images). Most of us get into digital because of the cost and overhead of dealing with film and processing, only to have to scan prints or pay extra to the processor for digital images from film. Depending on resolution, you can get up to 122 images onto the standard 8MB memory card before unloading, and that's very liberating -- no more agonizing over whether to take another shot! However, once you play around with it a while, the mind starts to boggle at the possibilities, and film cameras seem like Stone-Age technology (especially since we are approaching the resolution of film with the million-plus pixels you can store in an image now). The 450Z is a milestone in the improvement of digital cameras, a quantum leap in value vs. features and quality, even compared to other Olympus cameras. You won't believe how easy it is to get breath-taking digital photos. Get one!
Rating:
Summary: Convert
Review: I too had held off on digital cameras. I shoot mostly slides, adore my zoom and macro lenses and expect a lot from my images. I was looking at the high end prosumer Olympus (C2000) and Nikon (950). Drooling is more like it. Then I started reading reviews of the D450Z on www.imaging-resource.com and others. Sounded like a near perfect compromise. While the images won't stand up to extreme enlargement, how often do we really do that with our pictures. I got the camera a couple days before heading out on a trip and was delighted with how easy it was to carry and use. No more rolls of film to manage. The images were sharp, good color balance and I took night time images, hand held, without flash that would stand up against commercial postcards. The zoom isn't as long as I'd like but you can't expect that of a point and shoot. Get an extra smartmedia card, NIMH batteries (though I did 56 pics on just over one set of batteries - with the LCD on). Olympus' new Smartmedia reader rocks. Downloads become a matter of seconds. I couldn't expect more from this camera. I'll still keep my SLR for those National Geographic trips but it might be just a matter of time before it'll be replaced too. I guess I'd better get busy digitizing all those slides.
Rating:
Summary: Good Bicycle Camera
Review: I tried several digital cameras before settling on the Olympus 450. One of my greatest criteria was size and weight because I am a bicycle tourist, every ounce counts. If I dont want it hanging on my body for 4 or 5 weeks, it is too heavy/big. Also, since this is a visual record of my travel, quality of print outs was prime importance. I set my camera for SHQ. When printed on HP Photo paper, my prints are every bit as good as taken with my 35mm Olymus point and shoot. As a bike tourist, carrying extra 100mg or 200mg (now available) Smartmedia is better than carrying a 35 rolls of film. I store my photos on Zip Disks with a printout of content. Certainly more accessible than hunting old negatives.
Rating:
Summary: Good Bicycle Camera
Review: I tried several digital cameras before settling on the Olympus 450. One of my greatest criteria was size and weight because I am a bicycle tourist, every ounce counts. If I dont want it hanging on my body for 4 or 5 weeks, it is too heavy/big. Also, since this is a visual record of my travel, quality of print outs was prime importance. I set my camera for SHQ. When printed on HP Photo paper, my prints are every bit as good as taken with my 35mm Olymus point and shoot. As a bike tourist, carrying extra 100mg or 200mg (now available) Smartmedia is better than carrying a 35 rolls of film. I store my photos on Zip Disks with a printout of content. Certainly more accessible than hunting old negatives.
Rating:
Summary: Quality lasts!!...
Review: I've had this camera for nearly 4 yaers and it is as good as new. Easy to use with all the features you will ever need - great picture quality after over a thousand pictures. If this camera ever dies, I will surely buy another Olympus.
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