Rating: 
Summary: What are you looking for?
Review: (At the bottom of this review you will find a resume of what I think about this camera)Depending on your needs it can be a very good camera or a very very BAD one... If you are a pro, obviously it's a terrific BAD one but you weren't looking for this camera. I think there are two kind of people which want's to buy a DG like this one (forget the pros) a. You like the main features (not spending in prints, you can take as many as you want, etc.) of a digital camera (DG) and you will travel, use it just to remember the good times or a common camera task... (just taking pictures) b. You want to start the art of the photography. For those who are in group a), it MAY be a good choice. For those who are in group b), it's a VERY BAD CHOICE. So, if you are in group b) just forget it. You don't have to go on and read the next. Forget it. Look for a DG which has MANUAL option (speed, diafragma, etc.) If you are in group a) go on and make your choice: * Battery life is TOO (and believe me), TOO SHORT.
* Pictures are noisy (bad!)
* Red eyes reduction doesn't always work fine
* Images are not soft and clear. Besides don't beleive the 10x digital zoom. Yes, it is really 10x Zoon, but digital. It's a tramp. Look always at the optical zoom.
* It's not the most important that a camera has X MegaPixels and X Zoom factor.
----------------
RESUME: If you just want to take pictures and you don't have a need of HQ pictures... go on (maybe I would recommend you other cameras but this is your choice) If you look at the details don't buy this camera. If you are learning the art of photography and need to start with a camera, FORGET THIS ONE.
Rating: 
Summary: Olympus D-560 Zoom C-350 Zoom - Poor battery life with NiMH
Review: At first I was very satisfied with the picture quality of the camera: Very sharp pictures with natural colours. But after a while I got some bad experiences with this camera.
The average amount of pictures you can take with (very good) 2000MAh NiMH Batteries is only 20 to 40 depending on the Environment temperature.
I measured the Power consumption and it was not so bad (0.7 Ampere with display on) this should last for 3 hours and some hundreds of pictures. Unfortunately the camera switches of at a battery voltage of 1.2 volts. At this time the Bateery is still 70% full!
Another point is that the camera freezes with battery-voltage below 1.2 V per cell and you have to reset the camera by opening the batt-compartement door.
Conclusion: The powerconsumption is very little, but the power-management of the camera together with NiMH Batteries is terrible.
Imagine a car that stops with a fuel level of 2/3 - unbelievable! I dont undestand how a company like olympus can bring a camera to the market that does not manage to work properly with the most common NiMH Batteries.
Rating: 
Summary: great camera, great buy!
Review: Batteries: 1)Yes, the D560 can go through batteries, but as others have said, buy some NIMHs, always carry a spare charged set, and you won't have a problem. Lithiums are a nice idea, but they're expensive. 2)Use the viewfinder, not the LCD. ALL digitals will drain batteries much more quickly with the LCD on. Besides, when you're outside in bright light, it's hard to see the LCD screen at all. Quality: I was astounded at the quality of pictures I get with this camera. Color is wonderful and clarity is great. I've never had a fuzzy picture - indoors or out, low light or bright. Not so with my SLR. I love the immediate feedback - if you don't like it, retake it. Of course, that doesn't work well with spontaneous photos of people, but I don't think I have any less success with my digital than I did with my SLR. At least with the digital I know what I got right away, and can try again. Ease of use: Accustomed to a bulky SLR, I didn't think I'd like using such a small camera, but once I got used to it, I love it. The 560 is lightweight and fits easily in a pocket. I carry it with me everywhere I go. I couldn't do that with my SLR. As a result, I take way more pictures than I used to. I just wish Olympus provided a slipcase with it to protect the LCD screen. I ended up buying a sunglass case to protect it from things like pens and nail clippers in my purse. I bought the D560 a year ago to replace our broken 35mm point and shoot back up camera. My main camera was a Minolta SLR. Since I loved my SLR, I leaned toward buying a Minolta digital, but after some reasearch and a lot of reviews, I decided on the Olympus D-550. When I went to buy it, I found that I could get it's replacement, the 560 for the same price, so I decided to go for it. The only time I've been disappointed with the D-560 is when I dropped it and broke the lens... and that was my fault. As to my SLR, I finished out the roll of film that was on it, and it's been in my closet ever since. I've been thinking about giving it away because I don't see myself ever using it enough to make it worth keeping. As for my broken D560, Olympus said that the standard charge for repair and servicing is $135. They will let me know if it is more than that and I can decide whether to have them repair it or not. I fear it will turn out to be "not economical to repair" but I think that if I have to replace it, I'll buy another D560. I'm so happy with it, I don't want to risk disappointment with something that turns out not to perform as well.
Rating:
Summary: unsatisfying deal
Review: Camera has good features and software, but after 2 days of usage, two defects make it an unsatisfying deal:
1)Battery life-time is ridiculous. To add insult, camera comes with no charger nor adapter.
2)Optical viewfinder is worthless, does not allow to frame a shot. Its angle is strikingly smaller that the actual zoom/lens angle. You cannot frame a shot unless you use the LCD viewfinder screen, which entails holding the camera away from face, resulting in more unsteady/blurry shots.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to take along - miserable battery life
Review: Everytime I use this camera I'm amazed at the quality - for the price. Just so you know, the camera always defaults to the WIDE ANGLE lens - which distorts the picture. If you want a true flat image, you have to remember to zoom in a little less than half-way to the TELEPHOTO lens. BATTERY LIFE SUCKS, pulls, drains, (however you want to say it) the juice from the AA batteries in about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. I've tried using this with and without the viewer. I'm afraid to but the $... nicad for fear that it will only last 4 hours.
Rating:
Summary: People seem to either love this camera or hate it.
Review: First of all, yes it is a glutton for batteries. I habitually use rechargables anyway and recomend others do the same. You might also want to get an adapter to run it off house current so you don't run down the batteries while it's hooked up to your PC.
As for image clarity, remember that this is a digital camera. It takes a moment after the button is pushed for the camera to take the picture and it must be held steady until it's finished (the higher the resolution the longer it takes). This can be difficult especially when trying to use the panorama funtion. I recomend buying a folding mini tripod to keep it steady. Also there many presets on the camera that will effect the quality of the picture. Everthing from flash to exposure time to day or night pictures. It's a good idea to take a test picture or two to make sure conditions are right.
In short, this is not the kind of camera you can whip out at a moments notice and take a quick snapshot with. If that's what you're looking for them stick to a 35mm.
Oh, and it was mentioned in an earlier review that this camera does not save it's settings and funtions such as flash, resolution, and various picture modes must be reset manually each time the camera is turned on. Not true. There is a selection in the setup menu which lets you choose wether or not settings will be saved when the camera is off. Though if it looses power for too long it will return to factory presets. In conclusion, it's a good camera as long as you bear it's limitations in mind while using it. I've printed out some pictures on glossy photo paper that are indistinguishable from regular photographs.
Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to like this camera....
Review: First thing is I want to say was this was supposed to be my first digital camera. I'm a college guy and I bought this for a cancun trip after seeing great reviews for its predecessor D-550. But after a week, I got rid of it. Don't get me wrong, this was a great camera.....but only outdoors in FULL and I mean FULL sunlight. When it came indoors I was very disappointed. Yeah I did my research and I know this camera is only 4 second shutter for night mode. The thing is I took pictures indoors with real bright lights, and 7 out of 10 came out blurry. Moreover, when I mean blurry, I mean unrecognizable like everything was moving, not noisy where if you zoom in the picture it becomes less sharp. I tried different modes but almost all came out blurred. It might be my camera, but why would it take outstanding outdoor pictures yet take blurred out indoor images of still objects with flash??? I thought it was maybe because it needed to be steady, and it got a little better when I placed it on a tripod. But who would carry a tripod in cancun in the clubs and beach at less than full light? Maybe someone who wasn't there to have fun, that's who. My opinion is get a Canon A70 for around the same price. I did, and even though the picture quality wasn't as sharp outdoors as the D-560, the indoor shots far outweigh the outdoor images.
Rating:
Summary: A Beauty -- If You Pay Attention
Review: I admit I am a strong devote of Olympus cameras, going all the way back to my OM2 and tiny XA 35mm cameras. Oly has always figured out how to do good things in small spaces, and this camera is no exception. This is my fourth Oly digicam over the years (D-340L, 460, 2020z), purchased for situations where pocketability is important. First, the much discussed battery issue. NEVER use alkalines. They do all kinds of things to a camera that just isn't built for them in terms of voltage. Use NiMH's, standard CR-V3's or the new rechargeable CR-V3's. With NiMH's and occasional use of the flash, LCD in rec mode, I was able to get 200+ photos easily. With a rechargeable CR-V3 (the DigiPower, sold through Amazon), I got over 180 super high res shots before stopping with LCD always on and flash with every shot. Judging by recharge time I think I had at least another 50-60 shots minimum. Had I gone easier on the flash and LCD I'm guessing that 450 photos would have been a breeze with them. That's a lot of photography. Color rendition and sharpness are excellent, with colors just a little bit 'harder' than on my other Oly's. I noticed that in very high contrast or backlit situations at infinity the camera tended to opt for a smaller aperture (to gain depth of field?), which in a very few situations caused some blurring of high speed objects. That's fixed very easily by using the spot meter or manually opening the lens a bit. Otherwise, this camera's features are easy to access, the clamshell design is sturdier than it looks and at current prices it's a steal. I'm tempted sorely to leave my heavier 2020z and aux lenses home on my next foreign trip. Here's an update from my original Feb. 20 posting: Just returned from a 12 day trip to the UK. Brought the 560 rather than my larger 2020z and its aux lenses because I was traveling very light -- on and off many trains, hikes to hotels, lots of hoofing around big cities. Took over 600 photos, virtually all in basic point and shoot mode at a mix of resolutions using both spot and standard metering. The good news is that virtually every one of them came out just as I would have wanted, the exceptions being a couple of very high speed trains that would have taxed almost any camera given the angles at which they were shot and light conditions. But most exposures almost perfect, with great sharpness and resolution. My only problem was that when I tested my rechargeable CR-V3s after they sat in my bag for about a week (I had been relying on NiMH's because I brought a charger to charge them for camera, radio, MPs player) both seemed to run down pretty quickly, and, I must say in terms of previous experience, mysteriously. Using NiMH's with lcd on for composition and review over extensive periods I was able to get in 50-60 shots easily. Oddly, since coming home I have used the R-CR-V3s constantly and, oddly, I've had one in the camera working perfectly for over a week -- 70-80 photos with lcd, several downloads to computer. This camera has passed my 'usability' and 'quality' tests with flying colors. I'll continue testing it with the CR-V3s and repost if I learn anything new.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY ANY OLYMPUS PRODUCT
Review: I bought this camera and was surprised at how easy it was to use. Too bad I never got to see the pictures because when I tried to load the software (Camedia) I had nothing but problems. After two calls to Olympus Tech Support and about two hours of messing around with different settings and downloads, I was told to try and load the software on another computer. Well, I feel I have a decent computer, a Gateway running windows 98. What good is this camera if I have to load the software on someone else's computer? Then I'd have to download my pictures on their computer too. The software says it's compatible with Windows 98, but yet it didn't work on my computer. Tech support told me that they tried everything they could. I am the only person in the world that has had this problem. The tech support [stunk] big time and I will never waste my time with them again. ...
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I bought this camera for $229, and i think its a really good deal. i really like this camera because its small, easy to carry around, takes great pictures, and is handy wherever its needed.
People give this camera bad reviews for its battery life. well, this is a digital camera, like most other digital cameras, this of course will eat normal alkaline batteries like pop corn, thats why you spend a little money to buy the lithium crv3 or the Ni-MH batteries. As for me, i prefer the Ni-MH batteries because not only are they powerful, but also rechargable. i got 4 batteries, and a charger at radio shack for about 26$ (including tax).
so giving this camera bad reviews for batteries is just dumb. anyway, again, i like this camera a lot, and it takes great high quality pictures, just not always, but even the best of cameras wont always take the best photos in the world all the time.
hope you enjoy this camera more than i do.
| 
