I received a new camera, but it had factory defects (Pressing the shutter consistently restarted the camera instead of taking the picture, ate 4 AA batteries every 10 minutes [no joke]). Video quality was pretty good, but not completely sharp, even on HD. You cannot zoom while recording video. The photo zoom was pretty good. It took true to life photos. I had to send it back and got a Sony DSC H20. Huge difference, better quality, and size. Feels a little cheaper, but overall far better than the Olympus. It is advertised as 10X zoom, but you get clear 58 X zoom (with a bit of almost unnoticeable noise) on VGA, which turns out to be about 6″X8″ on a PC. I am sure that this olympus is great if you have a working model. Enormous storage capacity. Probably best for studio photography, sorta good at macro too, but a little blurry.

But for an all purpose camera, check out the sony. You can see the craters on the moon with it! Drawback is that it has very small capacity, you can take about 3-5 10 MP photos or a 2 sec. vga video. Can hold about 50 VGA photos, though. Definitely needs a SD card for anything better than VGA. HUGE zoom, though- you can read a book from 25 feet away! Photos look extremely blurry (especially at high zoom) until you press the shutter, and then they really sharpen up. I have been enjoying capturing the logos of the airliners that pass at 20,000 feet.
Rating: 3 / 5

I’ve owned many Fuji digital cameras over the years, this is my first Olympus camera ever. What sold me was the 15X optical zoom and the price. The Fuji 30X zoom camera Fujifilm FinePix HS10 10 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD costs too much. After seeing first-hand what good quality pictures I can get from this Olympus, I’ll seriously look at this brand for future camera purchases.

PROS:

>>> 1 GB of INTERNAL memory – some of it is used by the on-board manual – you can get by without buying an SD card. With internal memory and the camera set at 12 MP resolution, you can take 112 pictures or 14 minutes of video without adding an SD card. The manual is INSIDE the camera – so you can access it anytime you need help – even if you are out in the boonies with no PC. Get out your reading glasses, the print is small.

>>> Uses four (4) AA batteries – this adds weight to the camera, it weighs close to a pound. I was able to get over 200 shots and 2 short videos from the Panasonic batteries which were included. Does better with rechargeables.

>>> Quality-build – this camera just “feels good” in your hand, not one of those flimsy little ultra-compact cameras that are so popular now. Easy to grip with your right hand. Heavy enough that it requires a neck strap, not a hand strap to carry it.

>>> I love the “SUPER macro” setting, which allows you to get within ½” of the subject. Also HD movies that look good when played back on my non-hd tv.

>>> Magic Filter Settings: Fun way to play with your pictures. You can also create art with these – settings are: pop art, pinhole, fish eye and drawing. Take a picture of your child and print it out in the “drawing” setting; your child can color it in with his/her crayons.

CONS:

(my cons aren’t bad, it all depends on what YOU are looking for in a camera)

>>> No optical viewfinder. Not a big deal to me, but might be to you. Your only viewfinder with this camera is the LCD screen.

>>> Not so easy to carry in your bag, unless you have a large tote or a backpack – but on the “pro” side, this DSLR-style camera is smaller than others I have tried.

>>> I don’t like the lens cap on this camera; too bad they can’t make them internal like the point-and-shoot-type cameras. You must remember to remove it yourself before taking a shot. And make sure you attach it with the included string, because if you do not, you will lose it, it falls off easily.

>>> Not many manual controls with this camera, this is not like the older SP series where you could control the aperture, etc. But I like EASY. I don’t know anything about F-stops, etc., so this camera is perfect for me; like a point and shoot, but better. You are able to choose different scenes, exposure, white balance, ISO, like most point & shoots today. This also takes panorama shots with the set-up inside the camera.

OTHER:

This is the first digital camera I have ever purchased where you have to connect the camera to your computer during the set-up. I’m not convinced this is a good idea – my USB ports are not easily accessible on my desktop PC and it would not set-up correctly when plugged into a hub. However, once I moved my tower and plugged it into the actual port, it installed without any problems. This type of set-up is done because you do not receive any photo-editing software CD with the camera, the Olympus iB software is installed on your PC during the set-up of the camera. I imagine this would be next to impossible if you have dial-up internet.

As far as response time, this model is faster than I expected being that it has AA batteries. Start-up and recovery after taking a shot was faster than other cameras in the $100 to $200+ price range, even those with lithium-ion batteries; around 1 second after a shot with no flash, under 2 seconds to recover after a flash picture.

CONCLUSION:

This is a wonderful camera that should serve you well for a few years. I never look for a camera to last me years and years since there is always new technology just around the corner and I want the latest. This camera will make you look like a semi-professional even if you are a novice!

Check back later – I will upload some pictures here.
Rating: 5 / 5