I received this as a Christmas present in 2003. My dad is a keen photographer and recommended Olympus as a good make when I was on the lookout for a digital camera. It was priced at around £180 depending on where you bought it, which was about average for a non-professional digital camera at the time. My mum bought it for me in a larger Boots store (on a triple points day, I think).
Inside the box, other than the camera was:
- Camera strap - 16 mb xD-Picture card - 2 alkaline batteries - USB cable - Video cable - Software CD-ROM - Instruction manuals
The camera itself is silver, with a sliding front that covers the lens, and all the cable connections hidden in covered compartments. All in all I was very pleased with the look of it.
Camera specifications: - 3.2 megapixels - F3.1 optical zoom lens - 3.3x digital zoomUSB Autoconnect - 1.8 inch LCD - Movie Mode - Video out - Flash mode - Self-timer - Macro button
Now I must admit, I didn't pay all that much attention to the above. Someone told me the more megapixels the better and, along with the look, that was the main reason for me choosing this camera. Quite frankly I didn't have a clue about the rest of it.
The software loaded easily onto my PC and when the rest of the family arrived I started snapping away. The zoom was easy to use, I tested out the self-timer. It was great! For 10 minutes.
Yes, 10 minutes, that's how long the batteries lasted. Luckily we learnt a long time ago to stock up on batteries for Christmas, so thinking the supplied batteries were probably just cheap I replaced them with some Duracell. So off I went taking more pictures of everyone, and passing the camera around for everyone to look at photos on the handy little LCD screen on the back of the camera. 20 minutes I think they lasted this time. That's when my cousin showed up and says "Oh, you got an Olympus? Hope you've got a lot of batteries." Turns out the battery life with an Olympus is terrible.
Another cousin had a Sony digital camera and he was taking short videos as well as photos and his batteries lasted all day.
When I connected the camera to the computer (another thing I found very easy) I was very happy with the quality of the photos.
I have mixed feelings about this camera. I like the look and the quality of the pictures, but then what use is that if you couldn't take it on a day trip or holiday unless you took a pack of batteries along with you?
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I agree with you on the batterys, bloody olympus camers. Bbest thing to do is to get rechargables with the kit to charge them up! Cost you about a tenner but its easier and in the long run cheaper!
craggsy23 11.05.2005 17:32
Sounded okay until you said about the battery life. My camera is a Fujifilm and the batteries last for 2-3 days usually. Helen
sallysmith1973 04.05.2005 19:42
A friend of mine's husband works for Olympus and swears by them. My Sony's rechargeable battery is ok, but I know friends have problems with theirs Great review, Thanks, Sal x
May 1st, 2005
very helpful by (40%):
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