Best Digital Cameras, Customer Reviews

Review by C. B. Fagan:

This is a very nice camera-especially for under . One thing I failed to check before purchasing is the various scene modes. Unfortunately, living in Florida requires a mode for Beach scenes, and this doesn’t appear to have one-but it does have many others. The display is quite good and compares well to the Canon A590IS. The on-screen menu is good-fairly intuitive. The instruction manual is available on disc (provided) or can be downloaded and saved from the Olympus site (pdf). You do not need the proprietary imaging software provided-Windows Photo Gallery or Picasa does just as well. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery appears to hold its charge very well-it is not rechargeable in the camera, but comes with a swivel wall plug charger and is easy to use. Battery removal/insertion is easy. Haven’t used the micro SD adapter yet, so can’t comment on that. The camera is described as “dark gray”, but is actually clad in a highly reflective- almost mirror like-finish. It does show fingerprints as a result, but they are easily avoided by being careful or removing with a semi-damp cloth. It was a good purchase for the money. Olympus seems to make a very good product, both build in terms of build and image quality.

Review by Crystal Howell:

I have used Olympus cameras in the past without any complaints. This camera holds up to our expectations. The picture quality is amazing. The scene modes perform well, but we don’t use them that often, we prefer to point and shoot with the auto-mode. This camera is replacing a 3MP nikon coolpix, that finally wore out. Just remember when you buy this camera, it is a pocket sized digital camera for around 0. Don’t expect to be taking photos for National Geographic!! It is a great little camera

Review by Gadget Girl:

I bought this for my mom’s new digital camera, particularly to ensure that the camera didn’t break and that there was somewhere to store any extra cards. This handy neoprene case does just that. It’s simple and functional. My worry about leather, though it looks stylish, is will it be cushioned enough if the camera falls or gets bumped. Well, this case, because of the neoprene, will cushion any blows and ensure long life and use of your camera. Good purchase.

Review by Isandy C. Urena:

Even though it is soft, provides the perfect security for my camera. I bought it for a Kodak V1003 and it fits perfectly and have extra room for another battery and my card reader. It doesn’t have space for chargers or any other type of cables but since that wasn’t the goal of my purchase i’m giving it 5 stars, thought you should know anyway.

Review by Michael Long II:

This product was more than I expected. I bought it as a back up for the battery that comes standard with my camera. I wasn’t expecting anything special from a replacement brand, but I was shocked. The battery was about 1/10 the price of the Olympus brand battery, yet it had the same, if not a longer run time. I fully recommend this product as a supplement to the standard battery for extended trips. In either case, the battery life on a single charge for either product was more than enough for the excursions through the many different parks at Disney world. (my initial reason for buying the camera, an Olympus Stylus Tough 8000). Many of the excursions were over 15 hours, and I never needed more than one extra battery.

A very high quality product for an inexpensive price.

Review by martin the german:

Hey they came fast and the right model. I have used them and came to the following conclusion.

You get what you pay for. If you want to buy a batterie for with the original manufacturers stamp on it you can, and if you want to spend the same amount on 4 batteries from a no name Brand, you can do that too. The difference was; Even so the no name brand is not holding the charge as long as the original batteries do, it still makes more sense to me to have rather 3 backups, which you should have at least one anyway.

Maximal Power DB OLY LI-50B Replacement Battery for Olympus Digital Camera/Camcorder (Black)

Review by Tom the Reviewer:

Let’s be honest – I bought this camera specifically for the waterproof/dustproof/crushproof/freezeproof features. I anticipated that image quality and ease of operation might be sacrificed – and this is exactly what Olympus delivered. Additional questionable bonus is the “tap” feature, which allows to activate some of the functions by tapping the camera from the sides. This is a nice concept, but would be much more useful if it was reconfigurable and allowed the user to assign which functions are activated by tapping. The most important (at least for me) feature of this camera is that it’s waterproof, and I can honestly admit that it works. I used this camera for a couple of hours while playing around in the swimming pool, and it worked beautifully. No leaks, no bubbles, and color correction for underwater photography is quite decent. The crushproof feature was also tested, since I dropped the camera couple of times, and it kept working. This camera is tough Unfortunately the image quality is far from perfect, in fact is merely average for a point-and-shooter.

The good:

- waterproof and crushproof (tested!)

- good color representation

- good automatic white balance (AWB)

- built-in panorama mode (only 3 frames)

The bad:

- images lack sharpness, appear very “soft”

- poor low light operation (focusing)

- occasional focusing issues (focuses in center even in “face detect” mode)

- some operation modes (“scenes”) are inconsistent, e.g. “portrait” mode switches focusing to “point” instead of “face detect”

- flash is too strong and there doesn’t seem to be a way to adjust it

- the image stabilization doesn’t seem to help – consider it non-existent

- heavy (but this is kind of expected)

- tap control not reconfigurable

The ugly:

- weird “ghosting” and flaring effects appearing in photos on some occasions when the flash was used (poor or no antireflective coatings on lenses)

- very poor sound quality in movies

Bottom line – if not for the “tough” part, this would have been a pretty average, all-around, point-and-shooter. If you need a true waterproof (not just “splash proof”) camera or something that you can carry in your pocket or a backpack in all weather conditions or any situation that could otherwise damage your camera – this is the one to get. If you don’t need the “tough” part – get another camera with better image quality.

Review by Sanguinius:

*update* here are the pictures from the vacation! http://travel.webshots.com/album/570827897OPnAfD?vhost=travel

all taken using the olympus tough 8000.

During this vacation I would say it got dropped and knocked around from about 5 feet to the ground on many handoffs and had a few rough spots but still worked wonderfully. As you can see some of the panoroma shots came out amazing! check the ones on top of the mountain from around pictures 100+. I did realize though that using the automated panorama mode did not work too well so alot of the time it had to be done manually using the second panorama option which lets you setup where the pictures end and start. Also I would HIGHLY recomend taking the time to learn how to use the little +/- button when you are in camera mode. Auto works alot but sometimes not how you would like it so that mode lets you decide what you want. Further while I did not use it underwater persay I did jump into a steam vent and the camera still shot amazing afterwards. Had to be around 110+ and the water just condensed on the screen but nothing inside thankfully. Also in terential downpours it took some nice shots, you can see the rain drops!

*end update*

I read the first review which seemed a bit off as I saw it on other sites (maybe they’re registed on a few) so I wanted to post my own.

Well I am going on a vacation of a lifetime to hawaii and I figured why not pull out all the stops and buy a top of the line waterproof camera. Basically also a camera that I could put through the ringer without worrying about dropping it in sand, taking into a waterfall and one that could take some nice pictures.

First off I am using the M+ cards that olympus makes you buy. I read somewhere that to take videos that have a duration longer then 10 seconds or for panorama pictures you need one (can anyone prove me wrong?). Little dissapointed at that so no 5 stars.

Secondly the panorama mode is probally one of the nicest features I have ever had the pleasure of messing around with. I can literally take a picture of my whole backyard and look at it in one picture (three pictures stitched together). Does it all in camera and it is very nice.

I have not tested it in the ocean yet so I will get back to everyone on that. The camera has a beauty mode which I can actually say works very nice. It shows you what the picture looks like before it touches it up and then after the touchup which is quite a difference (and nice).

One problem that I have noticed are night shots which looks slightly grainy. Im taking the picture in 12m mode with fine resolution, so each shots is around 3900×2900 (off the top of my head I know thats not exact) checking in at about 4mb a shot. So it might be that on my 1600×1200 monitor it is zoomed in a bit too much, but still slightly dissapointing. So again no 5 stars.

The LCD screen really is quite nice. I was fiddling around with it outside in direct sunlight and I could see the screen very clearly. No fidgeting to cover it with my hand at all, it all showed up nicely. The auto mode works nice just like any other camera and the P mode works if you want to fiddle with some of the other options. I’ll try tap control out sometime and let you know how that works. Also I do not know of any hosting sites so someone point me to one and I will setup some of the pictures I have taken for your own insights.

Overall I like the camera tremendously so far. Takes amazing panorama pictures, daytime pictures are fantastic. Night shots look a bit grainy but that might be from my ineptitude. Camera is also very nice to hold and just feels sturdy. 4 outta 5 without a doubt.