Olympus D-340R

Opinion: I want to start by saying I like this camera very much and it takes very sharp pictures. However this camera cannot even compare to a quality 35mm film camera because it takes poor portraits and it never captures flesh tones very well. It does take great macro shots of objects.

Opinion: I love this camera for what it is. A very good camera @ a great price. I've shot about 200 pictues in the last few days.
The SQ quality was very good for what it is. A lot of people warned me about battery life with digicams. But am very pleased with the battery life so far. Only on my second set of batteries. I know this is a matter of opion but I can not seem to suggest a better overall value at the $299.99 price.

Opinion: I have had my Olympus D-340R for one week. So far I am pleased. the photos it takes are surprising sharp, and it is rather easy to use. The only thing that concerns me is that when the LCD screen is used the batteries don't last long. other wise I am happy with it.

Opinion: The first Oly D-340R I bought stopped working after a few shots. Took it back and bought another. This one takes stunning pictures (compared to my old Canon Xapshot). I have a darkroom and have not used it since taking up e-photo, but I'm not a professional. However for my own purposes, I cannot conceive of a better buy than this camera. I use two sets of Ni Metal Hydrides for power, use a case to carry the charger with the battary, and still the whole affair is smaller than a small computer speaker. Downloads are slow, but at least, as I was doing with a capture card on the Xapshot, I don't have to capture each one individually. The software that came with the camera is perfect for my purposes. One of the pix in my first shooting actually was recognized as picture of the day in the still life catagory of the following site
http://www.digitalphotocontest.com/photooftheday.asp?m=10&d=7&y=1999
I'd give the little camera a total five except for the failure of the first one. Ease of use/features suffered a bit because you have to turn off the flash each time you power up, since it defaults to the on position, which of course consumes power more quickly with use. All in all, it's a very nice piece of equipment.