Olympus D-535 Zoom (C-370 Zoom)

Opinion: Just bought the camera. Really easy menus and use. Wish it had audio like the d-575. In this day and age, why exclude audio?

Opinion: After six months I've found some problems with macro. Sometimes it can't (or doesn't want) to focus on the centre of the picture.
Energy consumption is still huge compared to Fujifilm Finepix S5000.
Lack of viefinder creates problems in sunny days and low light coonditions.
But still worths for money.

Opinion: I purchased two of these cameras (based mainly on the price/megapixel equation and the balance of features) for my children for Christmas. I have some experience with digital cameras, in particular a Canon A70 purchased for the family last Christmas, and an older Nikon Coolpix 995 which has been used as a camera in my business for some years. I also use a Nikon F3hp film camera regularly, mainly for work commitments.

The bottom line here is that you get what you pay for. Both Olympus cameras will be returned today. One was faulty, with the battery compartment door not being able to be closed. Closer investigation showed that this was a very flimsy construction, with tiny, fragile plastic tabs holding the door in place. On one of the cameras, one of these tabs had broken off.

Not a promising start, but we managed to get the door closed with sticky tape and the kids used the cameras for half a day, taking about 12 photos at high resolution before the internal memory was full. By this time, the low battery warning was showing. This surprised me greatly, as our Canon can be used for days on end without any exhaustion of the batteries. Admittedly it takes four, not two AA batteries, but the battery life is a factor of at least 8 greater than the Olympus. This is the case whether using high quality rechargeables or alkaline cells. This means you would need to take at least one, probably two extra sets of batteries with you for a days snap shooting. Annoying.

The photos from the Olympus were also disappointing. The colours had a pinkish cast and looked 'gritty'. This led me to take two photos on the highest resolution setting of the same scene (both requiring flash), one on the Canon A70, the other on the Olympus. A comparison of the images was as chalk to cheese. The Canon's colour was correct, the Olympus with a pink cast. The Canon file size was around 1.3 MB, the Olympus 2.3 MB. The Olympus image looked gritty, with a harsh overall effect (I can't describe it better than this). The image included fruit, a drawing, timber and metal surfaces. When the image was enlarged the fruit (oranges) showed irregular red blobs, which I assume to be noise, on the Olympus which were entirely absent on the Canon. The outline of the edges of metal objects was broken up on the Olympus, smooth on the Canon. The wood surfaces had irregular patches of brown on the Olympus, but remained looking like wood on the Canon, even when enlarged to a high degree. I guess these differences come down to the quality of the sensor.

When I take into account the requirement for expensive XD cards for the Olympus (no card is supplied in the box) and the generally poor construction, I would have to say the Canon represents much better value, even though it is 40% more expensive. It also has a range of manual controls, sound in the movie mode (it also yeilds much larger movie image) which more than justify the extra cost. The Canon also has a much more solid construction, with quite a bit of metal detailing to the casing and buttons, where the Olympus' chrome elements appear to be a foiled plastic.

For Olympus, I suggest that having a camera of this standard on the market is doing them no favours at all. I intend to change my F3 for a digital SLR in the near future and, unfair as it is, my experience with the the D-535 (C-370) would lead me to stick to Canon and perhaps Nikon in a purchase at this level as well.

Opinion: Good first camera.