Olympus SP-350

Opinion: Overall the SP series by Olympus have been such great value for the money, my only suggestion was for this camera is that you can't quite grasp it/handle it like you can with the 500, more or less like a compact.

Opinion: Fabulous little camera with the right features for the keen amateur or semi pro who wants a quality second / small camera . Fast to use . All the features you would need . Very high quality images when using ISO 50 but above that & the picture quality looks poor for the amount of money the camera costs . Indoors the flash coverage is poor over 10 feet using ISO 50 so an external flash on the hot shoe would be needed for long distance shots unless you put up with the much poorer image quality of using ISO 100 or above . Battery life is limited because of the 2x AA batteries - i useds Nimh 2600 mah batteries . Using the camera in the sun of the Canary Islands was brilliant - the results were outstang .

Opinion: Overall a great P&S to supplement my DSLR. I like raw file capability, the hot shoe and manual control.

Opinion: My first digital camera was a Olympus D-340L 1.3MP which I use as a backup now that I have the SP-350. I am very impressed with the quality and super picture quality and easy menu operation. It took me about a half day to figure the menu out. I cheated a few times looking in the manual. The manual leaves a lot to be desired and was not written for the novice. Especially setting the dual clocks. Overall I am very satisified. The super macro mode is enticing. I do believe I could photograph an ant and see the eyes. I thought by 340-L was a great digital camera until I got this SP-350. The batteries in the 340-L lasted about five time longer but can't complain because it takes a lot of current to make the SP-350 preform. Keep several spare batteries on hand if you intend to shoot a thousand pictures. Let's see how many words would that be? Getting familiar with the camera used up my first set. After becoming advanced you learn not to use all the sounds, bells and SHQ all the time.
Anyone else have comments. Let me know. By the way this camera feels just my old Yashica 35mm automatic. I still have several rolls of film that I'll never use now that the digital age has come into my household.