I bought this camera new in August of 2004, so this is a review based on 7 months of considerable use. I tend to use cameras under very harsh conditions: extreme cold, snow, rain, wind etc. Aside from the problem described below, the camera has worked well and seems to be quite rugged.
Picture quality is great. The metering system and autofocus are awesome. Learning curve is really steep, I continue to learn about the camera functionality. You can pretty much control anything you would ever want with this camera, or just set it to program mode and shoot away. Battery life is awesome. The 27mm equiv. wide angle is great, but the zoom is a little short. Macro shooting is great. All things considered, I would buy this camera again given what was available at the time.
Problems:
In December the monitor went almost completely white after using the camera in sub-zero temperatures. The camera still worked, just could hardly see anything on the monitor. I sent the camera back to Olympus, which was returned repaired in a surprisingly short time. Unfortunately, the same problem occured less than two weeks after getting it back. I sent it back to Olympus and they turned it around the same day they got it. They must have mis-diagnosed the problem the first time, but they got it right the second time. The camera worked fine on a week long backcountry ski trip in Canada.
Picture quality is great. The metering system and autofocus are awesome. Learning curve is really steep, I continue to learn about the camera functionality. You can pretty much control anything you would ever want with this camera, or just set it to program mode and shoot away. Battery life is awesome. The 27mm equiv. wide angle is great, but the zoom is a little short. Macro shooting is great. All things considered, I would buy this camera again given what was available at the time.
Problems:
In December the monitor went almost completely white after using the camera in sub-zero temperatures. The camera still worked, just could hardly see anything on the monitor. I sent the camera back to Olympus, which was returned repaired in a surprisingly short time. Unfortunately, the same problem occured less than two weeks after getting it back. I sent it back to Olympus and they turned it around the same day they got it. They must have mis-diagnosed the problem the first time, but they got it right the second time. The camera worked fine on a week long backcountry ski trip in Canada.