A nice little camera...read on for more
Written: Dec 07 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small, decent price, good pictures.
Cons: See review
The Bottom Line: Nice camera, Olympus could improve a few things.
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| davidp123's Full Review: Olympus Camedia D-510 Zoom Digital Camera |
I bought this camera after doing a lot of online research and reading. I narrowed my search down to 3 cameras: Toshiba PDR-61, Canon A20, and this Olympus D-510. (Interestingly, all 3 were in one top 5 review). I dropped the Toshiba because it seemed pretty big and had less features (and the viewfinder was partially blocked). I was going for the Canon A20 but opted for the D-510 in the end. I've been happy with my choice.
Most of the positive comments have been made by others (both here and in other online reviews), but here are some points anyway:
- It's small. Small enough to fit into your pocket (shirt or pants). Not as small as an Elph but hey...
- Has video out. Can show the pics on your TV screen. A nice plus.
- Point and shoot.
- Has 4 settings (Tiff, SHQ, HQ, SQ). Tiff is uncompressed and you can select 4 different resolutions: 640x480 up to 1600x1200. SHQ and HQ are set at 1600x1200 resolution. And for SQ mode you can chose from 640x480, 1024x768, or 1280x960, with a choice of High or Normal quality. I use HQ almost exclusively. (SHQ = Super High Quality; HQ = High Quality; SQ = Standard Quality - I presume this is what they stand for anyway).
- Prints out acceptable/good 8x10's. If you're real serious about 8x10's I guess you should go with at least a 3megapixel camera. However, I was very happy with the pics I printed out at that size (using an HP Deskjet 952c).
- Uses SmartMedia. Don't have to worry about possibly bending any pins like with CompactFlash!
- Can take Quicktime movies, tho no sound. Okay, so there's really not much NEED for this, but it can be fun. Movies do have time limits regardless of size of card. In HQ mode, the movie limit is 15 seconds I believe; longer in SQ mode. However, you can record as many movies as will fit on the card.
- Decent price and you get a free 64mb card through a rebate! (from 11/15 until 1/31) Check Olympus' web site, www.olympus.com, for more info.
- Camera seems durable, even tho not the same metal casing as the D-490.
- Cable to connect to PC is nice and long...twice as long as my nephew's short Sony cable.
The only accessories I needed were:
- Bigger memory card. For the average user, I think a 64mb memory card will be sufficient. (The 8mb included only holds about 16 pics or so at HQ). At 64mb the manual says it will hold about 128 pictures in HQ mode - and with the ability to dump the pics to your PC and start again...well...I just don't see the need for a larger card. You can buy a 64mb card online for under $30 (including shipping) from places such as newegg.com. (The Mr. Flash card works fine according to one user.) I would be leary of even cheaper, no-name brands however.
- High-capacity NiMH batteries for it (rated 1600 mAh or more), and you'll be able to take LOTS of pictures! For $25 you can get a nice compact Rayovac four-AA charger and 1600 mAh batteries at WalGreens. Charges overnight. It fits in my camera bag nicely. It's only a little bigger than the camera (tho thinner), and I don't mind an overnight charge. For about $43 you can get a Monster Charger at CompUSA that will charge in 3 hours. It looked rather compact too. There's also some Baha charger I read about that is available at some stores online. Rayovac has a new 1 hour charger for about $48 (including batteries) at Walgreens, but it had a big AC transformer, and I wanted something small to fit in my camera bag. Bottom line: go for high-capacity NiMH, not the alkaline rechargables.
- And of course a camera bag, just big enough to hold the above items (and an extra set of regular AA alkaline batteries for emergencies).
Some TIPS:
- Be sure you open the cover all the way, or the camera won't work.
- You can hold the flash down and it will go into No Flash mode.
- Press the monitor button twice quickly to see the pictures you just took.
- BIG TIP: (Don't tell Olympus! :)) I was able to take 4 regular pictures and stitch them into a panaromic scene using the enclosed Camedia Master software! I didn't use the special Panoramic function built in the included 8mb card to do this.
- When you digitally zoom in on something, it's best not to use the viewfinder. Use the LCD screen instead. The viewfinder only zooms in as much as the optical zoom range. Digital zooms will not show up properly in the viewfinder. You must use the screen to see what the camera really sees.
- When you are ready to disconnect your camera from the PC, be sure and go to My Computer and right-click your removable drive (camera), and select "Eject" before unplugging. Otherwise the computer may hang. Be sure to wait for the lights to stop flashing on the camera before unplugging (about 20 seconds).
- If buying online, be wary of the really low-priced places. Most of them are difficult to deal with, and shipping charges can be quite high. ALWAYS check out www.resellerratings.com to see what others have had to say about a dealer!
- If you are using Windows 98 you have to install the drivers yourself from the CD-ROM. Point to the \USB directory I believe to get the right file.
- Check out the on-disk manual for more info than is provided in printed form.
There are a few things that I'm not crazy about on this camera...
1. I love the video out feature which lets you view your pics on your TV. What I don't like is the fact that the date, pic #, battery level, etc. show up on the picture for 3 seconds before disappearing. When playing back, I would like to just see the picture (with an option to have that info overlayed if you want it.) Note that INFO is OFF and this data still shows up.
2. Viewfinder is not 100% of what shows up in picture. I think one place I read said the viewfinder was only 90% of what was actually taken. On my camera there is a bit more on the left, right, and bottom of my picture than what I see in the viewfinder. The top part is cut just a bit off. You can zoom in quite tight on subjects, and you will still have some room around them (except for the top on mine). Be sure and see the LCD screen for what the actual picture will look like.
3. Lens is a bit noisy zooming in and out.
4. The battery indicator is all full...or near empty. There is no middle indicator. Just have extra batteries on hand.
5. Some of my flash shots look like flash shots. I compared pictures of a party with my Mom's pictures from her Olympus 35mm, and her flash pictures had better balance and color than some of mine. I.E. hers looked more natural and mine looked more like a flash had gone off.
6. I would rather have a neck strap than a hand strap.
I'd like to see people mention which printer they use too, as that is important for people wanting to print their own photos. I have seen an HP Deskjet 952c output and it is great (2400x1200, but slow). However, that 95x series is no longer being made. (Closest I've seen around is the 940 series.) I haven't seen an actual Lexmark Z53 picture output either, tho it too is rated at 2400x1200. (The picture printed out as a demo in store is at 600x600) But this is another subject... :)
In the end, I think this is a great camera and I'm pleased with it. I hope this has been a help to you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
davidp123
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 1 member
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