Olympus D-565 Zoom Digital 4-Megapixel Camera - Solid Features and Performance
Written: Jun 21 '04 (Updated Sep 01 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Picture quality, features, solid construction, good LCD, easy to use
Cons: The zoom rocker is counter-intuitive
The Bottom Line: I am happy with this camera and recommend it to anyone looking for a 4-Megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera. It has excellent...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Olympus D-565 Zoom (225-410) Battery Charger |
After having scanned close to 200 photographs I made while on vacation in Europe, I decided it was time to go digital. Upon receiving my first foray into the digital photography world, the Olympus Camedia D-565 Zoom and partially reading its manual, I headed towards mountains. For hiking and to try it out.
Performance
The pictures I took during the hiking trip can be found at
http://www.review-shop.com/Olympus_D565/Olympus_samples_1.html
(you can copy-and-paste this link into your browser’s Address area). If some pictures don’t load during the first page load, right-click the images that did not appear and select “Show Picture”
As you can see, the images taken at the highest camera resolution (2280x1712 pixels, HQ) look very good with good contrast, vivid colors and good resolution. This is not the camera’s best picture mode and I expect the picture quality to be even better in SHQ mode.
In fact, the quality is better than the film-based point-and-shoot camera would provide because, in part, of the fact that the focus distance for digital cameras is smaller than for film cameras and that increases the depth of view (the part that is in focus at a given time) at the same aperture setting.
Also, the lens has maximum aperture of f3.1, which is better than what point-and-shoot film based cameras normaly provide. This lets in more light and allows you to shoot with faster shutter speed.
The reason I used the second-best photo mode was the fact that the camera comes with a 16-Mb memory card, which fits only 5 photos in SHQ mode at the highest resolution, but in HQ mode you can take 16 photos at the same resolution.
I want to mention that if you switch from auto white balance to incandescent, it produces pictures that are slightly over-corrected (colder color tones than they should have been).
Memory Capacity
You can get a larger capacity memory card (this camera uses xD-Picture cards), but the supplied 16-Mb card fits 5 frames at 2280x1712 SHQ, 16 frames at the same resolution in HQ mode, 76 frames at 1024x768 pixels (SQ1 mode) or 165 frames at VGA resolution - 640x480 (SQ2).
You can put photos of different resolutions on the memory card simultaneously. In this case, the card will fit a number of images that is lower than the maximum amount of the lowest-resolution pictures it would otherwise fit. E.g. if you take pictures in SQ2 and in other resolutions, you can fit less than 165 frames.
You can see the remaining number of photos (based on the current mode selected) in the lower left corner of the LCD display.
Construction
The camera is sturdy and has a solid lid that covers the lens, the flash and other parts when the camera is not in use. Sliding the lid turns the camera on and extends its lens. The controls are easy to use and feel solid. The camera feels well-built.
Flash
The camera uses a very powerful flash. It is so powerful, it is almost scary. But it helps tremendously to bring out the details in the low light conditions. I have heard some complaints about high power consumption of this camera (as well as some other digital cameras) and I am sure that the flash does contribute to this. I have no problems using NiMH rechargeable AA batteries.
Battery
The camera comes with AA (R6) batteries and uses 2 of them, but can use a single CR-V3 lithium battery pack. Only alkaline or NiMH AA batteries can be used. The use of manganese (zinc-carbon, sometimes labeled “Heavy Duty”) batteries is explicitly prohibited (they would not last long either).
I am using 2 NiMH (1600 mAh) rechargeable AA batteries and they seem to last quite long. After taking about 40 pictures (half of them with flash), the battery indicator still shows “full”.
Transfer Your Pictures to Your Computer
The camera has a USB port and the USB cable is supplied. My PC with Windows 2000 recognized the camera as an “External Storage Device” with no need to install any software or drivers. After that, I could copy photos on my hard drive as if they were files. They show up as files with JPG extension when viewed on the camera (Removable Drive) in Windows Explorer or My Computer.
Users of Windows 98/98SE will have to install a USB driver that comes with the camera. I expect that users of newer operating systems (XP, ME) will not have to do this (as I didn’t have to do this with my Win2000).
After the pictures are transferred (it doesn’t take much time), you can manipulate them (add titles, adjust colors, brightness, etc.). I like the ability to neatly organize my photos in digital format in subdirectories and burn them on CD for archiving or upload to digital printing service. All this without having to scan my film-based pictures.
A word of caution: make sure you “Eject/Unplug” the device in Windows before powering the camera off. I forgot a couple of times and got a warning that “…some data may be lost… make sure to unplug/eject the device before disconnecting it…”. Nothing bad happened though and I will try to be less forgetful next time.
Advantages of Digital Cameras
The first advantage is you can immediately see the result on the camera’s LCD screen and erase and retake the picture if you don’t like the result. Also, the camera has white balance setting through the menu (Auto, Sunlight, Incandescent Light, Fluorescent Light). There are programmed auto exposure modes as well, including Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Self Portrait).
You can easily upload your photos to your computer. Also, you don’t waste film and preserve the environment.
Ease of Use
I have to admit that I partially read the manual before starting to use the camera. Because of that, I had no problem operating it and navigating menus. Oftentimes, people complain that something is difficult to use simply because they try to use it without reading a manual. I will reiterate – after partially reading the manual, the camera is relatively easy to use.
The only concern is counter-intuitive zoom rocker. You pull it towards yourself to zoom in (telephoto) or push it forward to zoom out (wide angle). Shouldn’t it be the other way around? The same rocker switch is used when you want to zoom into the picture you has taken already.
LCD
The back of the camera houses a color 1.8” LCD with 85,000 pixels, which works well in the sunlight. You can control framing accuracy through the LCD, which is more accurate than the optical viewfinder the camera also has. If you want to conserve the battery power, you can use the viewfinder.
The LCD also shows you the current shooting modes, information about the battery status and the memory card’s remaining capacity. It also serves to display menus.
Zoom
The camera has 3x optical and 4x digital zoom, which combine to deliver 12x combined zoom. You can zoom into the picture stored on the memory card at up to 4x.
Focus
The camera focuses somewhat slow (about 1 seconds or slightly less), but well. You can focus on the object off-center if you place the object in the center first, push the “shutter release” button halfway (at which point the camera lock the focus, exposure, etc.) and then move the camera to recompose the shot and press the button all the way.
Features
To name a few, the camera has auto and manual white balance, spot digital ESP and metering, macro mode, manual exposure adjustment (exposure compensation). There is sequential shooting mode and you can also combine 2 pictures into one.
It has a USB port, DC port and a video out for connection to a TV for viewing. It features an automatic calendar up to year 2099. It also supports short movie clip capture in QuickTime format.
Some Specs
The camera has a 4.0-Megapixel CCD with 4,230,000 pixels (4,000,000 of them are effective). It can be switched between the digital ESP metering and spot metering. In spot metering mode, the exposure is controlled based on the object in the center, which is useful when you are shooting a dark object in the strong backlight. In the digital ESP metering mode, it is controlled based on the sections of the whole picture.
The shutter speed is from 1/2 to 1/1000 sec. It is 2 seconds in the Night Scene mode. The shooting range is 1.6 ft to infinity or 0.7-1.6 ft in macro mode.
The camera weighs 170 g (0.4 lb.) without batteries or card.
Bottom Line
I am happy with this camera and recommend it to anyone looking for a 4-Megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera. It has excellent picture quality and solid set of features.
My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras
Canon:
Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon Powershot S1 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A520 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S500 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S410 / Digital IXUS 430 Digital Camera Review
Panasonic:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ2 Digital Camera with 12x Leica Lens and Optical Image Stabilizer Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1 Digital Camera with Optical Image Stabilizer and 12x Leica Lens Review
Olympus:
Olympus Camedia C-765 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera with USB and ED Lens Review
Olympus Stylus 410 4-Megapixel All-Weather Digital Camera Review
Olympus Camedia D-580 / C-460 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-565 Zoom Digital 4-Megapixel Camera Review
Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Others:
Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Digital Camera Review
Pentax *istD Digital SLR Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 Digital Camera Review
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
Reviews written: 841
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About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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