Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera - Excellent Photos on the Budget
Written: Nov 05 '04 (Updated Aug 02 '05)
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Pros: Low price, excellent performance, AA batteries, compact size, easy to use, sturdy
Cons: No manual control, no focus-assist beam
The Bottom Line: Good performance and easy to use - this camera is a good choice for a beginner or somebody who doesn’t need manual control.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera |
Oh sweet marketing machine... After you buy a digital camera, people ask you the most important question. "How many megapixels?" The sales people in the stores try to convince you that the more the better. Rediculous.
The megapixel race is almost as meaningless as the digital zoom race in camcorders. Remember the time you looked at the camcorders at the store shelf? Majority of them had vivid stickers with "420x digital zoom", "700x zoom", etcetera.
Never mind the fact that the multiple-hundred digital zoom is unusable and unneeded. Never mind the fact that for 4x6 prints 3.2 Megapixels is more than enough and is sufficient for 8x10 enlargements.
In fact, some cameras that feature 4-Megapixel and higher resolution have lenses that do not deserve such high resolution. In other words, the higher resolution will do no good and is, in fact, bad. Higher resolution imaging sensors (CCD or CMOS) tend to have higher noise at any given ISO.
People underestimate the importance of good optics. People want more megapixels...
The Olympus D-575 features 3.2-Megapixel resolution (as I said, it is more than enough for regular-size 4x6-inch prints and lets you produce very good 8x10-inch enlargements).
Lens
The lens is the same as used in some other Olympus "D" models, e.g. Olympus D-580. If has maximum aperture range of F/3.1-5.2 and focal range of 5.8-17.4mm (35-105 mm in 35-mm equivalent). It is worth mentioning that the maximum aperture is F/3.1 at wide angle and F/5.2 at telephoto and it seems like the minimum aperture is F/8.7 at the wide angle.
The camera uses a two-step aperture – there is only maximum and minimum aperture values, but no value in between can be used. It seems that there is no “real” diaphragm, but rather a plate with a small opening (to create minimum aperture). When the plate is not in the optical path, the camera is at its maximum aperture, when it is in the path, the camera is at its minimum aperture. Although this approach is pretty cheap, it still works well.
The lens uses aspherical elements to provide impressive zooming power in compact package.
Zoom
The camera has 3x optical zoom and 3.3x digital, which combine to 10x zoom. You can disable digital zoom to avoid resolution loss. The zoom rocker seems counter-intuitive to me – you move the lever forward to zoom out and towards yourself to zoom in. In the picture review mode – you can also zoom in and out the same way.
Shutter
The camera uses electronic shutter, which means there is no mechanical shutter and the “shutter time” determines how long the image is being captured for – this is the same approach used in digital camcorders and it works well here. It is also more reliable to have no mechanical shutter.
The shutter speed range is 1/1,000-1/2 sec (and up to 2 sec in Night Scene mode).
Viewfinder
The camera’s viewfinder is optical and, as such, fluid and easy to use in the dimly lit situations. The camera also has an 1.8-inch LCD screen, which can also be used to frame the shot.
Design
The camera is of clamshell design. The lens, flash and viewfinder lens are covered by a large sturdy lid that, when slid open, also powers the camera on. If you try to close the lid, the lens retracts and the camera powers itself off. This design is easy to use and protects the lens, flash and other elements well. Although the lid is very sturdy and protects the lens well, it requires pretty high force to open. It also makes closing the lid a bit slow as you have to start closing the lid until it stops, wait until the lens retracts and then close the lid all the way.
Also, I have experienced a situation when the batteries were low, where the lens would start to retract and then stop halfway or twitch with not enough juice in the batteries to make it retract fully. No biggie – just make sure the batteries are fully charged and that you brought extras if intend to shoot a lot.
The camera body itself is sturdy and has well-designed, easy to use, lids for battery compartment, memory card, A/V and USB ports and a power port lid. The body-color silver buttons on the rear panel are relatively large and feel solid.
Flash
The flash is very powerful (almost scary), which is a good thing. The flash features defeatable red eye reduction mode and you can forcefully turn the flash off. The flash charge time is about 7 seconds.
Connectivity
You can view the pictures (and short videos) you took on the TV screen by connecting the camera to a TV via a supplied A/V cable (the camera also has a DC power jack so that you don’t deplete the batteries by doing so for prolonged periods, but the AC/DC adaptor is not included). You can also transfer your pictures and videos to your computer either by using the USB connection or by removing the xD-Picture memory card and inserting it into a reader connected to you computer, provided you have one, of course.
The USB connectivity is easy and works on PCs with modern operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, etc.) without the need to install drivers. With Windows 98, you have to install a driver from the supplied CD-ROM.
The camera, when powered on in viewing mode (by pushing a button on the back panel), appears as a removable drive in Windows and can be operated as such – you can copy files from there. JPEG files represent pictures taken. Make sure you “unplug or disconnect” the device by right-clicking the device icon in the Windows’ system tray and going through the steps before powering the camera off or disconnecting it. I had to ill effects when I forgot to do so, but is still recommended.
Picture Quality
The camera has 3.2-Megapixel resolution and can take pictures at maximum resolution of 2048x1536 in SHQ or HQ modes. The JPEG compression is lower in SHQ mode, resulting in better picture quality and larger files. The included 16Mb xD-Picture card can only fit 6 shots in the SHQ mode or 20 shots in HQ mode.
There are two lower-resolution modes: 1600x1200 (SQ1) and 640x480 (SQ2, VGA resolution). These are useful for web posting or emailing. The supplied 16 Mb card can fit approximately 32 shots in SQ1 mode and 165 shots in SQ2.
The 3.2-Megapixel resolution lets you print photographs of up to 8x10 with excellent detail level. You can also easily download the pictures to your computer and resize them (lower the resolution) to post them online in a smaller format. Or if you intend to use the pictures for web posting and emailing only, you can take them at 640x480 resolution.
The camera produces very good pictures with good contrast and colors, especially in bright sunlight or using the built-in flash. Obviously, it is a point-and-shoot camera body, but its picture quality is very good and it is easy to use as well.
Also, the lens has maximum aperture of f3.1, which is better than what point-and-shoot film based cameras normally provide. This lets in more light and allows you to shoot with faster shutter speed.
The camera’s lens is very good for the price and helps it produce sharp photos.
Power
The camera uses two AA batteries, which it consumes rather quickly. I highly recommend NiMH rechargeable batteries of the highest capacity you can get. Digital cameras are power hungry and this one is no exception, particularly when using its powerful flash and LCD.
Viewfinder and LCD
The camera’s LCD is 1.8-inch and is reasonably bright in the sunlight. It has resolution, which is enough to see what you are shooting, but not enough to see if the picture is in sharp focus. The LCD lets you frame the picture perfectly, whereas the optical viewfinder conserves the batteries but shows only part of the picture that will be taken.
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.
Focusing
There is no manual focus or focus assist light. The camera uses contrast detection to focus – a somewhat slow process (slightly less than a second), which produces good results nonetheless. You can focus off-center by pushing the “shutter release” button halfway with the subject in the center of the viewfinder or LCD, moving the camera to recompose the shot and then depressing the button all the way to take the picture.
The camera also has Macro mode and can focus in the range of 8”-20” and super macro mode with focus range of 2.75”-8”. In normal mode the focus range is 20”- infinity.
The focusing system occasionally has problems in dimly-lit indoors shots – the focusing takes a lot of time and sometimes the shot can be taken with lack of focus.
Adjustments
The most important adjustment you can make is exposure adjustment +/-2EV in 1/2 EV steps. You can make other numerous manual adjustments, including white balance (auto, Fluorescent light, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten), picture mode (presets for portrait, landscape, etc.), B&W, sepia effect and others. There is no custom white balance beased on a white card.
You can switch between digital ESP and spot metering (e.g. for dark objects in strong backlight). The camera has calendar and can add the date information to the pictures on the memory card.
ISO
The camera features automatic ISO sensitivity setting in the range of ISO 80-400. The noise level increases as ISO grows and becomes noticeable in low-light situations as ISO approaches 400.
Usability
The camera is pretty easy to use. It is not intended for people who want more manual control as there is no aperture or shutter priority mode, let alone full manual mode, there is no manual ISO setting. You cannot install filters as lens have no filter thread. But nobody expects a pro-sumer camera for less than $200.
The lack of some pro-sumer features is compensated by the camera’s ease of use and performance, let alone its compact size, sturdy construction and price. The camera is relatively convenient to hold and the LCD has good visibility, although sometimes it is difficult to see if the focusing worked well, as the screen is small and the resolution is not sufficient.
The focusing has no assist beam and at times produces out-of-focus pictures in dim light. But it is a digital camera, so you can get a large xD-Picture memory card and take plenty of pictures – most of them will be in focus.
The camera’s lens is very good and suits well the 3.2-Megapixel resolution of the camera’s CCD. Overall, this is a very good camera for its intended market. It produces sharp pictures and I recommend it for people who just want to “point and shoot”.
Camera Comes with...
...a 16 MB xD-Picture memory card, two AA batteries, a USB cable, an A/V cable, CD-ROM with software and manuals.
Bottom Line
Good performance and easy to use - this camera is a good choice for a beginner or somebody who doesn’t need manual control.
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
Amount Paid (US$): 199
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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 in Electronics |
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Location: California
Reviews written: 838
Trusted by: 516 members
About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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