Customer Reviews

Olympus Camedia D-370 1.3MP Digital Camera

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The rating from me is actually 4 1/2 stars. Just because it's not perfect, but VERY good.

First, Picture Quality. Let me tell you that I think that the camera is a VERY good camera. When I first got it I was dissapointed by the picture quality, until I got the hang of using the camera. It seems the pic quality was more due to poor user than poor camera, I needed to learn HOW to take pictures first. Its not that it's hard to do. I just couldnt do it right. :) Now almost all of my pictures come out Crisp, clear and colorful. The camera's pic quality isn't perfect (what camera DOES take perfect pics all the time though?) but it's incredible for the price.

Second(and the thing you should know before buying), The Product specifications for the camera (at least at the time of writing this review) claim that it comes with an AC Adapter. It doesn't. The AC Adapter is sold seperatly. I was very dissapointed by this, and I hope that Amazon.com changes the specifications soon so no one else gets "burned".

Third, The Quicktime Movie mode. It is ok. It is soundless, somewhat grainy, and a pretty small picture, but it does have a nice framerate. The maximum length of the video is 60 seconds (at least on my 16 meg card that I bought for the camera). The video only takes up about 4 megs in size so I assume that this is the maximum length it can take at one time before compressing the video. It's a nice feature, but DONT buy the camera FOR it

Fourth, The battery power. It is VERY good on batteries. Even with the LCD screen turned on. (The LCD screen is bright and colorful in it's own right.) I am still on the set of batteries that came with the camera after 3 days owning the camera and have taken MANY pictures (at least 100) and 5 or 6 movies. I used the LCD screen for all the movies (I dont think you can turn it off when taking movies) and used it for taking about 15 pictures but always use it to review the pic after I take it.

In summary, This camera is great, and MORE than worth what they're charging for it. It's easy to use, takes nice pictures, and doesn't drain your batteries. I suggest buying a smart media card with it so you can take alot of pictures at once without having to empty the camera's memory. I got a 16 meg card and it is MORE than enough. I hope you found this review helpful.

I love this camera. It's definitely worth it for a sub $(...) camera. I agree with the other reviewers - the picture quality is great if you snap a shot correctly. It's very good on batteries. With USB, you can hot swap the camera and get your pictures onto your hard drive in no time. I gave it 4 stars because it would've been nice to have more internal memory. I went and bought myself a 64MB SmartMedia card for around $30. Now, I can take about 197 pictures in HQ mode. Too bad it doesn't have zoom, but we'd be robbing Olympus if it did.

I purchased this camera to post pictures on my website and, I must say, I'm pleased. After using another digital camera with only low resolution capability for almost a year, this is a vast improvement in picture quality. I'm not a digital camera or computer wiz, but I can honestly say this camera was easy to learn. Although, I think if I'd never used a digital camera before, I might have been confused when it came to downloading pictures. The instructions aren't as clear as they could be for rank beginners. I had to call the toll-free customer support hotline for clarification and they were extremely helpful and courteous. The manufacturer claims this camera will extend battery life - don't count on it, unless you plan to haul around a case of AA's! After taking less than 10 pictures, the batteries were drained in half! I immediately purchased the charger with four batteries and I expect it will save me a lot of $$ in the long-run. The 2mg internal memory only holds 3 pictures at a time in the HQ mode, which is recommended for web pix. I urge you to purchase a removeable memory card of at least 16mg or higher if you want to spend more time taking pictures and less time reviewing and deleting them. This camera has some very nice features. The color LCD screen is sharp and large enough to be very useful for reviewing your pixs. Downloading is extremely easy if you have Windows 98 or Me, just click and drag into the file of your choice. My 12-year old, who has never used a digital camera, took some excellent pictures her first time out and didn't require any assistance. (She can't wait to shoot a short video to post on the web for friends and relatives.) My husband uses a comparable Kodak digital camera at his office and finds this one much easier to use. Overall, we're very pleased with our purchase.

Olympus recently discontinued the excellent D360 camera and introduced the D370 to fill the spot in their product lineup. This camera has 2 new notable features; longer life battery circuitry and usb drive compatability. The new battery circuitry lasts noticably longer and the usb drive makes transfering images into a drag and drop task. However, the primary difference between this camera and the 360 is the lens on this camera is FIXED FOCUS. This camera is intended to be an entry level point-n-shoot, but you'll notice that all intermediate to professional quality cameras have auto focus. In using this camera I noticed two areas where something was left to be desired. Firstly, the flash is lacking. Night time pictures appeared exceptionally dark and lacking detail in dark corners. Secondly, all the shots I took came out with noticable graininess, especially shadowed areas. For a beginner this camera may be acceptable, but anyone with some camera experience might find a higher priced camera better suiting.

I bought this camera as an impulse buy and haven't been happier. I use the camera mainly for sending pics in email. I haven't had any problems with anything. I used to use a Polariod Fun Flash, and the Olympus is so much better. I like the extended battery life circuitry because the Polaroid seemed to eat batteries. I get nice clean shots, has many features that I use often. It has a great display, and it takes little time to learn how to use all of the features. Half of my initial fun was playing with the features. The included software is very easy to use because it makes the PC use the computer as a separate drive. You can even delete photos from the media from within the software, which saves a lot of time if you have a higher density smart media card. While it takes smart media for storage, ...a 128Mb smart media card? You can spend that in no time on disposable cameras and photo processing! This camera is a winner!

I did alot of homework before purchasing this camera. The camera cannot be beat relative to price, quality and performance. I recommend getting a baterry charger and a 32 meg card, this way you can take 50 super high quality photos (1280 x 960pixels) without draining the batteries. This camera is very easy to use and the photo quality is exceptional for email attachments as well as 4 X 6 prints. Downloading the photos using the included USB cable is easy and quick. If you like to edit the photos the included software is good. This camera is a great beginner digital camera. I am certainly going to enjoy this camera all year round.

.....

As soon as I opened up the package, I found a nice-looking camera, and even when I put in the batteries, I found that the camera was still very light. As a digital camera user, I wanted something that would take good photos indoors and out, movies, and have an LCD screen. This camera has all this and more.

The camera is the best purchase I have made, the pictures are so clear that I was surprised at the quality. My mum has a more expensive Olympus camera, and I found that this camera was just as great. Landscape photos and indoor photos are very clear. Also I found that the menu upon the LCD screen was very easy and fun to use. Pictures can be deleted without having to go on the computer, and I read that other cameras don't have this option. I have been able to get up to 10 pictures on internal memory by changing from High Quality to to SQ1 which is very suitable for emails.

The LCD is quite large for a camera this size and pictures can be view quite easily. There is also a function on the camera where you can move the picture up and down and side to side.

The best part of this camera is the movies. I have found the quality of the movie better than that of a webcam, it's fun and very easy to use.

I couldn't find any fault with this camera, for the price range it is definitely the best one.

Update:

About a month ago, I was on the train, and in the morning found my camera to be stolen. I was very distraught. However, I was given a gift certificate to Amazon. I'll be purchasing the same camera because it is easy to use and I could not imagine buying another.

This is the third 1.3 megapixel camera I've bought. This one is for Christmas for my sister but I'm giving it a road test first! This is a dandy little camera. I am very pleased with the quality of the photos and the ease of operation. It is also light-weight, and seems to have a very fast response time for "action-type" photography. Like all digitals, it tends to munch AA batteries, but it is superior to other models I have used, it's not quite as battery-hungry. Other minuses of this model: it has no optical zoom, no protection for the LCD, apparently no optional AC adapter, and occasionally the colors do not record true. However, for the money and for the fun, it can't be beat! It's an excellent entry-level camera. For e-mailing and prints up to 5x7 inches, it is all you'll ever need!

I have long been a fan of the Olympus Stylus-derived design. Not only is the clamshell case attractive, it is functional, eliminating the need for lens caps and protecting the camera's vitals from damage. The D-370 is a great camera for a digital beginner. I reserve it for the beginner category mostly because its lack of a true (optical) zoom lens (the 4x digital zoom is an electronic trick that allows you to double the size of the center of your image, but at the expense of halving the resolution; as the 370's 1.3 meg resolution will at best produce slightly grainy 5" x 7" enlargements, any degradation of the resolution effectively prohibits any serious image printing). The reasons to like this camera though are many: the battery life is excellent, the optics & flash are very good, and its connectivity (to your PC) is above average. I love the fact that it is capable of shooting short, QuickTime movie sequences. However, to enjoy this feature (or for that matter, to even find the camera useful), a much larger memory card is needed (the 2 meg card included is worth about a buck!). All in all, as an introduction to digital imaging, this is a fine camera, though if you can afford a bit more for a 3x zoom, look at the D-460.

I totally agree with reviewer: John from Los Angeles (see his review on here).

This camera has 2 new nice features; longer life battery circuitry with alkaline batteries and super easy usb compatability. Because with this camera they moved to a FIXED FOCUS lens, this camera suffers in quality BIG time. I have loved Olympus' cheap camera line for a long time. The 340R and 360 are super! All the shots I took with the 370 came out with noticable graininess, especially shadowed areas. For a beginner this camera may be acceptable, but I don't think so! I'd get a used Olympus 340/360 from eBay before ever concidering the 370, Yes, pic quality is THAT bad. Sorry Olympus, I have to say it like it is.

Having said that, I must admit the USB Auto Connect was great, and shooting movies (w/o sound) with this camera was cool.

But aren't we really buying a camera for PICTURE quality? I know I am! Pictures that will last forever...