Customer Reviews

Olympus Camedia Brio D-150 1.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Olympus D-150 is an excellent entry level digital camera. It has most of the major features that is needed to do general purpose photography, whether it's computer based (web/email) or print based (great pics upto 5x7), with the ease of use of "point and shoot, auto everything" technology found on most "traditional" 35mm cameras. All features are easily accessible from the menu system and there are quick access buttons for flash and marco zoom modes. The D-150 is is one of the few digital cameras in it's price class that has optical zoom (3X) which is far better than digial zoom (the D-150 also has 2X digital zoom for upto 6X zoom). The included 8MB Smartmedia chip is small and you need to get at least a 16MB chip to do any serious shooting(the memory chips are not that expensive). The 1.5in LCD display is handy for precise framing of your subject. Also, buy the Lithium batteries!!! Do not buy the Duracel or Energizer or other alkalines unless you are desparate. It's worth the $10 (19.99 for two packs) to buy the Lithium battery pack. They last considerably longer than alkalines, especially when using the LCD display. Unless you have Photoshop or MS Office's Photo Viewer or equivilant, the software on the CD is useless except for PC driver support since the pics are jpeg format. If you're using a Mac (especially G4 w/OS 9.x and higher), you don't even need the CD for the drivers thanks to it's USB connectivity. Make sure your USB ports are working properly and try not to connect the camera through a hub or keyboard on both platforms. All in all it is a nice, "fun", little camera and takes great images for 1.3 megapixals. The D-150 is highly portable (unlike the high end Sony Mavicas...) and is feature packed for $300. Truly a "Best Buy".

I am no photography expert and this is my first digital camera. I agonized over this purchase for several hours reading all the reviews I could find. This seemed like a good all-round camera for the price. I rather get the impression that in camera terms you get what you pay for.

I think that this camera represents very good value for money. If you want to put pictures on the web or email them then this camera certainly does an excellent job. The software that comes with the camera is not great, but then you just plug it in and you can access the images using Windows Explorer (the camera is recognized as a removable hard disk).

I would say that indoor pictures in low light taken with flash are not too bad, however I understand that the flash is weak on many digital cameras, and this one is no exception. I bought a 32Mb memory card, which can store 35 really high quality or 99 medium quality pictures, which I think is more than enough. That card cost ...and medium quality is 1280 x 960 in 24bit, which is more than enough for my purposes.

I have not tried to print the pictures out in any way, but I am a web designer and so really I only want pictures in computer form for web or email use. All in all I am quite impressed. There are a few minor shortcomings but generally if you want high quality digital pictures for a reasonable cost this would be a great buy. If you want awesome printable pictures that beat a quality 35mm camera, you're going to have to spend a little more I think.

Ok. You could spend more and get more bells and whistles. You could get more MEGAPIXELS. But you won't find a better combination of features for the money.

Ask yourself, what is a camera? First it is a lens - and you get a good one. Fast aperture at 2.4 (lower is better) and good zoom (3X)combine to outclass others in this price range - by far. Olympus lenses have always been among the best of the best.

Second? How about design and quality manufacture of the body? One word - Olympus. This is my third Olympus camera and I have never complained about the design or quality. This camera may be small and mostly (if not all) plastic, but it is smartly designed and fairly rugged. I have always loved the clamshell lens cover design as a way to protect the lens. My 35mm Olympus has it too. Great feature. All controls are easy to access and there aren't too many buttons to make it confusing.

Third? Film - or in this case Mega Pixels. I know that more is probably better, but this one has enough for the beginner to intermediate photographer....and certainly enough for the casual snapshot photographer. Don't be fooled into thinking you need more to have good photos. Who prints anything more than 5x7 anyhow..?? You're probably not Ansel Adams.

Fourth? Flash - nothing flashy here, just a good snapshot type flash with a few options. Good enough for most purposes.

Fifth? Value - recent price drop via [Amazon.com] and Circuit City makes this a no brainer. Buy it. Buy two. Have fun. Someday you can move up to a more feature laden camera. With this...just point, shoot, and admire your great photos....and don't forget to share them with those you love.

Sixth? Simplicity - you can point and shoot in minutes after opening the box. Later you can upload to your PC with ease via USB connection - no software needed.

If you have waited to buy a digital camera, now is the time. The price is right and the camera is a good one.

Olympus D150 is a great camera all around.

I wish to dispell a misunderstanding that may be caused by the review of the Brio D-100 by 'rheumor' below. All Olympus Brio cameras currently available feature optical viewfinders, in addition to LCD monitors. These optical viewfinders use a lens that is separate from the lens used to take the picture; thus, some parallax is unavoidable. When doing close-ups or other critical work, the user should employ the [built-in] LCD monitor for image composition.

For my office, I have purchased (from Amazon.com) four of these cameras over the past few months. I intend to purchase another 3 or 4 over the next six months. We use them to illustrate our reports. I also use the camera a lot for personal use. For use in business reports, web page photos, or for emailing photos of the kids to the Grandparents, this is a great camera. Don't be fooled by all of the hype surrounding which camera to buy based on the amount of megapixels. If you are looking for a camera that is simple to use and has good photo quality this little 1.3 megapixel camera is perfect. In fact, if you just want to take photos for emailing or for a web page, set the camera at the "SQ" (Standard Quality - which is ambout .3 megapixel)to take the picture. This setting produces a very good picture file with a relatively small file size (about 80 kb). This makes emailing with a dial-up modem much faster, and more practical. Just imagine trying to email a 3 or 4 megapixel photo file over a dial-up connection - the file would be so large, it would take hours to upload / download. Transfering to your computer is simple with the wire included, but you must have a USB port on your computer. We also purchased Floppy Drive ("A" drive) adaptors (Flashpath)to have an alternative means to transfer...Other brief comments, purchase a 32 Meg SmartMedia card for extra storage. The 8 Meg that comes with it is okay, but these things are so [inexpensive], why not get the option to hold more photos. Also, buy rechargable batteries, and a recharger. You will save money in the short term.

Olympus makes the best-selling 35mm P&S camera in the world--the Stylus Epic. Take that technology and engineering, substitute a digital chip for film, add zoom and you have the Brio 150. So small it will fit in your pocket with room left for your keys. Very fast response time--slide open the clam shell covering and start firing. Great optics, very easy to use. My only problem is that once she sees it, my wife will make it hers. I guess I'll have to buy another! If you want a digital camera for email, prints up to 8x10, and pure fun, this is the one to get.

I own an Olympus C-3000 and love it. I purchased the D-150 to use in places where I would not want to take a more expensive camera (i.e. at the beach, camping, etc). First the good points. The camera has almost every function you would expect .. including the ability to view the pictures on a TV (via the RCA output). It does not have the ability to take video or capture audio. But frankly I never take video or capture audio.

Now the bad news. The picture quality of this camera is awful. Pictures are grainy and lack details and vibrance. I set my C-3000 to the same resolution 1280x960 and took a picture of the same subject with both cameras. The picture was taken outdoors to eliminate the effect of the flash. The picture on the C-3000 is vibrant and full of color. The whites are white, reds are red, and blacks are black. I then took the same picture using the D-150. What a difference. The entire picture is grainy and muted. The whites look like they have little dots of every possible color - and not true white. The blacks and reds are muted and dull. I was expecting the same picture quality if both cameras were set to the same resolution.

This camera is being returned. Not recommended!

Okay - I bought this refurbished, but it was factory sealed. It's a great camera for casual use and you cannot beat the price. Great features include the 3X optical zoom (forget about digital zoom - they are practically useless), a 12-second delay (I've dealt with less time to run and pose!) and an image print increase size to 5 X 7 (only 1.3MP). However, I never have had use for an 8 X 10 or more. Slim camera and inexpensive enough that I won't freak if I lose it (I lose cameras - one every few years!). The Smartmedia cards are great, as I can mail them home from vacation. Olympus is also a great company for returns or problems.

I got the Brio D-150 because I really like my old Olympus D-320L, but wanted a newer camera with more memory and easier uploading (USB instead of serial). Unfortunately, the picture quality is terrible. Worst is the color balance: indoors, on Auto, everything is yellow. When I set it to tungsten (light bulb), everything is blue. The auto-focus seems to be off, too--pictures are all slightly blurred. Bluntly, the pictures are ugly. My old Olympus takes much better pictures, as does my wife's newer (and cheaper) HP315.

From all the good reviews that I've seen for this camera, I suspect that I just got a faulty one, but it's not worth my time to try another of the same model. I'm returning this camera and not getting another Olympus any time soon. I recommend that, if you buy this camera, get it from somewhere with a good return policy, in case mine is not an isolated case.

The driver installation instructions that come with this camera are WRONG! I had to contact the support center to get a completely different way to install the driver so I could download the pictures to my computer.

This is my first digital camera, so I thought I was doing something wrong. Now that the driver is installed properly, I am happy with the camera's performance. Other than this, that is all the information I can give.