Olympus IR-300 5MP Digital Solutions Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station)

by Olympus

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0007CZ3BW
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,926 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 17, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer With its sleek shell the IR-300 digital camera will be popular with photographers with an eye for pure, minimalist design. Thankfully it also has the technology to back-up the aesthetic. With its 5.0 million pixels even the smallest images can be reproduced in high-definition. These can then be checked and shared--even in bright sunlight--on the 2-inch Sunshine LCD monitor.

The Olympus IR300's large Sunshine LCD display allows you to view your images even in bright sunlight.

Its stylish exterior belies its superior focusing capabilities. A 3x optical (35mm equivalent: 38-114mm) and 4x digital zoom provide this model with a 12x total magnification. Users can also choose from a plethora of scene modes (17 in total) including Fireworks, Beach and Snow, and the more traditional Portrait, while editing functions, including Resize and Red Eye Reduction, can be carried out directly on the camera allowing photographers to enhance the shots quickly while on the move.

The camera offers a choice of 19 selectable shooting modes for photography in a wide range of conditions. Simply select a shooting mode and the camera is ready to photograph the situation at hand with the optimum aperture, shutter speed, white balance, color saturation, and flash setting. In QuickTime Movie mode, a camera shake function has been incorporated to reduce image unsteadiness and allow more carefree movie shooting.

The Album Function on the IR-300 allows users to organize images into photo albums on the camera's xD-Picture Card from the images taken by the camera, or even those transferred to it from a computer. Users can create up to 12 separate albums of 100 images, sort them as they choose, and access them conveniently. The new built-in Calendar Function automatically organizes and recalls images by specific dates. If users desire to transfer images to a computer, they can do so with the Auto-Connect USB 2.0 full speed that does not require software drivers (for most computers/operating systems), enabling hassle-free, full-speed image downloads.

Additional features such as Super Macro shooting from as close as two inches and movie recording with sound (including a digital image stabilizer to prevent erratic video images) add to this stylish and versatile package.

The included camera dock acts as a battery-charging unit and enables easy image downloading and printing.

The IR-300 comes with a docking station which not only acts as the battery charging unit but also doubles as a camera stand. It's also the key to the integration that allows the PC-free printing and archiving, plus connection to the other Easy Imaging System components.

Product Description

You're not just looking at a mere digital-camere here. It's part of a Total Imaging System. A statement of minimalism in style meshed with sleek ergonomics and high technology culminates in a digital camera that's powerful, practical, and purposeful. With a 3x optical (35mm equiv: 38-114mm) zoom coupled with up to 4x digital zoom, this 5 megapixel camera delivers still images up to an amazing 2560 x 1920 resolution and movies up to 320x240 QVGA with sound. In a sense, it delivers a wide variety of photo opportunities in one digital-camera that's easy to hold and fun to use. In addition to auto and manual focus and exposure modes, you can also choose among scene modes (17 in total) including Fireworks, Beach & Snow and the more traditional Portrait, while editing functions, including Resize and Red Eye Reduction, can be carried out directly alloowing quick, in camera enhancements. There's a convenient docking station which not only acts as the battery charging unit but also doubles as a camera stand. Olympus offers optional accessories for the Total Imaging System such as a convenient DVD burner (SDVD100) that may be connected directly to the camera for easy transfer of images to a DVD-R or CDR disc through the camera's built-in USB 2.0 port (that can also connect to a PC or Macintosh computer). Images are stored on xd-PuctureCard digital media memory cards and both movie and still picture storage is only limited by the capacity of the memory card (we suggest getting the largest capacity you can afford). The IR300 comes with 14MB internal memory so you can take a couple pictures right of the box. Olympus offers an easy-to-use PS-100 printer as an optional part of this system but you can also use pritners that connect to your PC or Mac. Overall, it's probably the friendliest camera to use and, that alone, should make you happy. 2-inch Indoor/Outdoor LCD screen Built-in multimode electronic-flash

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars prettiest camera in the shop, September 7, 2005

By 

Cocolaco (Jupiter) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus IR-300 5MP Digital Solutions Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station) (Electronics)

it's so difficult buying a new thing, comparing all the products and features and prices and really not wanting to be disappointed with your final choice and so on. anyhow, i had a 2MP camera and so i wanted to get a better one, but also i am a girl with tiny pockets so i needed a small camera, and i wanted to be able to zoom and use macro. i compared lots of cameras and looked at lots of sample photos on review sites, and overall the sample photos from canon cameras seemed to be the best ones - olympus camera photos were good quality too, but only from 5MP cameras and above.

in the end, i narrowed the search down to the canon ixus range and the olympus stylus range. i was concerned about the fragility of the ixus cameras' LCD screens after reading lots of negative comments about them, so i decided to go with the olympus stylus 5MP. but then this IR-300 came out fresh on the market, $100 cheaper! so maybe i will find out something bad about it in the future, but it looks better than the stylus, and it's smaller, and so far it takes great photos.

pros:
+ huge preview screen on the back, which is sturdy and can be seen from any angle
+ scratch-resistant camera body
+ really easy to navigate/use
+ very useful & easy to use pre-set settings for types of photos e.g. portrait, night-time, landscape
+ camera recharges in dock
+ very easy to transfer photos to computer via dock (i didn't even install the olympus software, i just use the windows transfer wizard)
+ small

cons:
- none so far!

update, 6 months later:

i'm still really happy with this camera. no complaints. to address two concerns i've just seen in other reviews - i've found the soft camera case that it came with is quite sufficient for everyday use - and regarding pictures at night, if you use the flash or any of the presets like "night scene", that also use the flash, then you won't get shaky photos like someone else mentioned... it's only if you turn flash off, or change to a preset that doesn't have a flash (like "available light portrait" or "candle"), where you will get blurring or shakiness. so you have to steady the camera by using your elbows as a tripod.. or just set the camera down to take the photo.. or stay still while you take the photo. i've taken heaps of great night photos, both with & without flash.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simple to use but very good results, August 13, 2005

By 

J. Insley (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus IR-300 5MP Digital Solutions Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station) (Electronics)

I knew I had bought the right camera when all my friends started suffering camera envy. It's very gorgeous, with sleek white casing - ipods addicts will love it. It was very simple to start using the camera, although I haven't explored all the settings yet. V easy to download pics onto computer, with straightforward software (a first in my experience!). The screen on the back is large and has great colour depth, and the sound quality for the movie clip function is surpringly good for something this size. And because it is so small and slim, you end up taking the IR300 everywhere with you, and take loads more photos.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All In One Camera, October 15, 2005

By 

Bogda - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus IR-300 5MP Digital Solutions Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station) (Electronics)

I got this camera because I wanted to upgrade from my super old 1 mega pixel camera. Cameras have come a long way and this camera is really all you need. I bought this because I found it on sale for what I thought was a great deal. After I brought it home and discovered all its features, I feel like it was a steal for the price!

This camera has 5 mega pixels. It's incredibly small and pretty easy to use. There are so many ways to take pictures with this little gem. You can take a split screen, like a before and after in one shot, you have a macro zoom and can get in as close as two inches from your subject, you can change your pictures to black and white or brown and white, you can take pictures with special frames like a heart or traveling images which would be fun for a scrapbook. What I absolutely love about this camera is that you can even record digital movies with sound on this! I had no idea it could do this when I bought it, imagine my surprise! The movies typically range from 30 seconds to two minutes, but if you get a large memory card, I think you are able to expand on the video recording time.

There are a couple of cons. I wish they would have included a card with the camera. So if you get this, buy a card or you'll be stuck with just a few pictures. There is no User Manual included which is a major pain. You do get a CD with the manual in a PDF format, but I prefer to flip through a little pocket sized book and not waste my own time and paper printing out a manual that's over 100 pages. There are so many features that the menus are a little hard to remember where everything lives, but with practice, I'll get the hang of it which is why I would have liked a pocket sized manual instead of the PDF. It also doesn't come with a little carrying case which would have been nice.

I would highly recommend this camera if you are planning a trip or are a new parent (especially with the video feature), or are just looking for a new small camera that's fully loaded.