Customer Reviews

Olympus IR-500 4MP Digital Solutions Camera with 2.8x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, ive had an HP, Kodak, and Canon camera in my past. All were low budget decent quality cameras. Canon and Kodak excelled at colors while the HP one actually came free with a printer and did a decent job, although it was nothing spectacular.
This camera on the otherhand, is HORRIBLE. Dont be fooled by all the options that olympus throws in, like the "scene" modes. Most are novelty and some are just horrible. The indoor scene mode makes the shutter speed slow down to a ridiculous degree where you have to sit there and hold the camera motionless for a solid 10 sec after pressing the button just to get a somewhat blurry, oversaturated picture. Also, this camera is NOT compact. It is about 1.5 in thick with the screen folded. Thats actually pretty thick ifyou compare it to other compact cameras on the market now.
The flash: I HATE the flash. Never have I seen a flash that so badly washes out all natural color from a picture. Also, if you put it on "filler" mode, it still comes out as bright and ruins the pictures. Without flash the camera is nothing, it cant focus, it cant capture anything.
The docking cradle: Why in the world did they add this? Its completely useless. Its som sort of bulky docking cradle that you MUST use in order to load pics onto your pc.
Overall, DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Bought this for my wife for a when she went down to assist in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup in Sept. of 2005. Everyone in the family loves this camera. It is small, lightweight, takes very nice pictures and has a huge screen. The battery lasts much longer than many digital cameras I have used.

It is not a pro camera, but it doesn't cost what a pro camera costs!

Actually, we may buy a second one!

This camera is so good thet in my family 5 member have already bought one

I have owned this camera now for 1 week and it's amazing!!
The 2.5" screen makes life ever so simple and the picture quality is first rate.
I am atrue amateur yet this camera set at "auto" does it all and every photo looks top quality.
I like the protection given to the screen and lens when the camera is in the stored made.

Olympus IR-500 4MP Digital Solutions Camera with 2.8x Optical Zoom (Includes Docking Station)
When this camera first came out, I was tempted to buy it. Since I already have a Fuji Finepix M603, I recommended the Olympus IR-500 to a few of my friends when J&R.com sold it, brand new for a mere $[...]; I wished I bought it then. After over a year I finally decided to purchase one but, it's nowhere to be found. I did a hard search on the WWW and checked eBay and Craig's List regularly until I finally found one for $[...] brand new. I waited because I refused to pay for it over priced.

The IR-500 is a compact 4 megapixel camera that does the job really well. The large 2.5" LCD swivels 360° to the front, it's screen protected when not in use. Because of it's Transformer-like quality it never fails to get a "cool" comment from people who've seen me use it. It compliments well with my white iPod and iMac.

The IR-500, the same with my Olympus C-211 Zoom with a built-in printer which by the way is still in a very good working condition, is fun to use. Next on my list, either the Sony Cybershot DSC-G1 or the Canon TX1. I can't wait.

I got this camera for my 18th birthday, last year. Since then I have taken over 3000 pictures with this camera. The video quality is alright, and can be difficult when making movies, but it is a camera, not a VIDEO camera. I was able to make a documentary video with this camera, but it was rather difficult once on the computer. I mostly edited the content on the camera. Such a nice feature!
The indoor does take a while to actually take the picture. For faster shutter times, hold the button half way down, until a green circle shows on the screen, then snap the shot. That use is better if you are waiting for something to happen. Everything else is great! The firework selection does awesome artwork with different light-styles. I am ever-finding new things to do with the camera. It has been to camps and back, it has been to disneyland, and even horseback riding. The camera isn't small, but it is small enough to put in a pocket and sneak into Grad-Night! The self-portrait selection goes over really well with teenagers today. An upgraded memory card is suggested.

Overall, this camera is the best I've seen out there. Great quality, HUGE LCD, and so many functions it is easy to get lost in the camera. :-) I love the calendar feature: the camera can store the pictures by what day the picture was taken on. Don't want to go looking for that one picture to show your mom? Use the calendar and search through a lot less pictures!

I have probably spent 50-60 hours trying to convert my digital movies recorded on this camera to dvd. I am not technically-savvy, so I expected to spend some time, but this is ridiculous. I finally got the imagemixer software (included on the Olympus Master disc)to burn a dvd, but the sound is just a high pitched squeak at the beginning of each clip. So irritating. I tried converting the quick time movies into mpeg-4 using cucusoft and burning a disc with nero express 6, but the quality was so poor, I didn't even bother to burn the dvd.

As a still camera, this is fine. It's my first digital, and I have been happy with my photos. I like the larger than usual LCD. I also like the ability to close the LCD and drop the camera in my purse.

I got this camera for free with miles that were going to expire. Compared to what is out there, it is huge! I do like the folding viewer as it won't get scratched, but now a days you can buy the plastic covers for the viewers to avoid that.

Needless to say, I'm still using it on vacations and will only buy a new one when this dies or breaks.