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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic 15X Optical Zoom, Solidly Built Camera, May 5, 2010
This review is from: Olympus SP-600UZ 12MP Digital Camera with 15x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)
I've owned many Fuji digital cameras over the years, this is my first Olympus camera ever. What sold me was the 15X optical zoom and the price. The Fuji 30X zoom camera Fujifilm FinePix HS10 10 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD costs too much. After seeing first-hand what good quality pictures I can get from this Olympus, I'll seriously look at this brand for future camera purchases.
PROS:
>>> 1 GB of INTERNAL memory - some of it is used by the on-board manual - you can get by without buying an SD card. With internal memory and the camera set at 12 MP resolution, you can take 112 pictures or 14 minutes of video without adding an SD card. The manual is INSIDE the camera - so you can access it anytime you need help - even if you are out in the boonies with no PC. Get out your reading glasses, the print is small.
>>> Quality-build - this camera just "feels good" in your hand, not one of those flimsy little ultra-compact cameras that are so popular now. Easy enough to grip with your right hand. Heavy enough that it requires a neck strap, not a hand strap to carry it.
>>> Magic Filter Settings: Fun way to play with your pictures. You can also create art with these - settings are: pop art, pinhole, fish eye and drawing. Take a picture of your child and print it out in the "drawing" setting; your child can color it in with his/her crayons.
CONS: (my cons aren't all bad, it all depends on what YOU are looking for in a camera)
>>> No optical viewfinder. Not a big deal to me, but might be to you. Your only viewfinder with this camera is the LCD screen.
>>> Not so easy to carry in your bag, unless you have a large tote or a backpack - but on the "pro" side, this DSLR-style camera is smaller than others I have tried.
>>> I don't like the lens cap on this camera; too bad they can't make them internal like the point-and-shoot-type cameras. You must remember to remove it yourself before taking a shot. And make sure you attach it with the included string, because if you do not, you will lose it, it falls off easily.
>>> The camera is almost too easy to turn on. Maybe it's just the way I pick it up, but I almost 100% of the time inadvertently turn it on before I want to, then of course the lens cap flies off.
OTHER:
If you are looking for lots of manual controls like the older SP series, this is not the camera for you (the kind where you control aperture, etc.) Personally, I like EASY. I don't know anything about F-stops, etc., so this camera is perfect for me; like a point and shoot, only better. You are able to choose different scenes, exposure, white balance, ISO, like most point & shoots today. This also takes panorama shots with the set-up inside the camera.
This is the first digital camera I have ever purchased where you have to connect the camera to your computer during the set-up. I'm not convinced this is a good idea - my USB ports are not easily accessible on my desktop PC and it would not set-up correctly when plugged into a hub. However, once I moved my tower and plugged it into the actual port, it installed without any problems. This type of set-up is done because you do not receive any photo-editing software CD with the camera, the Olympus iB software is installed on your PC during the set-up of the camera. I imagine this would be next to impossible if you have dial-up internet.
The iB Olympus software also does NOT work with Windows XP - at least not with mine at work but I only have 512K of RAM on that computer. It DOES work on my home PC with Vista and 3 GB RAM. But you aren't missing much if you can't use the iB software. It's horrible and I just went back to using Picasa.
As far as response time, this model is faster than I expected since it has AA batteries. Start-up and recovery after taking a shot was faster than other cameras in the $100 to $200+ price range, even those with lithium-ion batteries; around 1 second after a shot with no flash, about 2 seconds to recover after a flash picture.
CONCLUSION:
This is a good camera that should serve you well for a few years. I never look for a camera to last me years and years since there is always new technology just around the corner and I want the latest. This camera will make you look like a semi-professional even if you are a novice!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Zoom, June 15, 2010
This review is from: Olympus SP-600UZ 12MP Digital Camera with 15x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)
Features and Video Quality only got 4 stars because I don't have enough experience in these areas to give a more definitive answer. Value for Price also got only 4 stars. Olympus cameras tend to be on the higher side, though not at the top, and now there are other comparable cameras on the market. I paid over $300, and I think under $300 is a better price point.
Last fall, we purchased another digital camera, one with a 24X zoom. As it is somewhat bulky, I have tended to carry my old workhorse, a 5MP Kodak with a 10X zoom, when away from home. My husband has ended up as the primary user of the new camera. While I had been thinking of upgrading the 5MP camera, it was low on the list of "Things To Buy."
Two things influenced me in purchasing the Olympus SP-600 UZ. One was that one of the shopping channels offered it on installment payments, making it seem less of a luxury item. Not only did it have a higher megapixel count, but it also had a bigger zoom--until quite recently, hard to come by at a reasonable price, though now there are several models to choose from. The second factor was the Olympus brand. We also have an Olympus Stylus which is impact-resistant, waterproof, and will operate at low temperatures. Because of the small zoom on this camera, we generally use it only when on the water, but I do like the color saturation of the photos.
Of course I read the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere before deciding to go ahead with the Olympus SP-600UZ. Reviewers discussed the lack of a printed manual, so I had downloaded it from the Olympus website even before my camera arrived.
Per the instructions, I loaded the drivers and the accompanying IB software. I then hooked up the camera to my computer to set it up. To my consternation, nothing happened. When I touched the cable to remove it, a message flashed across the camera screen warning that the cable should not be disconnected.
While I was still puzzling out what my next step should be, the software finally loaded and the "first use" procedure began. What I had assumed to be a malfunction was actually just an excruciatingly slow process. (I should note that my computer only has 2 gigs of memory, and I don't know whether that was a factor. I use Photoshop Elements 8, and this program is considerably slower to load than was the case with Photoshop Elements 7.)
The IB software ended up on my computer as a startup program. Since I'm usually cautious about allowing this, I don't think I was given a choice. I had to go in and disable it, since I want to download my photos into Photoshop Elements.
The manufacturer's assumption seems to be that the user will do a lot of editing in-camera. This may be a good thing for people with a practiced eye for looking at the captured screen. For me, it's necessary to get an image up on my computer before making any editing decisions.
The menu structure is fairly complex. I find that I have to use the printed manual to get a clue about how to get to the sub-menus. Other than changing the screen mode, though, I don't generally utilize other adjustments. I'm your basic plain-vanilla user. If there are be additional functions I'll need away from home, I'll probably have to memorize how to do them to avoid excessive cycling through the menus. The thought of doing this in bright sunlight is doubly unappealing. The nested menus are unavoidable when there are a lot of options, though, so the alternative might be dumbing down the camera, not a good thing either.
I let the Olympus IB program download the first batch of photos I took. The program immediately wanted to begin face recognition and asked me to tag the images by geographic location. This is not something I'm interested in, though I my give it a whirl at some future time on my stored photos. I did not attempt to do any editing here, since my experience has been that software included with cameras is more rudimentary than I would like. From my brief overview of the editing functions in IB, I would say this is the case here.
I hooked up the camera again and went into Photoshop Elements. Elements downloaded not only the images but the in-camera PDF manuals. (At that point, I was using only the internal memory of the camera.) I have Elements set up so that I can delete all images by confirming. Of course I didn't want to lose the onscreen material, so I went back into the camera and deleted the photos manually. I have added a memory card, which means I can remove downloaded photos with no fear of deleting the PDF files. This is definitely something to watch out for, though, especially if, like me, you load the batteries and start snapping away the minute the camera is out of the box. Caution should also be used when formatting a card, as it is possible to format the internal memory by mistake.
I'm happy with the photos I've taken so far. I like the heft of the camera, and the location of the controls feels natural. Like other people, I've struggled with the infamous battery and card cover. It's not easy to close, but once it's snapped into place and locked, it seems secure. So far, I haven't turned on the camera by mistake, but that could be a factor of how I lift it from the case.
People have complained about the lens cap coming off too easily. I think it's made this way because if you turn on the camera before removing the cap, it should pop off without hanging up the lens mechanism (as it pushes out the lens). My old Kodak had push tabs on the side of the cap, but it still would come off fairly readily, and was maybe only fractionally more likely to remain in place .
One feature I like very much is that the flash doesn't operate until you manually flip it up. With my old camera, there were occasions when I was trying to photograph documents or microfilm screens. These photos were spoiled by the flash reflecting off the surfaces. Since (typically for me), I hadn't spent much time with the manual, I didn't know how to turn off the flash and was too impatient to try pushing buttons or going through menus.
I'm happy with my new camera. It's a vast improvement over my old one.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very nice point&shoot camera, May 1, 2010
This review is from: Olympus SP-600UZ 12MP Digital Camera with 15x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)
I got it a month ago and was able to use a few times only, but it worked great.
Was a little skeptical about the use batteries, but so far I went through one set of four (and took quite a few flash photos). I definitely like the idea of having a set of spare ones just in case your camera dies in the middle of all day long sightseeing.
As to picture quality - I'm not a pro, but had different cameras, including SLRs and digital SLRs, my whole life, and this one takes very decent, high resolution pictures. I hoped it would take pictures in dim light, and so far so good, but I didn't play with manual ISO settings yet. It may be even better.
I planned to buy an SLR, but the price on this one (and the 800 model), its size and wight make it a perfect family camera that is a little more than typical P&S, and not as complicated to use as SLR if I want kids and inexperienced adults to take pictures.
Overall I'd rate it at 5 stars. It's not a perfect digital camera, but a great family one.
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