Title : Olympus Camedia D-550 3MP Digital Camera w/ 2.8x Optical Zoom
Author : Olympus
Release Date : 20020608
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $449.95
Amazon.com Price : $
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Editorial Reviews : Choosing what to shoot may be hard, but finding the right camera to shoot it isn-t, thanks to the Camedia(R) D-550 Zoom. The comfortably small and stylish digital camera features a powerful, seamless 10x zoom (2.8x optical and 3.6x digital zoom) for remarkable range. Its USB auto-connect allows for easy connectivity and downloading of images to a computer. And the impressive 3.0-megapixel CCD combined with Olympus' renowned optics allow high-quality 8in. x 10in. prints and beyond the most realistic digital images yet.
Buyer Reviews : The D-550 is another of the Olympus line of clam shell cameras dating back to the old (non-digital) Stylus models of the mid-80s. In that sense, the design is tried and true and I like it for its compactness and its ability to protect the lens from those with a penchant for losing lens caps. For the vast majority of digital camera users, this camera will meet all of their needs well into the future. The D-550 trumps the recently released D-520 by offering resolution at 3 megapixels, which with some software manipulation (similar to TV line doublers) claims to raise the maximum resolution to an effective 6 megapixels. I've played with interpolation and am not a believer, and I have stated in numerous reviews of other digicams that resolution beyond 2 megapixels is generally wasteful. The question here is whether the D-550 is worth the 50% premium it carries over the D-520. This cost jump is a function only of the increased resolution. This higher resolution can be worse than unnecessary for *most* applications, it can make the camera less user-friendly. Aside from the fact that it raises the initial price of the camera, operationally it requires greater battery use, usually involves longer lag times between shots, takes much longer to download to a PC and especially prolongs both phases of e-mailing photos (your uploading the file and your recipient opening it). These latter issues are, in my opinion, the most important, as the real purpose of digital cameras is being able to integrate them into the world of personal computing. [note: For those folks whose needs are enlarging photos beyond 8' x 10', higher resolution is required] The other features of the D-520 worth noting are its very adequate 2.8X optical zoom *plus* a vaguely helpful digizoom (do not accept digital zooms in place of optical zooms; they are not equals), its ability to operate off readily available AA alkalines (though it will accept rechargeables and these make more sense in may ways), its easily expandable memory (it uses SmartMedia, not quite as good as CompactFlash cards, but close enough) and an adequate number of user-controllable settings, all of which can be handled automatically if you prefer. The only drawback of significance has been slow focus on the Olympus digital cams, resulting in more blurred pics than I think acceptable (and this even with my 700, self-stabilizing model!). Personally, I'd take the D-520 and use the money left over to buy a bigger memory card and some rechargeables.
(by rheumor)
Features/Technical Specs : * 3-megapixel sensor captures enough detail to create prints up to 11 x 14 * 2.8x optical plus 3.6x digital (10x total) zoom lens with autofocus * Included 16 MB Smartmedia card stores 21 images at default settings * Movie mode captures up to 33 seconds of video with no audio * Uses 2 CR-V3 lithium batteries or 4 AA batteries (rechargeables recommended); connects with Macs and PCs via USB port
