Olympus Digital Camera By RoseHill on Jan 31, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

I knew I needed a digital camera for work that would be dependable and take good, detailed pictures from a distance. I was prepared to spend around $150. Since I am a passionate gardener, I decided this would be a good opportunity to also look for one that would take good resolution quality close-up images of my favorite flowers. In the end, I literally purchased the camera on my way to the jobsite. Clueless and on a deadline, I asked the sales person to please open up the package and insert the batteries for me, show me how to open the camera, how to take a picture, how to review and delete and how to get a close up or distance shot.

I definitely had to be sure it was easy to operate and would take clear pictures. I had a report deadline and could not have driven back to the location if the picture did not come out. No pressure here:) It was my first digital camera and yes, it performed just fine and it is simple to operate.

Since I had never uploaded anything with a USB cable and my Olympus came with a disc to install a photo program - it had to be the BF to the rescue. Remember I had a report deadline:) and needed to upload my pictures into the report. Took us an hour that first time. Now I have a laptop with a card reader and I just insert my XD picture card into the card reader. It is a snap to upload pictures.

This digital has proven to be sturdy and survived the occasional drop. I have taken truly stunning garden pictures, including some beautiful close-ups I used to put together a garden photo calendar. Noone believes this is only a 3.2mp camera. It takes awesome pictures. The secret is that it also has a Zeiss lens with a 3X optical zoom. The 10X seamless zoom feature is simple to use. It came with a picture card that stored maybe 50 pictures but I have since upgraded to a 1MB picture card which stores 100s of pictures. I have 546 pictures on it right now:)

When my son borrowed it and wanted to upload some pictures to My Space he figured out that this digital camera has a menu which allows you to set the picture resolution higher or lower. I wonder what else I could do if I had time to look and play?

The viewer is a bit smaller then I would like it to be, but not a problem. There is a delay if you are trying to take action shots, so I wouldn't recommend this camera for action shots. Another thing I like about Olympus is their trade in - trade up program on their website, their camera specific tips for your own camera and that they just sent me a Happy Birthday e-mail with a $20 coupon. How cool is that? I have become an Olympus digital camera fan and to me this camera was worth every penny. It is now just over two years old and I catch myself ogling the newest Olympus models.