Olympus D-550 Zoom

Why we purchased A digital camera

We wanted to take pictures at Kendall’s volleyball games and the publish those pictures in the Colorado Acadaemy Volleyball Newsletter.

Our secondary reason was to get some experience with digital cameras. Tracie has a Canon EOS with an extensive set of lenses and yet we didn’t really understand the pros and cons of digital.

Why we purchaed THIS camera

The most important criterion for Dave was: AA batteries. Proprietary batteries are expensive ($27-45) and are usually only good for that brand of camera—or worse, only that model. AA rechargeables are cheap ($14 for a a set of 4) and you can always use alkaline AAs in a pinch. We bought our rechargeable batteries from Green Batteries and highly recommend them.

The Olympus D-550 was recommended by PC World magazine in an article in September 2002. They also recommended another 9 cameras. We felt comfortable about the Olympus brand name.

Price. we wanted to spend about $300 for this "first" digital camera. Our expectation is that this is a learning experience. We bought this Olympus D-550 from www.buydig.com for $316 (camera + shippinng) in September 2002.

What we like about the Olympus D-550

1. Easy to use
2. AA batteries
3. Compact size & weight
4. Photo quality is excellent.
5. USB interface is fast enough, software is OK and easy to get images into computer (We use Photoshop for any serious editing of images.)
6. SmartMedia cards are inexpensive (128MB at $41 in late 2002)

What we dislike about the Olympus D-550

1. Shutter lag. Shutter lag is the delay that occurs between pushing the "take picture button" and the actual recording of the image in the camera. The shutter lag on this camera appears to be slightly less than 1 second. This lag prevents us from capturing volleyball action. Very annoying. What is worse is that information about shutter lag is difficult to come by. None of the manufacturers’ websites talk about it. It is one of the dirty little secrets about digital cameras.
2. Only 3x optical zoom. For sporting events, a 6x optical zoom would be much better.
3. Digital zoom is useless. All you get with digital zoom is closeup, grainy (i.e., pixelated) images.

Camera Features (from Olympus website)

• 3.0 megapixel CCD (effective) allows for high-quality prints of 8" x 10" and beyond.
• Compact and elegant design makes the D-550 Zoom easy to handle and carry.
• A 2.8x optical and 3.6x digital zoom combine for a seamless 10x zoom for outstanding range.
• Auto-Connect USB feature means the digital camera can be easily connected to almost any USB-equipped computer for quick downloading of images, without any additional driver software to be installed.
• 5 Scene Program Modes: Self-Portrait; Portrait; Night Scene; Landscape; and Landscape + Portrait.
• Variety of resolution selections including the new 3:2 aspect mode for perfect size for framing prints.
• Olympus's TruePic^TM technology optimizes the image quality for picture sharpness, contrast, true colors and gradation in all picture resolutions
• Automatic Noise Reduction technology ensures rich color and sharp detail when shooting long exposures in low light in Night Scene mode- Automatic Pixel Mapping checks the CCD and re-maps it for maximum CCD performance
• Get the perspective you want using clear optical viewfinder or the 1.8" LCD
• Virtual Mode Dial provides easy access to the D-550 Zoom's seven shooting modes
• New menu design makes it easier to select and adjust the features you want when shooting pictures
• QuickTime® movie mode provides an exciting alternative to still image capture for those "don't miss" moments.
• Built-in flash automatically pops up so it's ready when you are.

Camera Technical Specs (from Olympus website)