Olympus SP-350 8.0 Megapixel

I bought this because it packs a lot of power in a small package. 8 megapixels in a camera the size of a disposable. It uses the newer xd cards, which are a little pricey but they will come down. The camera takes stunning photos with ease. It has complete automatic point and shoot capabilities, which are used for most situations, and has programmed settings for almost every other situation such as night, backlit, photo through glass, inside no flash and incandecent lights (color correction) and many others. The one thing that really appealed to me as a realtor is that it has screw on lens attachments. I bought the wide angle, perfect for pictures of a room so you can get the whole thing, and the teleconverter which doubles the zoom. I also bought the flash fl-36 which was about 200$ but its a powerhouse and using it for fill makes a room look professionally lit. The little built in flashes on these and all small cameras are just totally inadequate. Its nice to be able to add on a professional flash. I have mamiya medium format and have used 35mm professional cameras for years so I know of where I speak. The downsides to this camera are also the upside. It uses 2 AA batteries (upside), but goes through them fast (downside). I highly recommend a rechargeable setup or you'll go broke buying AA batteries. Its nice that it uses them because if its dead and you are in a small town, you can go to any convenience store and buy AA batteries. Very nice. The camera is well made and easy to use. The viewfinder and back screen are bright. All in all, I highly recommend this camera to almost everyone. I would not suggest it for a first camera, but for someone with a little experience, its perfect. Then you can use all of the manual overides and all of the features. If you are a beginner, just get a point and shoot and save your money because you wont use all the bells and whistels on this. I give it an A-. The minus for the battery usage. Otherwise, perfect.

Easy to use good price awsome pictures *8* megapixels need I say more excelent buy. I personal use it for ebay and my shots turn out beautiful every time with minimal shooting.

This is the greatest camera ever! The picture quality is phenominal! I used this camera for my brother's wedding and was very plased with the results. I also use it to take pictures of my items I'm selling and the color and quality usually doesn't need to be adjusted.

I love my camera. This one is so easy to learn how to use. I don't usually have the patience to sit down & learn how to use these things but this one almost does it for you. It is light weight & has a great screen for viewing pictures. It takes wonderful photos & they are so easy to put on the computer.

I bought it to take snaps, eBay pictures, and to carry around. It is great and takes superb shots. The HUGE LCD is really cool. If I was forced to criticize the camera, I would say that it needs bigger standard memory.

Photography has been a serious hobby of mine for a long time. I have always used either Canon or Nikon equipment, so this is my first time using any other brand. I can enthusiastically give the Olympus SP-350 TWO THUMBS WAY UP! I love this little power house of a camera. The 8 megapixels turn out sharp sharp pics. I recomend a small table-top tripod if you are using it for your eBay photos-- that's what I do. Using a tripod together with the camera's built-in timer will give you sharp photos. Besides using this for eBay photos, I also use it outdoors, like at festivals, family events, etc. For that type of shooting, the many overrides on this camera can't be beat-- I often use these features: behind glass picture taking, indoor picture taking, beach scene picture taking. I love all the overrides-- it allows you so much flexibility. But then again, the fully automatic feature is great too-- you don't have to think about anything, just point-and-click. Have I mentioned the Macro yet??? Most cameras I've had either had no macro, or one macro option. The SP-350 gives you TWO levels of Macro-- again, great for eBay pics when you want to give buyers a good sharp close-up of your item details, like for clothing labels, clothing buttons, etc. Those kind of photos seem to really boost my eBay sales. After using it for a few weeks, I also invested in the optional AC Adapter-- that way I don't use up the batteries while I am downloading pics to the computer. As for it's high battery consumption, I recommend having two sets of rechargable AA batteries; one set being recharged while the other set is in your camera. That's how I work it out-- that way you always have a fresh set of batteries as back-up. Until I can afford the DSLR of my dreams, this will be my primary camera. It's light weight, it has all the bells & whistles you could want, together with the simpliticty of point-and-shoot.

So far I love everything about this camera. It does everything I want it to do, plus the manual overrides are good. I was even able to update the firmware in the camera very quickly and easily online with Olympus.

This camera was tested by me and has everything you need to take a perfect picture, i've done photograhpy since i was a kid. It is loaded with usefull features and is so easy to use i went and bought another one after testing the first. It can even take pictures at night without a flash.

I bought the SP-350 and was immediately impressed with the number of features available. This is my second Olympus digital camera but The SP-350 has big improvement over my old camera. The size is perfect for carrying in a small purse but the design makes it very easy to hold when taking pictures.

This biggest improvement I have found is the menu. You have extensive choices but the menu is easy to navigate and you do not have to have the manual in order to know how to select the feature you want.

The picture and video output is excellent. I used it for vacation and was impressed with the scenery picture which normally looks flat.

The Olympus SP-350 is a full-featured compact 8 Megapixel camera that falls short in one important area: performance. That's too bad, because there's a lot to like about the SP-350.

The SP-350 is a fairly compact black-colored camera with a 3X optical zoom lens, 2.5" LCD display, optical viewfinder (which I only mention because they are uncommon on large LCD cameras) and an AF-assist lamp. While the LCD is large, the resolution is below average (115k pixels). Visibility is average in bright light and above average in dim light. The camera supports conversion lenses with the appropriate adapter, and you can add an external flash via a hot shoe. An underwater case is also available.

The camera is chock full of features for beginners and enthusiasts alike. For beginners there are tons of scene modes, a help system for the menu items, in-camera redeye reduction, and fun extras like a calendar-making tool. Enthusiasts will dig the full manual controls, custom button and menus, and the ability to save up to four sets of camera settings in memory. There are even two live histograms to choose from!

The SP-350 also supports the RAW image format, and Olympus includes software to work with those images (though Photoshop is more capable). The camera also lets you edit RAW images right on the camera and then save them into the more JPEG format. While the SP-350 has a VGA movie mode with a digital image stabilizer and editing capabilities, you can only record up to 20 seconds at the high quality setting.

Camera performance is, without a doubt, the SP-350's biggest weak point. While the camera starts up quickly, it's all downhill from there. Focus times are just fair, shutter lag was noticeable (which was very surprising), and shot-to-shot times can be lengthy, especially if you're using RAW mode. The continuous shooting modes were nothing to write home about, either. Playback speeds were slow as well, especially when RAW images are displayed. Low light focusing performance was a little disappointing for a camera with an AF-assist lamp.

Thankfully the SP-350's photos were pretty good. Images were well exposed with accurate color (most of the time), good sharpness, and low noise and purple fringing levels. I was also impressed with the camera's high ISO performance. Redeye was a problem, but the in-camera redeye reduction tool was able to knock it out.

About the only other negatives I can think of relate to the camera bundle. While I like the Olympus Master software, the 25MB of onboard memory is too little, and it would've been nice if Olympus threw some rechargeable batteries in the box.

I have mixed feelings about the Olympus SP-350. While I like the design, features, and photo quality, the camera always felt sluggish when I was using it. While I'm not asking for D-SLRs speeds, it would've been nice if the camera was at least as responsive as other cameras in its class. The SP-350 gets my recommendation, but with the footnote "not the best camera if you want to take or view pictures quickly".

What I liked:

* Good value for the money
* Very good photo quality; good high ISO performance for a point-and-shoot
* Full manual controls
* Large LCD display gains up in low light (but see issues below)
* Support for RAW image format
* Customizable buttons and menus; favorite settings can be saved to spot on the mode dial
* Not one, but two live histograms

This is a great Camera. It is very easy to use. It looks professional but it is not at all hard to use. This would make a great digital camera for someone just learning. I have always stood by the Olympus Camera, and I have owned 4 of them myself, and they were always my favorite until I bought myself a Pentax but I still like the Olympus it is a good brand even after buying the Pentax I kept my Olympus SP-350 because it is just to awesome to get rid of it really gives some great pictures and you don't even have to be a pro to get them and it is really easy to use. I recommend this digital camera totally, and for the price you pay now for it, it is truly worth it. Take that from someone who is always buying Digital Camera and trying to see which is the best. I have now owned a total of 7 and I out of the 7 digital cameras recommend Olympus or a Pentax Optio A10, and I sell on eBay and have for 7 years and take pictures of my items all of the time to list them and want good pictures of my items. I give this digital camera a 5 out of a 5 rating.

The cameral is light and compact with a great view screen size. 8 megapixels is quite excellent for what I use the cameral for; underwater shots. The ability in conjunction with the underwater housing allows me to change the scene ability and shift between macro, underwater wide and underwater portrait. I even took a picture from the airplane of Miami with the "behind glass" setting and you would think I was skydiving, the clarity was perfect. Easy to handle, easy to understand and definitely fun to play with. Am glad I stayed with Olympus, tried others and they simply didn't compare. THANK YOU !!

I am an olympus fan and wanted a small camera. This is really a neat camera and easy to use and makes great pictures. For a point and shoot camera in the smaller range, I would put it at the top. It has a 2.5 in. lcd screen which is great. It has a lot of features which are easy to use. It has a setting for panaroma pictures. It stitches picture together in the software that came with the camera. I was well pleased with this product. It has 24 different settings under scene setting, portrait, sunsets, fireworks, and more. It also has a movie setting, but I have a video camera so I don't use that one. It has a nice zoon and auto flash. All this comes with 8.0 megipixels. Great camera, would reccomend.

An 8.0 megapixel camera for under $200? Amazing deal. What mattered most to our eBay business was the ability to use the hotshoe feature...something most digital cameras have lost during the Darwinian evolution of the digital imaging age.

We need to be able to connect external flash systems to our camera so that we can get the best photographic results. This little treasure did that. I also like the fact that it takes standard AA batteries and that it is very easy to use.

The price didn't hurt our pocketbook either!

Once again, I am impressed with this Olympus product, and will not own another brand. Takes sharp pictures, does have some delay in readiness for the next photo, but very user friendly and easily operated, in my opinion. Battery life could be better, but the more pixels and bells and whistles, the faster it goes through batteries. Would recommend purchasing this camera!

The Olympus SP-350 is the right camera if you're looking do more with your photography, but you don't have (or don't want to spend) the money to buy a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera.

What makes the SP-350 stand out among digital point and shoot cameras?

1. It has a view finder. You don't have to depend on the LCD. There are situations where framing your shot in a view finder is the only solution.
2. It has a hot shoe that allows you use an additional or slave flash.
3. With the use of an optional lens adapter, reasonably priced wide-angle lens, telephoto lens, and filters for the SP-350 are readily available given you the option to take photos not possible with most point and shoot cameras.
4. You can use the RAW format for you photos. (The regular JEPG format is the default)
5. It uses two AA batteries. I like being able to just pop in new batteries when I need them, as opposed to having to plug the camera in and wait for it to charge. Just carry a couple of extras in your camera bag.
5. You get Olympus quality. Olympus has been making cameras for years. They didn't just start with the invention of digital cameras.

In closing, keep in mind that while the Olympus SP-350 offers a lot of features, it is still a point in shoot camera. Think of it as a transitional camera and you'll be happy.

I have owned other Olympus cameras and have always had great results. It was time to upgrade and once I found this model, the rest was history. Very compact, full of features and 8 MP!! Couldn't ask for more for the price. The only negative is that battery life is limited initially, but there is a patch download thru the provided software that easily fixes the problem. I bought one as a Christmas gift for my daughter and had to get one for myself. Highly recommended for beginner to advanced.

Great little camera for most stills and great for short videos. Not so good for low light applications, which puzzles me because it takes great video in low light. Nice menus, good battery life.

Having a similar size camera, only 4 megapixel, I was anxious to upgrade to a better resolution. Being involved with photography for many years, I was looking for a point and shoot that could be set up fairly fast to get a shot, but also had the ability to cater to many different situations, conditions, etc. the SP-350 has exceeded my expectations. the picture quality is fantastic, and the camera is capable of fully automatic and fully manual settings, something rarely seen in a small package. the startup time was unbelievable, and on top of all that, the actual camera body accepts screw-on finters, and lenses, something that is vital in professional looking photos.

I have used two camera olympus previously, and the quality of the team is not compared with any other digital camera.

Excellent digital camera, practices and of easy use.

The best camera I have ever owned. I like everything about it. It is a little difficult to learn all of the things this camera does. It will take time to learn, but would recommend this camera to anyone for the quality and price.

I bought this camera to replace a dive camera that only had 3.2 megapixels. I like the pictures when the subject is static but the camera has an extremely long shutter lag so taking pictures of moving objects like running children is impossible. Even pictures of adults often have to be retaken because they think the picture has been taken when it hasn't yet actually been taken. So, if you are taking picture of landscapes or buildings it is great. If your subject is in motion, pick another camera.

Great product at the best price. Sometimes it is hard to find a compact camera with full funtions, and this camera have it. It very good for professionals and for starters.
The quality of the pictures is great and could be improved with the experience and using all the functions.