Olympus D-490 2.1MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom by Olympus
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Digital camera reviews of Olympus D-490 2.1MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom
Digital camera Review: FABULOUS CAMERA
Summary: 5 Stars
I PURCHASED THE OLYMPUS D-490 DIGITAL CAMERA ON A WHIM. I WAS GOING TO GREAT BRITAIN FOR THREE WEEKS & DECIDED THAT I NEEDED A DIGITAL CAMERA. HAVING USED OLYMPUS CAMERAS IN THE PAST & THE PRICE BEING RIGHT BASICALLY THAT MADE MY DECISION. IT PROVED TO BE A GOOD ONE. AFTER TOURING ENGLAND, WALES & SCOTLAND FOR THREE WEEKS AND TAKING LOADS OF PHOTOS, I RETURNED HOME, DOWNLOADED THE SMART MEDIA CARD WITH A VIKING MEMORY READER AND DISCOVERED I HAD OVER 200 REALLY GREAT PHOTOS. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA FOR EASE OF USE, SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT IN A BACK PACK OR PURSE, GREAT COMPUTER PHOTOS & FUN TO USE. HAPPY PHOTO TAKING JUST ABOUT ANY ONE COULD USE THIS CAMERA.Digital camera Review: Fantastic! Best Price/Performance Tradeoff Out There!
Summary: 5 Stars
I upgraded from the Olympus D460Zoom to the D490Zoom. The D460 is a fine camera - I was generally very pleased with it. But having owned the D460Zoom for six months, I found two major faults. First, the "boot-up time" (how quickly after you turn the camera on that it is ready to shoot) and the lack of "burst" shooting (the ability to take one shot quickly after another). These two faults lead to frustration when trying to take any type of action photos with the D460. You see the action emerging, but the camera is still booting up; you take a shot, but the action gets better and you want to take another but the D460 says "not yet" because it is still writing the first photo to the media. Infuriating.The D490 addresses each of these problems beautifully. Boot up time is about 20% faster. Timing both of my cameras side-by-side, the D490 is faster (1.1 seconds versus 1.3 seconds, in five trials using the same 32Mb media cards). More important than boot up time is burst shooting. The D490 has a RAM buffer that allows you to take about 1 shot per second in the "HQ" mode (2.1 megapixels with JPEG compression). The D460 requires about 2.5 seconds between shoots in the same "HQ" mode (but the resolution is 1.3 megapixels). Also nifty if you are using the TFT screen to take shots, there is a "gas gauge" showing you how full the memory buffer is as you are shooting.
I simply can't express how happy these faster response time made me, especially at this price. I was so unhappy with the D460's sluggishness that I was about to buy the $900 Olympus C3030. Similar to the C3030, the D490 also can take QuickTime movies (though much shorter ones). Another nice D490 feature is that you can erase all photos off a card while the card is still in the camera, instead of having to do the erasing on your computer (I often forget to erase after downloading to the computer, put the media card back in and find it still full when I want to take more pictures).
While the D490 lacks the C3030's B&W options it does have the two more important features - the QuickTime movies and the burst shooting (both admittedly not as good as the C3030, but likely good enough for most of us). Beyond the $400 saving, the D490 still retains a much smaller footprint; it can easily slip into a pants or shirt pocket.
As for the enhancement from 1.3 to 2.1 megapixels (D460 vs D490), I can't really tell much difference. I took two identical shots both "HQ" mode, printed them 4x6 on my HP970Cxi; they look the same. Currently the D490 is about $100 more than the D460. I would say the "burst" shooting alone is easily worth the extra money. Go and get one! Shoot happy!
Digital camera Review: Fantastic! Best Price/Performance Tradeoff Out There!
Summary: 5 Stars
I upgraded from the Olympus D460Zoom to the D490Zoom. The D460 is a fine camera - I was generally very pleased with it. But having owned the D460Zoom for six months, I found two major faults. First, the "boot-up time" (how quickly after you turn the camera on that it is ready to shoot) and the lack of "burst" shooting (the ability to take one shot quickly after another). These two faults lead to frustration when trying to take any type of action photos with the D460. You see the action emerging, but the camera is still booting up; you take a shot, but the action gets better and you want to take another but the D460 says "not yet" because it is still writing the first photo to the media. Infuriating.The D490 addresses each of these problems beautifully. Boot up time is about 20% faster. Timing both of my cameras side-by-side, the D490 is faster (1.1 seconds versus 1.3 seconds, in five trials using the same 32Mb media cards). More important than boot up time is burst shooting. The D490 has a RAM buffer that allows you to take about 1 shot per second in the "HQ" mode (2.1 megapixels with JPEG compression). The D460 requires about 2.5 seconds between shoots in the same "HQ" mode (but the resolution is 1.3 megapixels). Also nifty if you are using the TFT screen to take shots, there is a "gas gauge" showing you how full the memory buffer is as you are shooting.
I simply can't express how happy these faster response time made me, especially at this price. I was so unhappy with the D460's sluggishness that I was about to buy the $900 Olympus C3030. Similar to the C3030, the D490 also can take QuickTime movies (though much shorter ones). Another nice D490 feature is that you can erase all photos off a card while the card is still in the camera, instead of having to do the erasing on your computer (I often forget to erase after downloading to the computer, put the media card back in and find it still full when I want to take more pictures).
While the D490 lacks the C3030's B&W options it does have the two more important features - the QuickTime movies and the burst shooting (both admittedly not as good as the C3030, but likely good enough for most of us). Beyond the $400 saving, the D490 still retains a much smaller footprint; it can easily slip into a pants or shirt pocket.
As for the enhancement from 1.3 to 2.1 megapixels (D460 vs D490), I can't really tell much difference. I took two identical shots both "HQ" mode, printed them 4x6 on my HP970Cxi; they look the same. Currently the D490 is about $100 more than the D460. I would say the "burst" shooting alone is easily worth the extra money. Go and get one! Shoot happy!
Digital camera Review: First Time Digital Camera User--Great!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for a digital camera to take pictures of my baby to send through e-mail. I was looking for something easy, and this is it! I've taken 40+ pictures and the original batteries are still in there (I've got the rechargeable ones ready to go!). I bought this when Olympus was offering the free USB reader, but what comes with the camera is adequate. The only drawback that I have is that the flash is not automatic, I have to keep remembering to flip the flash up. The software is easy to use to file all of the pictures. The menu is easy to delete/zoom pictures on the spot. Worth the money, easy to use!Digital camera Review: First timer
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading reviews of this camera and many others I decided that this was the one would be my first digital camera. After one year of owning this camera, I would have to say that overall, I not really to disappointed with it. It definitly has some flaws, such as with the door, which sometimes doesn't want to close right, and batteries are used up quicker than what I read they would.It does not take very good pictures of motion shots at all. They are usually blurry or seem out of focus. It does not take as good pics outdoors as it does indoors but still acceptable. Indoors with the flash, I have found that it takes excellent pictures, which most people take with these type cameras anyway. Also, if you really want to take advantage of this camera, get one of the 32 or 64 MB cards and a flash memory reader for your computer. The software that comes with it isn't that good either so if you don't already have a decent editing program you might want to get one like Adobe Photo Deluxe or something similar.I still have not found out what the limit of this camera is and hopefully by next year can give a better review.