Is this a good camera?

[aunt_kelly]

I'm looking into buying myself a new camera, something that I can take good shots with. I really like the Olympus camera that we have now (an FE-115, just a point and shoot type)... so I found one that is within my price range (I don't want to pay a fortune)... The Olympus SP-500. What do you think? On Amazon, it's gotten a 4.5/5 star rating.

I don't know if I'll actually spend that much, but it looks like something I'd really like.

 

[Tiberius]

Looks quite nice. Got the full manual modes (the P, A, S and M modes), a lovely zoom (10x optical - just promise me you'll never use the digital zoom!) and the 6 megapixels will print easily up to 12x18 inches.

There's an in depth review available HERE.

it's got an Auto Exposure Lock (which is nice), nice big LCD screen with a histogram display. The ISO range is a tad limited, but it offers a decent range for most situations. The zoom range is the equivilent to a 38-380 zoom, which is very nice.

A pretty decent camera, I think.

 

[theVirginian]

just promise me you'll never use the digital zoom!

Digital zoom is a work of the devil.

 

[Tiberius]

Digital zoom is a work of the devil.

Crush Kill Destroy! hehehehehehe

 

[mathfreak]

i use Olympus SP 500 as well

quite nice, but i prefer Canon EOS 400D

 

[~Mrs. A2J~]

The 400D (XTi) is almost twice as expensive though and not in everyone's budget.

 

[aunt_kelly]

Digital zoom is a work of the devil.

oh man! the first digital camera I bought, I was stoked because it had "zoom". I did not know that it would turn my pictures into tiny, pixel pictures... lol.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[chaz345]

Digital zoom is marketing weasel speak for cropping. The exact same that that happens with digital "zoom" happens when you crop a picture and then stretch it back to the original size.

 

[Tiberius]

And enlarges each pixel to do it, reducing resolution.

Die, you evil digital spawn of satan!!!!