Great Panorama Shots, but Still a Few Bugs
Written: Jun 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent panorama views, good crisp print quality
Cons: Electronic features can be temperamental
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| MsHooterville's Full Review: Olympus Stylus Zoom 80 Wide DLX 35mm Film Camera |
In our house, I'm the one known as the photographer, and have taken many photos for news events, brochures, websites, commercial purposes, and been paid pretty well for them even though I don't consider myself to be a professional. My eye is good, and I have a good instinct for lighting. With a news background (which is how I started), I've made a habit of traveling light so I'm not fussing with lens and flash changes while I'm missing a photo opportunity.
My husband, on the other hand, will spend top dollar for any electronic product that is rated highly by Consumer Reports or various other magazines. He decided that THIS particular camera was exactly what we needed for a trip to France and Italy last year.
He went to a local camera store to buy this Olympus camera, then he took it for a trial run on a business trip to Denver, where he also went with clients to a baseball game on a night when Sammy Sosa was playing. The zoom lens captured Sammy fairly close up, and there were a few nice views of the job site he went to visit, and a panorama or two thrown in. The colors were sharp and clear, lighting was good overall. They were some of the better shots he had taken. He was very happy.
But then he noticed that the time/date stamp was not working, and he did have it turned on. A few shots showed some very faint numbers in the corner. This is the kind of bug that really bugs my husband, but doesn't bother me, because I don't like time/date stamps on the front of my photos. He took the camera back to the store, and didn't get satisfactory answers about the time/date problem from the guy who helped him. He suggested that I go back a day or two later and flirt with the owner. It worked, and I got a completely new identical camera. The time/date stamp didn't work that much better, but my husband was happy and he accepted this minor flaw.
Once we got to France and Italy, we enjoyed using the camera. Changing from the regular mode to panorama was quick and painless. The zoom allowed good focus on distant objects.
But the "Bugs" I am describing include a tendency to "shut down" when lighting conditions are not absolutely perfect. It's electronic eye might get "lost" if you're trying to focus on a distant object, if it must compete with a closer object.
Learning how to bypass the flash mode when you want to use available light only, or a fill flash on faces in the sunlight, is a tricky proposition, even with the owner's manual handy. I looked at it a number of times, and didn't find the instructions especially helpful.
Another "bug" is having to have the zoom lens in a precise position before the "door" will close when you're finished taking pictures. The electronic buttons for some of these functions are fussy, everything must be positioned "just right".
Last night, we got some photos taken from our daughter's science competition, held inside a gym with florescent lighting. The flash did not appear powerful enough in these situations, and the photos looked faded and grayish.
If you buy this camera, you will mostly be pleased with the print quality, and the panorama shots in natural outdoor lighting were wonderful. But overall, I prefer a less expensive Fuji camera he bought several years ago. Fewer features, but more control over them, which usually means better photographs.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
MsHooterville
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Member: Ms Hooterville
Location: Hooterville Green Acres USA
Reviews written: 596
Trusted by: 416 members
About Me:
News and feature writer, graphic designer and artist, wife and mother, small business owner.
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