Olympus D540 3.2 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I love this little camera. I had a chance to try out this camera and compare it to three other digital cameras. The Olympus 540 won hands down. This is the camera I take with me every day. I own a better camera, but like the size and ease of use of this camera.

I took identical photos with this camera and a 4 mg pixal camera and you couldn't tell the difference in a 8x10 print done on a color laser printer. I also enlarged and printed a 48"x36" image on a large format printer and was extremely please by the results.

The camera is easy to use. In seconds you can choose anyone of the eight shooting modes. Also, adjusting the flash to be auto, always on, off or a fill flash is a quick click on the back control button. By pushing the shutter button half way down you can set your exposure. This is very helpful in some lighting situations.

If you purchase the camera, I would recommend buying rechargeable batteries and a larger storage card.

Compact, simple to use camera. For the price it comes packed with features easy transfer of pics to PC using USB cable. Excellent picture quality when used at best Pixel setting 20 pics with original 16MB XD memory card. Not used the movie mode own a camcorder. I invested in a rechargeable Li-Ion CR-V3 battery pack (yes! now available as rechargeables), much better life/performance than even the higest rated rechargeable NiMH not very expensive given its performance, available on Amazon for $31 (I bought my Li-Ion battery pack from Buy.com at $29.50).

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I received this camera as a gift and subsequently took it on a long trip to Russia (instead of my bulky SLR film camera). This camera was outstanding: easy to use, produces good quality pictures, lightweight. It makes toting "regular" camera gear around too cumbersome to contemplate: this camera slips into a pants pocket easily enough. As my first digital camera, it's everything I had hoped it would be and more.

The software (Olympus's Camedia) is pretty good and relatively easy to use, although managing your pictures can be more work than it needs to be. Maybe I'll upgrade that to the Pro version. Nonetheless, I was downloading pictures quickly and everything worked cleanly. The main reason to use the software (rotating pictures) is convenient.

The camera itself is lightweight and pretty durable (my son dropped it a few times and it survived just fine). The 16 MB card that comes with it is too small for realistic use, but a 128 MB card is easy to purchase: budget for it, as you'll want the storage. There are only a few minor annoyances that you'll want to compare to other cameras before choosing this one (I don't think anyone else does it any better).

First, this camera (like many digital cameras) devours batteries. The "low battery" warning comes on very quickly--way too quickly, since battery life far exceeds the warning. However: as the battery runs down, the camera itself processes more and more slowly. So I've found that you'll often miss shots because you need to know about a second in advance to push the button. The lag between "go" and the camera firing is annoying.

Second, the zoom control is a bit difficult to use. It's located on top of the camera and twists, an action that I find difficult to perform while aiming the camera. I've taken to holding the camera at about chest level to shoot pictures so that I have better control.

Overall, the picture quality settings are easy to manage and the pictures themselves are bright, clear, and sharp. The autofocus is almost always perfect and you'll rarely dig into the menus to adjust the camera performance. The panorama capability doesn't seem to work, but it's an extraneous feature.

In any case, this is a great little camera. It does everything a digital camera should, is well made, and makes me a happy camper.

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This is my 3rd midrange digital camera in as many years. I picked this one for my latest based on it's features (macro, self portrait, etc) and the awesome huge LCD screen. The screen is much bigger than it's competitors. The self portrait mode worth noting... some one was finally genius enough to note that many a snapshot is taken where two subjects squeeze together and hold the camera at arms length and snap the pic. This setting adjusts the flash and lense to accomodate that! Genius!

The downsides... even with rechargable batteries this sucker goes "battery low" way before other digi's I've had. It's worth noting. I think it runs out about 30% to 50% quicker than other camera's I've had. That's pretty notable.

Also... the bootup time is Loooonnng. When turning on the camera, the time between turning it on and actually taking a pic is way too long. Also the lag between shutter press and actuall photo/flash is incredibly long. MUCH longer than other cams I've had.

You sacrifice a few things here and gain a few there with digi's but, the lag time and battery life are deal breakers for me and the type of pix I take so this puppy is going back. :(

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I have taken more than 1000 pictures with this great camera. Here are my opinions on it..

Positive Stuff:

1. Excellent picture quality. No doubt, I liked the picture quality more than a Sony Cybershot 3.2 MP camera.

2. The most powerful flash I've ever seen. The camera can take a good picture in complete darkness.

3. Decent battery life. Even though the camera might indicate a Low battery indicator soon, it actually lasts for a long time. I used Panasonic 2100 mah rechargeable Ni-MH battery. I got about 32-34 pictures (all with flash). If you actually turn off the LCD display while not using it, it saves a lot more battery power.

4. Transferring images to a PC is pretty straight forward.

5. The camera is compact and light as well. It was able to fit in to my jean pocket!

6. The camera makes good judgement when to use flash and when not to use. At the end of the day, we are totally satisfied with the image quality.

Negative stuff:

1. The camera is just too slow to respond, particularly, if the battery is low.

2. There were occasions where I had to take some moving objects, but just couldnt time my camera to take it. The response time between pressing the trigger and the camera firing is about 1.5 to 2 seconds (which might be too late sometimes).

Conclusion:

1. If you use a rechargeable battery with a good MAH, the camera is pretty neat.

2. What matters at the end of the day, is people should get good remarks about the photos they take and I get that all the time when I use this camera.