Great feature packed 8MP camera!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great image quality, large LCD, weather sealed, image stabilization, 24 shooting modes.

Cons: No optical viewfinder, non-standard USB cable, difficult to find in US.

The Bottom Line: 
I will give this an above average rating. If it had an optical viewfinder to make outdoor shooting easier, I would give it an excellent.

Author's Review
Several years ago, I went looking for a digital camera that I could keep full time in my pocket without worrying about it getting damaged by weather or rough handling. What I eventually bought was the Olympus Stylus 300, a tough, weather sealed little camera that never failed me. When it came time to upgrade, I wanted to stay with the Stylus line so I started researching their current models. What I decided on and purchased is the Stylus 810 camera, and I have had few complaints.

First, the good things...

The camera has an 8MP CCD sensor which records photos with excellent detail and realistic color. It has a large 2.5" LCD screen, so even my parents with rather poor eyesight can frame shots with ease. There are 24 shooting modes which optimize camera settings for different situations. Time from pushing the shutter button to image recording is quick. When I fist received the camera, it took about 3-4 seconds to go from power off to recording the first image. A BIOS update cut that time in half. When the camera is already powered on, pictures are taken in a fraction of a second. The camera has "Bright Capture Technology" which allows good shots in very low light. There is a 3X optical zoom, and when you reach that limit a 5X digital zoom seamlessly takes over for an effective maximum zoom of 15X (although, like every other camera, using digital zoom reduces picture quality because it simply crops the image). Like the 300, the 810 is sealed against weather and dust, has a quality feel to its construction and is small enough (smaller than the 300) to easily fit in a pocket. Also like the 300, when you hook the 810 up to a computer it is recognized as a removable drive...no need to install drivers on every computer you may want to download images to. Like my 300, battery life is exceptionally long. I used this camera for three weeks before deciding to charge the battery just to be safe. The camera has Image Stabilization (IS) but it is digital IS, not optical. Optical IS uses a system of shifting lenses to eliminate the blur before the image is recorded. Digital IS corrects the blurry image after it has been recorded through digital processing. Still, it seems to do a decent job.

Now for the less than perfect aspects of this model...

First, this camera is VERY difficult to find in the US. I finally purchased a factory refurbished one on Ebay for $200 (plus $40 shipping...OUCH) that came bundled with an Olympus P-10 Dye-sublimation printer. None of the major online retailers seem to have any in stock. Second, in order to fit the 2.5" screen Olympus left out an optical viewfinder. This may seem trivial, but if you are outdoors in bright sunlight the LCD can wash out to the point that it is very difficult to frame your shots. I experienced this at a football game a few weeks ago. This problem may be helped by putting a non-reflective screen protector on the LCD, but I have not tried that as of yet. Finally, this camera does not use a standard mini USB to USB cable. In order to hook the camera up to a computer away from home, I need to have the cable that came with this camera. All of my other cameras use the standard cable which I find more convenient.

Even with the few drawbacks I have been very pleased with this camera. The images it records are great and it has a quality feel to its construction. I would recommend this camera to anyone, with the caveat that outdoor shooting in bright light might be a problem.