Olympus Stylus 400 Digital Camera

Outstanding compact digital camera

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 27, 2003 | 28 out of 28 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: Compact, easy to us, great pics, versatile

Cons: Larger zoom would have been nice

I have had this camera over a month and it is excellent. I use professionally a Nikon D100 but this is not a camera you can carry around with you 24/7. The Olympus Stylus 400 is a camera which can be carried on your belt (purchase the accessory kit -... has a $30 rebate on it until years end - provides an extra battery, a card reader for USB computer transfer, and a great carrying case for your belt - it is worth the money). Sold the small xD card that came with the camera on Ebay and purchased two 256 MB xD cards on ecost.com for only $88 each. This allows you to take over 500 pictures; more than enough for any trip and you can do so with the two batteries fully charged. This camera is so easy to use, you can use all its functions without reading the instruction manual (which is always a major advantage of any device since it means it is simple to use unlike the D100 Nikon). Pic quality is excellent for this type of camera. The night mode works great as does all the other functions this camera overs which are many. Even the remote control is very nice so you can take photographs which you can be in as well without running because of some timer (need a tripod or a steady surface for this and the often the night mode as well). Others have remotes that allow you to change the zoom at a distant but for the price this was a great surprise to find a remote packaged with this great camera. It is a well made camera and seems to take weather as well as the bounces a digital camera needs to take to survive longer than a few months. I have this camera with me all the time so there is never a moment or a photograph I have to miss. From the protective sliding cover to the excellent display screen this camera is every thing you would expect from a high quality digital camera. You will not be disapppointed unless you expect every camera to be a D100. The best cameras and the most used cameras are those trimmed to the most necessary features and are easy to use. The Olympus 400 is exactly this type of camera and I will use it for hundreds of photographs I would otherwise never have taken. Read more Less

just bought it..

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jul 30, 2003 | 15 out of 16 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

picture quality a bit grainy when you view it in your monitor. that's all other than that, it's great. i even tried out couple of snap while it's raining heavily, it's really water resistant.

Stylus 400

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Nov 6, 2003 | 14 out of 15 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: Just About everything

Cons: Shutter opens in pocket??

I've had the camera for about three months and have been extremely pleased with it. Never a big olympus fan before owning this camera, but it totally changed my point of view. Like it better than the canon i owned before. Great picture quality..., small, compact, features are easy to use after a little practice. Holds up pretty well, haven't got it wet but i did drop it in gravel and it help up. The sliding door does open up in my pocket at times, but other than that it is great. Read more Less

False Marketing yet again!

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 27, 2003 | 11 out of 13 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: great pictures

Cons: Horrible support, lousy drivers, & weak menus

If I were looking for just great pictures this camera would get high ratings. However, like most digital users I have other considerations that are just as important: How smoothly can I get the pictures onto my computer? How easily can I review pic...tures and delete? How long will the battery last? How well does the company behind the product stand behind their product? The answer to all these questions and more are dismal. First the retailer sold me this under the illusion that it would work with my windows 98 computer. Also, the Olympus package included windows 98 as a supported system... Wrong! When I called Olympus it took almost one entire day on the phone and 4 support individuals before they actually fessed up to the fact that it only works with windows 2000 or newer! I doubt I could have pulled this out of them had I not been a software programmer myself, understood more about the products then they, & finally spoke to a knowledgeable & honest tech support person.. They insisted it was my system until I forced them to trouble shoot their drivers. Even after speaking with the highest manager I could, Olympus nor the retailer would take the camera back! Not until I purchased an XP system was I able to use this camera!!! I paid almost $650 on the camera and accessories!Now the menus... the worst is that you can not view the picture you just took unless you close the front cover which withdraws the lens. Opening & closing the lens drains the battery FAST! So unless you want to blindly take pictures like the old days you had better purchase 1 or 2 spare batteries! Deleting pictures is slow and cumbersome to migrate through the menus. I could go on and on but you get the point... don't buy from Olympus! I never will again. Read more Less

Great Camera

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jul 30, 2003 | 5 out of 7 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

This is my first but so far im happy. Battery life has been very good and functions are easy.

Overall an excellent compact camera

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Mar 29, 2004 | 3 out of 3 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: style, size, ease of use, picture quality, lith. battery life

Cons: panorama mode: does not blend together well

Overall an excellent little digital.Have had mine for nearly one year and carry it in my pocket nearly always. Lens cover slides partly open on occasion, but battery unaffected unless lens is fully extended (happened only twice).Takes excellent quali...ty pictures in 4M SHQ. I recommend getting a larger memory card than standard 16MB (only 5 SHQ 4M pics). I purchased a 64MB (26 SHQ 4M pics) at Radio Shack for about $50.Pictures are not grainy in SHQ or HQ resolution unless 4X digital zoom is used. Optical zoom performs great at 3X.Panorama mode fails to blend pics properly, but it could be the Camedia 4.1 software included.I had my Mother get a 400 Stylus (she loves it!!) after she got her Olympus 3.2M wet at the beach and ruined it. If she can use the Stylus 400...anyone can.Quality pics, decent features, stylish, compact, rugged, and ready to point-and-shoot when you need it. Read more Less

Great Camera

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 27, 2003 | 2 out of 2 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: Everything about it

Cons: bad close up pictures

Great all around camera but only thing is close up pictures. I will still recommend this camera to anyone.

great

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 27, 2003 | 1 out of 1 found this Olympus Stylus 400 review helpful

Pros: everything

Cons: none

this is the best camera ever. the desing is beautiful, and the picture quality is awesome. this should be #1

Stylus 400

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jan 28, 2006

Pros: Handles well

Cons: Cover scratches easily

Have had the camera for 2 years and was happy with it at first. After one year I noticed a big dark spot in the middle of my pictures. I contacted Olympus but they never returned my email. I finally took it to a camera repair shop and I was told that... the lens was chipped or worn out. This would cost me over $200 to get it fixed. I was told that humid climate could have caused that. I am buying a new camera but never an Olypus again. Karin Read more Less