My spouse and I went to our local camera store's open house and examined all
the cameras we discussed and then some. Her favorite was the Nikon S4 (not
the rangefinder) and the Olympus 600 came in second. The S4 is a very nice
camera. Swivel design, 10x mega zoom, constant aperture 38-380 f/3.5 lens
and a nice menu system. It is her camera and her choice (but I do agree
with it of course). It is amazing how much photography has changed.
Portrait mode on these new cameras is not just shallow DOF. They are
reducing sharpening, automatically focusing on the face, removing redeye,
changing color space and managing DOF. The end results look very nice. I
had researched quite a few point and shoots online, but when you inspect
them in person, they a more similar than different. They had similar design
and features even within brands. Nikon has four cameras that are almost
identical except for slight variations in lens and body design. Olympus has
three. While the S4 can zoom to 380mm, it has no image stabilization. The
Nikon rep said he has taken sharp photos in good light at 1/4 sec at 380mm.
I said that was BS. So, we zoomed to 380mm and I got a sharp image at 1/15
in the camera store. The camera (along with other brands) has a Best Shot
Selector that will take multiple pics and keep the sharp ones. I believe
there is some anti-blur programming also going on. Another nice feature in
the panoramic assist. With this feature on, you take the picture and
lighter image of the last 25% freezes on the screen so you can line it up
for the next shot. This should make for more accurate stitching. I am not
trading in my OM yet, but there is some neat technology out there. I have
to believe that the casual photographer will capture much better travel and
family pictures, I mean "images," with these cameras. When she gets the
camera I will be interested in seeing if it delivers.
The Olympus rep said the E-1 replacement will be out in late spring to early
summer. The Oly 7-14mm looked like it needed at home. The E-500 has a nice
design, but in viewing the e-300 and e-500 together, I don't know if I
would definitely pick one over the other. The Oly rep said they are still
supplying the 4/3 adaptor at no charge. I got his card just in case.
Other notes, the Fuji film guy was pretty lonely but said they are committed
to film and will be introducing a new slide film next year. He was excited
about the new 160C and I got a roll to try. Kodak and Ilford were not
represented.
Dean
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Barker [mailto:ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 6:22 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: OT Digital Point and Shoot
My son has what I think you call the Verve, the digital mju (4mp).
Its zoom range is limited to 35-70 efl but it takes good photos from
what I can make out. It is also a delightful bit of design and seems
to be very well made.
Chris
~~ >-)-
C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
+44 (0)7092 251126
www.threeshoes.co.uk
homepage.mac.com/zuiko
On 28 Oct 2005, at 20:24, Dean Tyler wrote:
> Thanks to all for the recommendations. I would love to get her a
> C-7070,
> but she wants something small and sleek. I will add the Cannon to
> the list.
> Has anyone bought a Verve? It got good reviews and the design is
> very nice,
> but nobody talks about it.
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