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[OM] Re: dpreview posts complete review of Oly SP-310

Subject: [OM] Re: dpreview posts complete review of Oly SP-310
From: Joel Wilcox <jfwilcox@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:51:56 -0600
On 11/21/05, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ScottGee1 wrote:
>
> >http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympussp310/
> >
> >It's "Recommended".
> >
> Another perfectly decent camera with nothing special to recommend it
> other than the name on the front.
>
> Compared to my recent choice, it is big, heavy, slow in operation and
> iso and noisy.
>
> 227.5 vs. 144 cc. = 58% bigger.
> 230 gr. vs. 190 = 21% heavier.
> Press 'on' button to shot taken, 3.5 vs. 1.6 sec. - this is a deal
> breaker for me.
> Zoom wide to tele, 1.2 vs. 0.8 sec.
> WA focus 0.6 vs. 0.3 sec.
> Tele focus 0.6 vs. 0.5
> BUT for SP-310, "In low light or when the subject lacks contrast the
> time to focus can stretch to as much as 1.6 seconds."
> Shot to shot with flash on 4.9 vs. 3.3 sec. (3.3 is already pretty slow,
> and DPr says so.)
> Resolution using 7.1 mp, 1550 * 1550 vs. 1650 * 1750 using 6.3 mp.
> Highest iso 400 vs. 1600 and noise on the Oly at least 2 stops worse.
>
> The two big things going for the Oly that I can see are that it works on
> standard AA batteries and it shoots RAW.
>
> For me, the battery thing is not a positive, as it contributes to size
> and weight, but I know there are those who are thrilled at this. I like
> those light little LIion batteries that take hundreds of shots on a charge.
>
> RAW sounds great until I find out it takes about 10 seconds to write the
> file to the card! That could feel like a lifetime, as the camera is not
> operational during that time.
>
> The Oly does have a few special features that will appeal for specialty
> uses. As a P&S to supplement (D)SLRs for less than casual photogs, a
> yawn. For someone taking only snaps and intrigued with jillions of
> picture modes, entertaining, I suppose.
>
> Moose


To me, the RAW capability is a very big deal, and there wouldn't be
many situations where I would be even notice the speed issues.  One of
my cameras is very fast on startup and the other is a little slower,
but I can't remember which (I *think* the C8080 is faster than the
E-1.)  Also, that's about the same amount of time it takes to shoot
RAW with the C8080 on a fast card. Very reasonable for a pocket
camera.  The output looks very good even as compared to your F10, and
that's the jpgs, not the RAW.  And it looks like it has about 3x the
number of shooting modes that the F10 has.

RAW isn't everything, and it doesn't make up for a 80% optical
viewfinder (why didn't they just skip the viewfinder and not make me
crazy?).  But for $325 I think I'm impressed.  Also, the 5x zoom
covers a nice range.

I'm also a convert to the lith-ion batteries, so that's not such a big
deal to me.

(But I need a camera like this like I need a car bomb.  Where's my
Xmas list? ... )

Joel W.
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