OM SYSTEM Olympus SP-810 UZ Digital Camera (Old Model)

After a great deal of research, including reading other reviews of this and many other cameras, I purchased the Olympus SP-810 UZ. I wanted a camera with a large capacity for zoom as well as built in stabilization...this camera has been the perfect choice for me. It takes great photographs, is easy to use and the zoom feature is great. I haven't tried all of the features yet, but will be experimenting as I go. My boyfriend who is a photographer prefers to use my camera in certain situations because of the quality of the pictures and it's capacity for stabilization and zoom. Great value for the money. There are only a couple of drawbacks; one is having to plug the camera in to charge the battery and the other is that it takes a bit of time to focus. (Other reviewers discuss this in more and better detail.) Overall I'm very happy with this camera and would recommend it to friends.

I've only had this camera for two days. I'll write an update in a month or two. So far... PROS - cool effects - panorama works pretty good - flash is easy to work with - seems to take pretty good indoor pictures - zoom is obviously good (also if it is at max zoom... your obviously not going to get an Amazing picture.. pretty sure that is common sense though) - easy menu CONS - sequential shooting only works at 5mp. you can't get the full 14mp if you are using the sequential shooting. This is a major con for me because it was a big part of the reason I bought the camera. - lens cap is kinda flimsy - doesn't come with a case (not the end of the world, but would be nice) - sometimes the sequential shooting gets stuck shooting.. it just keeps taking pictures and taking pictures.. and taking pictures.. until you finally get frustrated and turn the camera off. This is kinda annoying. But doesn't happen on the high speed 1 sequential shooting... (there is normal, speed 1, 2, and 3) - Can take a second or two to focus, which I feel is a little annoying but almost all the cameras I've had are like that so its not a super huge deal. If your used to better camera though.. it would probably be super annoying. All in all its pretty good. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep it or not, just because the sequential shooting is a big deal to me. But other then that I feel like its a really nice camera for the price. Update --- I decided to return it because after playing with it all day I was still unable to get the picture quality that I am used to with the cheaper cameras I have owned. Still, all the effects are super cool and if you don't mind the noise, the sequential shooting is nice. Oh I did like the video, it preformed very well.

I chose this camera because I want to learn to take better quality photographs than with a standard point-and-shoot, but I'm not aiming to become a professional photographer. I was very satisfied with my first tries using this camera. The menu is easy to use while still offering a variety of options if you're looking to go more in-depth. My favorite settings to play with are the macro and super macro, the white balance adjustment (allowing you to set the camera to "sunny day", "cloudy day", "fluorescent light", or "incandescent light"), and the exposure adjustment. I'm really happy with the image quality and the camera's ability to pick up on nuances of color. Sometimes it's hard to get the auto-focus to focus exactly on what I want (especially in the super macro) but it's easy to overcome by using the regular macro and the zoom. The zoom is very nice as well - I've taken close-up pictures of a hawk that was a few hundred yards away, and they came out beautifully. I would recommend this camera to anyone who's looking for more than a basic point-and-shoot but doesn't want to go the DSLR route.

Great ZOOM, autofocus not that great. If you are zooming something you want to focus, you are going to have a BAD time. Asides from that, panoramic and picture quality is great. Nice product for the price being payed.

Bought this for my real estate business, where I take about 900 photos each month. Before I shot the first photo, I went ahead and added a very small piece of Velcro (the hooks) to the left-side of the camera body. The loop portion was attached to the lens cap. This stops the lens cap from blowing around in front of lens in the wind, or during action shots. Also, connected both sides of the strap to the same metal loop on the right-side of the camera body. When I'm shooting images of homes, I carry the camera in my right-hand, with the strap poised above my wrist so I don't drop the camera. It's easier to pull the camera out of the bag and work with it, when the strap is on only one side of the camera. Since I am taking dozens or hundreds of photos of a property at a time, having the camera strap around my neck would be a real pain in the neck. My previous camera was a Fujifilm, which seemed to be a good idea at the time - until I realized it used 4 AA batteries and 18x optical zoom wasn't enough for my needs. I hate having to take batteries out of a camera to either replace or recharge. And there's nothing worse than not having enough optical zoom. The Olympus SP-810UZ is awesome! It has 36x optical zoom which is double what I had before. But the operation of the camera? It's smooth, simple, point - autofocus - shoot. I never realized how much better my photos would be with 36x optical zoom - it's amazing. The second best thing about the Olympus camera is the battery pack. No more removing & recharging AA's. Olympus has provided a lithium-ion battery pack that you can connect to a wall charge via USB or a powered USB port for your computer. (Do suggest using the wall charger for the first charge. Thereafter, the USB only charge works great!) Had a small point & shoot Olympus several years ago, and I really liked it. This camera will be my go-to camera for years to come. Or until I need a 72x optical zoom.