Olympus Quality????

Desert Dave

Hello all, first post here but I've lurked a bit and found some great information. If the answer to my question is somewhere else, please redirect me, I did a search and couldn't find it.

For starters I'm a complete digital n00b and am still experimenting with point and shoot cameras.

Here's the story, I got my first digital camera a couple of years ago, an Olympus D-360L, 1.3 megapixel. I was, and am still impressed with some of the pictures I've taken with it. VERY sharp, excellent colors. Of course simple to use, but lack of manual control is both a blessing and a curse. Most of my pictures are nature type scenes, in varying light conditions.

I decieded a few months ago to upgrade a bit. For now I wanted to stay point and shoot. The main features I wanted that I didn't have was an optical zoom, a bit higher megapixel count and some scene selections I could experiment with. I'm already familiar with Olympus, and very happy with my first camera so I decieded on a D-595 Zoom.

Well, simply put, the picture quality is lousy. Pictures in well lit conditions, where my 360 would have taken frame worthy pics, my 595 comes out a bit blurry, especially on large scenes. At first I thought it was my imagination, after all this camera is a step up, right? But after many shots, and many different settings I'm convinced it's not as good. I thought maybe mine is a lemon until I talked to a friend who had the exact same experience! He to had an older 1.3 MP and stepped up to a newer 4 or 5 MP, both Olympus but different models, and described his results as the same.

So my question is, is this a common experience? Are the lenses different ? Or am I just altogether missing somthing?

Needless to say I'm going to buy somthing else, I'm tired of getting home and finding out most of my pics are trash. I'm open for suggestions, but right now I think I'll stay away from Olympus.

I'm really curious as to what's going on here, any input or ideas is much appreciated.

Thanks.

gubbs

Hi and welcome to dgrin,

sorry to hear your having problems! Although I've no experience of this particular model I was very pleased with my 8080.

I had a quick look at the the review on steves digicams, the 595 seems like a good camera, have a look here.

Can you post some examples of the problems you are having along with the exif info...

Desert Dave

gubbs wrote:

Hi and welcome to dgrin,

sorry to hear your having problems! Although I've no experience of this particular model I was very pleased with my 8080.

I had a quick look at the the review on steves digicams, the 595 seems like a good camera, have a look here.

Can you post some examples of the problems you are having along with the exif info...

Thanks for the response.

Here is a decent example of what I'm talking about.



I hope I'm describing this properly, but the image just doesn't seem very sharp. I've got quite a few examples like this.

Is it possible this is normal for a camera in this range and I just got lucky with my previous equipment? If so,I don't mind spending more bucks for better quality, but I'd like to keep it simple.

Bystander

Desert Dave wrote:

Thanks for the response.

Here is a decent example of what I'm talking about.


I hope I'm describing this properly, but the image just doesn't seem very sharp. I've got quite a few examples like this.

Is it possible this is normal for a camera in this range and I just got lucky with my previous equipment? If so,I don't mind spending more bucks for better quality, but I'd like to keep it simple.

Hi,

I have an Olympus C-7000 and am very happy with the quality of images it creates. No probs with the camera after 8 months or so.

Here is an example:

http://bystander.smugmug.com/gallery/775165/1/34331417/Medium


Re: your image -- The lighting seems harsh to me and the foreground is a little over exposed (I think) This kind of washes out the foreground detail.

It may be the meter in this camera differs from the one you were used to. Does the camera have manual settings? If so I suggest you try bracketing and/or using a separate meter reading(using the camera or a separate meter) to get your own reading. Your photo has a broad dynamic range and the exposure seems to be doing a pretty good job with the shady areas but has over exposed the foreground.

Hope that helps,
Frank