Reviews
Olympus
Stylus 500 Digital
Great screen, great user interface
Before
Olympus released the first megapixel consumer digital camera in
1997, their Stylus line of elegant, point-and-shoot film cameras
essentially owned the market. There were plenty of other pocketsize
35mm cameras from every maker, bit none enjoyed the name recognition
of the Stylus models. We always wondered why it took so long for
Olympus to create a Stylus digital camera ÷ the first model was
announced in January 2003. They must have had a good reason, as
they easily could have leveraged the name to sell their digicams
at any point in the game.
The
Stylus digital is doing very well for the company, we hear, and
it's easy to see the reasons beyond the cool name: Small size,
good performance, weatherproofing, and the kind of design that
pleases a mass audience. We've reviewed them here several times,
and while they always turn in a decent showing and end up on what
we internally call our RTF (Recommendable To Friends) list, they
always left me a bit cold. The power-on and shutter lag performance
was just not up to my personal expectations, and the sliding cover
thing turned me off as being a bit too busy and flashy for my
taste.
Along
comes the Stylus 500 and now I have to completely reconsider the
Stylus. With a new menu system taken from their best midrange
cameras, a huge 215K-pixel 2.5-inch LCD panel, and a sleeker body
design overall, they definitely have my attention.
This
new model is a five-megapixel shooter with specs that you'd expect
from the thin-zoom category pioneered by Casio, Canon, Sony, and
Minolta. Though somewhat beefier than its competition, the Stylus
500 is still a pocket/purse/pack friendly device by any measure.
Smooth edges and a lack of protruding controls make it easy, and
the automatic lens cover makes it even better. Watch those keys
and coins, though, as the LCD is flush mounted with the backplane.
A thin neoprene slipcase would be a very good idea ÷ the camera
does not come with one, unfortunately. This camera, like its sister
Stylii, boast weatherproofing to keep out splashes and rain and,
one would assume, dust and dirt. This may well protect the insides
from foreign incursion but you'll be sad if your shiny new LCD
panel gets all scratched up.
As
the Olympus website says, taking pictures is fun but showing them
off is better. We've written many times about the very welcome
large LCD trend in thin-zooms ÷ in all digicams, actually. With
the gradual untethering of the digital camera from the personal
computer, this makes perfect sense. Take a picture, then share
it. With a large, crisp, daylight-viewable LCD, you can do it
without making anyone squint. This trends also makes possible
cameras that lack an optical viewfinder. Purists may quibble,
but there really is little need for a traditional finder for 99%
of camera users. Simplicity is a good thing, both for makers and
users. The Stylus 500 does not have an optical viewfinder and
is the better for it.
This
camera is not perfect. It uses those pesky xD flash cards instead
of SD or CF cards. This type of media can be had in capacities
up to 1GB currently ÷ I tested with a Lexar 512MB card that holds
a lot of 5MP photos and would absolutely not want to use anything
smaller. But xDs cost more than competitive media and are harder
to find in a pinch, so I have to give the camera a knock on this
count. As I mentioned, the camera is dimensionally-challenged
around the midriff ÷ compared to my Casio EX-40 it's positively
rotund. Only you can decide how much size matters to you. Lots
of people prefer the heft and solid grip of a slightly larger
camera.
Okay,
so the new Stylus looks better than the old one. How does it perform?
I'm please to report the 500 is not only better than any previous
Stylus digital, it is better than any previous Olympus compact
digital camera. Like the competition, Olympus has developed a
dedicated image processing chip. Dubbed TruePic Turbo, it does
a bang-up job of accelerating startup time, autofocus lock, and
shutter response. This performance boost places the 500 right
in the pack of thin-zooms. For impatient types like me, this is
the most important feature of any camera. Many a model has made
a quick trip back to the box for this one reason, but the Stylus
500 is still here on my desk and is likely to remain there for
a while.
÷David
MacNeill
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