| |
Olympus Stylus 550WP reviews
You can find here the most interesting reviews / ratings from the well-known expert sites about the Olympus Stylus 550WP Camera. Here are the reviewers:
|
- 21 July 2009 - |
|
- 0 |
|
- 15 July 2009 - |
|
- 0 |
DPInterface 's conclusion / rating - 21 July 2009 |
“ When I first saw the Olympus Stylus 550WP, I thought it had a lot of potential – it’s a simple waterproof camera with a price tag that anyone can afford. Well, at least I THOUGHT it had a lot of potential; but the Stylus 550WP turned out to be a big letdown.
The Stylus 550WP is a slim and compact camera that’s waterproof to 3 meters. There’s a 2.5 inch LCD screen with decent visibility. Unfortunately, the camera is plagued with shortcomings such as the lack of real image stabilization, the clutter around the navigation pad and worst-in-class battery life – So much for good looks, huh?
The camera is entirely point-and-shoot, with no manual controls but with a plethora of scene modes instead. The camera also features built-in pointers/tooltips, accessible by pressing the DISPLAY button, to help you out. But let me tell you, the features here are simplified versions of those from Olympus’ higher end cameras… for example, face detection only picks up a maximum of three faces and macro minimum focus distance isn’t the lowest you can find.
Overall, the Olympus Stylus 550WP’s crummy image quality delivers the final blow to the camera’s own demise – photos look like wet paintings; soft and muddy, lacking in detail and noise levels are high. Performance isn’t better either as the camera’s performance is either average or slow, with substandard low-light focusing and lack of a burst mode. Evidently, I cannot recommend the Stylus 550WP due to its shortcomings in so many areas... ”
DPInterface's rating: |
|
- 0 |
Complete review here
Imaging Resource 's conclusion / rating - 15 July 2009 |
“ Available online for under $150, the Olympus 550WP is one of the least expensive waterproof cameras on the market. It lacks the ruggedness of its big brothers, the Stylus Tough 6000 and 8000, but if all you need is a waterproof rating to 10 feet, it's about the cheapest way to go. Optical and image quality are better than many waterproof models, but clearly fall short of the best - But for the price, it's hard to beat. Even taking its price into account, though, we still found its sluggish performance hard to accept: It was one of the slowest cameras in our underwater/rugged camera roundup, and a "snapshot" camera should be able to grab shots in a snap. The only competition at its exceptionally low price point is the Fujifilm Z33WP, and each has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. The Olympus 550WP's optical and image quality are clearly a notch above the Fuji's, and its shots up to ISO 400 are noticeably sharper and cleaner. (Beyond that point, the noise levels are fairly similar.) For its part, the Fuji wins on shutter response by a good margin (although it's only slightly faster from shot to shot) and scores big points for style. As we also note in the Z33WP's conclusion, which one you choose may depend on who you are and what you want from the camera. The Fuji Z33WP would be a hands-down winner for kids, who'll appreciate its sleek lines, cute-as-a-button styling and who'll be more likely to need its faster shutter response -- but who probably don't care about prints larger than 4x6 inches. If you're a little less style-forward and able to wait (and wait, sometimes) for your shots, the higher image quality of the Olympus 550WP will probably make it your choice. You'll still give up some image quality relative to the best cameras in the field, but if your budget is limited, you'll probably appreciate having the 550WP along on trips where you couldn't bring your non-waterproof digicam or SLR... ”
Imaging Resource's rating: |
|
- 0 |
Complete review here
|
|
Comments (0)
Camera info
Digg
del.icio.us
Reddit
Google
Home
Simulator