We're new and improved! Since I last updated these pages I've gone from a hundred or so shots with the camera to well over one thousand.

The Olympus D-600L

My mini-review: Takes very sharp, colorful pictures. The focus problems which received so much attention are really a non-issue once you're used to the camera. As with any digital camera, NiMH rechargable batteries are a must. Now that the D-600L is available mail-order for about $450 (but check the Olympus D-600L entry on shopper.com), it's a bargain. I find it surprising that it doesn't get more attention nowdays, because it's easily a match for the high resolution cameras that have come to market since (notably the Nikon Coolpix 900 and the Kodak DC260).

Newer Models

My camera is getting a bit dated now. Olympus is up the to C-2000Z. It seems to have all of the features and add higher resolution, sequence shooting and smaller size.

Observations

A single set of NiMH rechargables can be good for upwards of 80 shots, especially with limited flash usage.
A couple of 8M SmartMedia cards are just about right for a day of shooting. You can easily fit 70-80 HQ shots on that 20M (including the original 4M card).
Avoid SQ mode. The images aren't only smaller, they're also treated to much harsher compression. If you can afford this camera, you can afford enough Smartmedia to shoot in HQ all the time.
SHQ, on the other hand, is rarely distinguishable from HQ.
An HQ shot looks great printed at 8x10 on a continuous-tone device. For most consumer printers the printer itself will be the limiting factor.
You can rescue a lot of over or underexposed images with brightness adjustment. You can almost never recover any information from the overexposed parts.

Gallery

I've removed most of the pictures that used to be here (taken from one of my first outings with the D-600L) just because more Smartmedia and more experience with the camera have raised my standards for a good image considerably.

The point of this page is to demonstrate the capabilities of the D-600L, so all of these images are links to raw camera data. For HQ images this is quite large, usually between 250 and 333k. If you would rather evaluate the camera with images reduced to 640x512, I can assure you that every HQ image reduced to that size looks flawless.

And for Pier Rodelon, lover of the snapshot:

| photography