Olympus Stylus 300 3.2 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Reviews.

There Are Better Cameras Out There, January 24, 2006
Reviewer: Phillip C. Smyth "Middle East Student & Author" (Colorado by ways of Florida by ways of Conneticut) - See all my reviews

I was given one of these cameras as a gift as a replacement for my beloved Sony 3MP camera. It started out well enough, this took some alright photos until I had it for a week. The camera would not focus correctly, if you zoomed in with it the picture would come out extraordinarily blurry. Some photos I took of friends had a strange hue over them and were blurry to say the least.

Another problem I ran into was that the battery life in the camera wore down extraordinarily quickly. If you use this camera with flash the battery will wear out after about 10 photos.

In addition when taking a picture the camera would pause for about 5 seconds, the screen would turn black, show the picture I just took for less than a second, turn black again for a few seconds and would then show what I was aiming at.

Let's just say I went back to using that old Sony camera I had...I still can't belive how disappointed I was by a camera that was made by one of the best companies in the buisiness.

This camera is not one for anyone who wants a reliable camera for everyday use. This is nothing more then a cheap attempt at making a halfway good digital camera. For about the same price you can pick up a Sony 3.2MP Cybershot, which from personal experience is excellent, or for about $10-$20 more a nice Canon 3.2MP Powershot.
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Great Camera!, December 26, 2005
Reviewer: Laura "IvyLeagueTiger"
I just got back from Kenya, and this camera captured all my moments with the highest quality. Ive gotten compliments from people commenting on the photo quality of the pictures and how great it is (in addition the the beautiful scenes I captured). Compared to my friends' cheaper digital cameras, this by far is worth the $250+.

PROS:
- Beautiful design and very sleek, sturdy and small. Comes with a handle you can put around your wrist, which comes in handy
- Has many features and modes for use in different situations. Althought the AUTO mode is sufficient for most situations, if you learn how to use all the different modes (which I admit, Im still figuring out) you can take better quality pictures
- Being a college student who takes the camera out with me a lot when Im very inebrieated and because I am a clumsy person, Ive dropped the camera several times, including on concrete. Its held up beautifully with minor scratches
- Its also water resistant for spills
- It has digital zoom which allows you to take pictures of things that are pretty far away. Although the pictures come out more fuzzy than normal, It allowed me to get sufficient pictures of things that I could only see through my high powered binoculars

CONS
- You definietly need to get a bigger memory card with this camera since the one it comes with only takes about 24 picures. Although. this is the case with most digital cameras nowadays
- The fuzzy digital zoom pictures (see comment above)
- If you forget to completely close the lens door, when you take out the camera again the battery is drained. Also, lately Ive been having trouble with the lens getting stuck in place when it comes out and retracts, but I have the sinking feelings that that is correlated to the drops that the camera has undergone (see comment above)

Overall, I did a lot of research when looking for a digital camera and although this does run a little but more pricy than all the $100 cameras that are out there, I think the camera is very well worth the money, and even a steal for the quality of the camera.
5 STARS!!!
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Slider Issues!, December 25, 2005
Reviewer: Bill (NC)
Loved the camera... until it broke! This was my first digital camera purchase and I bought Olympus because I've had good experiences with the brand previously. The camera takes good pictures, is lightweight, looks good and I enjoyed it for about 18 months when the slider broke. I am not hard on equipment so believed this to be a manufacturers defect and called Olympus who stated they will fix it... for $150. Great... I'll get it fixed and then have it break again 18 months later? Not a real good deal. What I've got now is an expensive paperweight. I'll put my money where it'll do the most good... in another camera and probably not an Olympus! It doesn't matter how good something is if it doesn't work. Anyone want a real pretty paperweight?
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Pretty good camera, but slider broke..., October 20, 2005
Reviewer: TDPM
I really liked this camera for the first year that I owned it, and then the slider (which reveals the lense) broke and now I have a really hard time taking pictures. If you barely bump the slider when the lense is open, it will think you're trying to close the camera and it will turn off. Also, the lense will slide open when the camera is in my purse and turn the camera on and off. This really kills the battery.

Otherwise, I really liked the camera. The battery life is great and it is really lightweight. I love the fact that it is weatherproof, and have tested this characteristic many times. It's a pretty tough camera (other than the slider breaking). I have taken it all over the world and back again, and it's still taking great pictures.

Since the slider is broken, I'm planning on getting a new camera... another Olympus, but one with a different lense-protection system.

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