Olympus D 340L

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Summary:
I had read all the hype about this camera in the press and Consumer Reports rated it Excellent and #2 in an 18 digital camera shootout! (only 2 cameras got the excellent) Good enuf for me.I had also played with this camera and others in shops prior to purchasing it. The camera is easy to use..but requires reading the manual to get what all the buttons do or mean. Some other cameras have a more detailed menu system with on LCD instructions/text but once you learn the 340L's inputs it becomes very easy. Also since you don't have to cycle thru various menu options to get to the function you want...it takes less time to use the 340L. That's a good thing.I take most pictures in the standard mode (640x480) which is higher than most high resolution cameras. The others usually revert to something less for their "low" resolution mode. Getting 60 pics on the 4meg smartcard is nice. I'd like to upgrade to the 8meg or 16meg variation soon.Ease of use and taking pictures is good. Unlike what others have said I've yet to get a finger or thumb in a picture but then again I'm coming off 5 yrs of using a small Olympus Sylus camera...so I'm used to cameras in small packages. The camera cycles very fast and the resultant standard quality images are excellent.Downloads are relatively quick and once on disk using the Photodeluxe software to "fine tune" the pics is nice.My main gripe about the camera is NO AC adapter included and if u want to get the one from Olympus you're paying an over-inflated $49.99 or more. I plan on buying a $2 computer show AC adapter that works exactly the same.All in all this camera is pretty much as advertised and the size/shape grows on you with time. Again, unlike what others said the workmanship to me is EXCELLENT and it looks/feels like a sturdy dependable picture platform. I shopped around and got mine for a smokin deal of $388.84, which made purchasing this camera even sweeter. :)