Olympus Stylus 820

This is one of the few ultracompact cameras with a 5x optical zoom. It is very small with a large (2.5") beautiful LCD screen. It is also packed with useful features. I researched many ultracompact cameras and this one came out on top. The only caveat is that it takes an xD picture card (developed for Olympus and Fuji cameras), which is 3 times more expensive than an sD picture card. Also beware... some of the features of the camera, such as the panorama function, will not work unless you use an Olympus H type xD picture card, which of course, is the most expensive type of xD card. It is still a great camera, but it would be nice if somewhere in the official description of the camera, Olympus had included this information! Some great features:
'Available Light' mode for taking indoor photos -- useful when the flash washes out the subject, but the scene is too dark without the flash.
'Image Stabilization' for low light photos
'Sunset' which brings out the reds and yellows
'Fireworks' -- a great option that makes fireworks photos look fantastic
'Behind Glass' which reduces the glare and reflection of subjects taken through glass
'Documents' which increases contrast

Some features that are funky:
'Expression Edit'- this takes a photo and changes the expression of the subject, but makes them look more like a cartoon character
'Smile Recognition'- when you lock on the subject, the camera takes a photo when the subject smiles (I haven't gotten this one to work yet, but can't imagine using it very often either).

The menu system is very easy to use and there is an on camera guide to help you take better photos.

The BEST thing about this camera is the in-camera panoramic function! It is SO cool and easy to do. I love it.

If it wasn't for the xD card, I would rate it 5 stars. Because of the fact that you are forced to buy the Olympus xD card to get all of the functions to work, I rate it 4.5 stars.

This is a wonderful, compact, powerful digital camera. It has 8 megapixels & 5x optical & 5x digital zoom. I did a lot of comparison shopping before purchasing this camera & overall, for the money, this one is the best. It is very easy to use & takes beautifully clear pictures.

I checked the posted reviews for this camera because it was becoming increasingly apparent that the image quality from my new 820 was poor. I wanted to see if others were finding the same thing. Reading the reviews by those customers who are getting poor quality images confirmed my suspicions. My observations have been identical with those in the reviews.

It is possible to take good photographs with this camera, the only problem is that you never know when it is going to happen! Sometimes they are good and mostly they are bad. I get a better percentage of good ones outdoors but they aren't all good. Indoors, forget about it. The poor quality images are grainy and look like someone drew them with crayons. A lot of the fine detail is just washed out.

The features, menus and large display are great, but the only reason for having a camera is to produce images. If they are lousy images, who cares about all the great features? What a disappointment this camera is.

I purchased the camera for outdoor activities where the camera could, on rare occasions, get wet. I wasn't expecting to have to give up on image quality. If I had it to do over again, I would look at the Canon line of compact cameras because they always seem to take great pictures and the video mode produces .avi files which play on Windows Media Player. I looked at the Nikons and they all seem to produce .mov video files that require you to install Quicktime on your computer. If Canon could just make a water resistant, compact camera, I would buy it immediately.

I bought this camera for a couple reasons. 1. Size (it's thinner than my "old" Canon SD700), 2. LCD size (MUCH bigger than the Canon), 3. Zoom (at 5x I was looking forward to better telephoto performance), Lastly, Features (the anti-shake and face tracking seemed like a great idea.

Well, I took basics like image quality for granted....big mistake! My first round of shots (using the default-auto settings) were out of focus, grainy (took them indoors with little light so that flash was needed) and basically looked like crap. As an experiment, I took 4 shots with the Olympus and Canon framed exactly the same...both with AUTO settings. The difference was DRAMATIC...Canon looked awesome...every Olympus shot was grainy and poorly focused.

I suppose it's possible that I got a bad sample from Olympus; I'm going to try to return it.

Buyer beware!

I have now purchased two of the Olympus Stylus 820 cameras. The first one kept locking up on me. I would push the shutter button and it would just freeze. The only way to fix it was to remove/insert the battery and it would unlock. I took that one back and got another one. No problem with this one locking up but a huge problem with the image quality. I bought this camera to replace my older Olympus Stylus 410. I wanted something newer, smaller, faster, etc. The camera itself is great as far as size, has a great LCD screen, it's fast and easy to use. However, the image quality is terrible! Shots taken outside look fine. Constantly all inside shots are dark and grainy. To experiment I took some identical shots using my old 410 and the new 820. There is a huge noticeable difference in the photos. The 820 is not only grainy but the colors are off. The 410 photos came out crystal clear with colors that are true. I can't recommend the 820. I am lucky that that I am within my return period and plan to take it back tomorrow and I'll continue to use my old camera.