megapixels

This camera puts out some nice looking photos. But there is no perfect camera, so you have to decide what is most important to you. This is my third Olympus camera, I had a D490, a C750 and now a Stylus 410. I am now more of a Olympus fan than ever. Because Olympus gives me what is most important to me, sharp, clear photos with good color quality. They are slightly behind Nikon on skin tone. But ahead of most cameras companys when it coems to sharp, clear, photos with good rich color.

This is a small camera though, and it does not have all the features that it's big brother has. Of course, it would be pretty silly to use this camera for sports, so there really is no reason to put a sports mode on it. What it does best is get up close and personal and the stylus takes good photos of people. You could even get a fair photo of your house.

It is good enough for a small camera, but I am looking forward to Olympus coming out with the flat camera with the big screen on the back. I may well be the first one in line for the AZ-1 when it comes out in this country. In the mean time, my wife is happy with the little 410 stylus, so it should work out just fine for us. Just don't expect me to give up my C750 for this little guy. Unless I am at a party and I can get up close. When I am out photographing the iron workers building a bridge, I do not think the stylus will get the job done there.

I purchased the Digital Stylus 300 when it was released last summer. Compared to other 3 and 4 megapixel cameras at that time, I thought that the 300 was very good. My big complaint was the delay from the time that you press the button to take the picture to the time that the camera actually takes the picture. I timed this delay and it is a full 2 seconds. When I saw that the Digital Stylus 410 claimed to have a 30% faster processing time, I thought that I found a fix. I just got the 410 and it still has the same delay. In fact, if anything, it takes longer for the 410 to take a picture from the time that you push the button to the time that the camera actually takes the picture. This is especially disappointing, not only because they market that they have improved this issue, but also because other manufactures have implemented new processors that actually do fix this delay problem. Looks like the 410 is going back :-(

Other than this complaint, the 410 is generally a good camera. That is why I gave it a 3. However, given the advancements that others have made, it is hard to give the 410 any better rating.

Have a 300 Stylus and tested a 410, will buy one soon. Lots of myths out there:

- Never buy a camera that uses non-rechargeable batteries (i.e. AA). You'll go through piles of them with even light usage. They'll die just when you need more. Why is it so hard to simply recharge your Li-ion battery more often than letting it run down to zero?

- I know it so hard to be inconvenienced, but you have to press the shutter down so the camera can focus. If you're on a strange angle or poor lighting, the camera just won't take the shot - it's trying to focus during that time and conks out. Anyone who wants "instant" shutter snaps needs to return to analog film.

- Skin tone is hard to get with any flash camera unless it's professional. The Olympus flash does tend to be rather bright, I must admit. But I'd rather have brighter (can adjust later with some editing software) than too dark (can't do anything.)

- Who wants all this extra bulky photo editing software? I just want to plug the camera into my computer's USB slot and download the photos without all this baby-handholding "editing software" that comes with other cameras. Only the Olympus allows you to do that. If you're at someone's house or at work or wherever, you can download right to their computer. Can't do it with others if they don't have the editing software CD.

Beats Fuji and Canon, this camera.