When i first saw the camera, I was not overly impressed with its styling or finish of the product compared to the more trendy designs on offer from Canon and Nikon.But all that soon changed once I began handling the camera and started taking snaps. What was
impressive in the
sp-350 is its ergonomic design and the bulged grip on the right side, fits snugly in the hand makes it very useful for one handed photography. The camera is extremely light weight and is probably the lightest in its class. It is a sheer delight to take pictures and carry such a light camera.The camera features 24 programmed
modes including one for cuisines. Can you believe it??? The preset modes work beautifully in their settings.The biggest surprise came when the photos were printed. I did not expect to see such excellent
prints and was pleasantly surprised. The camera features pictbridge technology that enables the user to connect the camera directly to a printer.There is an option to fit a water resist cover on top of the camera and I am looking forward to taking snaps on my next scuba diving trip.On the negative side, sp-350 uses a xd card whilst most cams use a sd card for memory. The transfer rate of pictures to the computer is slow.sp-350 has 3x
optic zoom. It could have done with an extra 2x zoom as most of the digicams in 8 mega pixel class comes with at least 6x optic zoom.One more disappointing feature of sp-350is that it requires 4 AA batteries instead of the usual 2 and the back up is none too impressive.All in all the Olympus sp-350 is an excellent value for money pick which is very user friendly offering excellent prints.
Published: July 20, 2006
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