Karen

I'm not sure of the spelling of this camera, but I have noticed many people on this site speak of this camera as being their favorite for trips and also very tiny. Can anyone tell me if this is the right camera before I go to the camera website and start looking for the wrong one. Also, if you have it, can you tell me what you like so much about it. Is it an Epic model? I really need some help. I don't know what I am looking for. Is it even spelled right? Thanks Karen

Art

Hi Karen, I bought an Olympus Stylus last year. I spent 3 weeks in Central and Eastern Rurope in Sept. I also had my Cannon A1 (which I've had for years.) the pictures were very comparable and I was very happy with my Stylus. I've had many compliments on my pictures. One of the things I liked about the stylus is thta it has a 28 - 80 mm telephoto zoom lens, so I was able to take wide angle shots very easily. It is very light and fits into a case that I wear on my belt.

Karen

I just found out the I indeed spelled it wrong. Olympus Stylus is correct. I am looking at the Epic 80 and the Epic 115. Do I need the more zoom? How about the regular Epic Stylus and the Deluxe Stylus? Is the worth the extra? Please give me your comments. Just how small are these cameras. WHo has the best prices? Thanks Karen

Martha

I bought an Epic 115 zoom last year and really liked the results I got on the first trip I took with it. I think the zoom is plenty for the kind of pictures I take.

Gretchen

The cameras are quite small and the one admonition I have for that is that you must be very concious of holding the camera still. Look at Walmart or Target or Service Merchandise for good prices.

Brian Kilgore

Camera lesson for you.<BR><BR>The base Stylus is the Stylus Epic, and it has a fixed focal length, non-zoom, wide angle 35mm focal length f 2.8 lens.<BR><BR>This is a very popular camera among professional photographers who want a simple camera to carry with them all the time. Plus it is cheap, and the lens is very good if youwant to make enlargements.<BR><BR>As the model numbers go up, you get zoom lenses. The higher the number, the "longer" (more telephoto) the lens gets, and the more the camera costs.<BR><BR>Ans the "slower" the lens gets.<BR><BR>"Slow" and "fast" lenses refer to the maximum aperture or f stoip, whichis the circle inthe lens through which light travels to the film. The bigger the circle, the more light it lets in, and thus the less light there can be inthe place where you are shooting.<BR><BR>So the standard Epic, with an f 2.8 maximum aperture lens, can be used in lower light, without a flash, than can a zoom lens model, with a maximum aperture that is smaller. (slower)<BR><BR>And with zoom lenses, the ability to use them in lower light xchanges as you zoom the lens. The wider the angle, the less light you can operate in.<BR><BR>For outdoors in the bright sun, none of this matters, really. But when the clouds getthick, or, more importantly, you start to use flash, lens speed matters.<BR><BR>With flash, if you are too far away, and then zoom to get the subject big enough, you won't have enough power in the flash to illuminate the subject, because the aperture is too small to let enough light through.<BR><BR>So, what to buy?<BR><BR>For most people, you can usually walk a bit closer to fill the frame, so for most travel pictures, a zoom that goes too far just ads to the cost of the camera, and it won't work, stretched out, for flash anyway.<BR><BR>So, ifyou thinkyou'll want to take pictues with no flash indoors, buy the standard, lowest priced, Stylus with the 35mm non-zoom lens. If you want more versatility, by the Epic Zoom 80, or, even better, the Zoom 115. The zoom 140 is, I suggest, not worth the extra money for most amateur photographrs taking travel pictures.<BR><BR>For film, I suggest thatyou buy Kodak or Fuji 400 regular snapshot film. And find a good lab with grownups who have worked there for more than a week, rather than part time highschool kids with no interest in understanding photography.<BR><BR>BAK<BR>

Karen

Brian, Thanks so much for all that info. My next question: If I by the 80 or 115 do I buy the regular or deluxe. They say the deluxe can do panoramic shots, and has something called CF where you can look to make sure you got the shot instead of taking it again,and they have QD Quartz Date availability. Are these three things worth it? Plus I think the deluxe one is gold. Brian you have been a great help. I hope you come back to the question. I want a small camera that is easy to use,takes good pictures, has minimum red eye. I have a real problem with that.I take most of my pictures with people in them closer up. I do want the ability to take a nice picture of some beautiful building or hillside if I see one. Nothing in the professional realm, believe me. Thanks again. Karen

gail

That was a wonderfully informative reply from Brian.<BR>Karen, In case he doesn't come back to reply to your additional question, I thought I'd chime in that I'm just a casual vacation photographer, purchased an Olympus Stylus zoom 105 a couple of years ago before a trip to Spain. I've taken some wonderful photos with it. It has a choice of flash modes, including automatic, none, fill-in (to avoid dark shadows in very bright sunlight), night-time shots, and red-eye. The latter feature may be helpful to you: it flashes a light that causes the subject's pupils to close down immediately before the shutter goes off, thereby avoiding the red-eye effect when the subject's eyes reflect the flash.<BR>You can buy disposable cameras that shoot only panoramic views for around $10. Considering what you're probably shooting if you want a panoramic view of it, the disposable takes more than adequate, in focus, shots and could save you some $ on the other camera. They weigh almost nothing and I just toss it into my backpack or pocket, take it out for the occasional wide view.<BR>Hope this helps a bit.

c

Karen - A few friends of mine who I frequently travel with have the Stylus camera and are pretty happy with it. Unfortunately both of them bought the 80 lense and now wish they have a better zoom. When we compared photos on recent trips to China and Ireland, they agreed that my 140 zoom was easier to use in getting some of the shots. <BR><BR>I'd recommend checking out cameraworld.com. They're located in Oregon, so there's no sales tax on your order and I don't think any shipping charges. I've been very happy with my service. And their website offers user reviews for the various products which can be useful.

Gretchen

Regarding red-eye. Hopefully your camera will take care of it but if not there is a pen you can buy to remove red eye. I disagree with Brian a little about a zoom. If your camera does not have zoom capability your pictures will have a "same" look to them (even if you move closer) because yu are always in the same spatial relationship to the subject. I have never seen the advantage to a date stamp ruining the look of a picture even though I would probably love to know when I took some pics! The APS (panoramic capability) system just makes your picture developing very expensive. Agree with the person who suggested a disposable for that use.

Christina

I had the old model (bought about 10 yrs ago) which had a 35-70 zoom and finally needed to replace it due to a light leak and got the same version (which is now 35-80, the Zoom 80 model). YOu can check these out on www.amazon.com, actually or www.ritzcamera.com, even target has them. The going "discount" price for that model is $150, very easy to get everywhere (also at Sears). That zoom seems good enough for me, but I didn't ever have the 140 so maybe I'm missing something, but it wasn't worth the extra $50 or so for the more zoom. All of them have the quartz dating thing, I think (which I never use and turn it off); not sure about the "gold" thing, probably color of the case, the zoom 80 is silver, I guess, can't imagine color matters. When I first bought my old one, the salesperson in the camera store also advised me not to get the panorama feature -- buy a separate cheap disposable for that purpose when you want one. I really like it a lot and find it superior to some other good brands with the same features due to it's "clamshell" design which allows you to slide a cover over the lens which completely protects it. I carry it around (it's very small) just in my pocket or purse without a case of any kind due to that feature. Target had a brochure comparing features of all their camers which was nice except I'll warn you, it is wrong about the various Olympus models -- for the 80QD, it says it doesn't have the date function (duh -- QD stands for quartz date) and it doesn't mention the 5-6 std preset flash modes, which it also has.

Jim Tardio

Let me confuse you a little more, Karen <BR><BR>Brian gives a great explanation. It sounds like you want a zoom lens. Let me recommend the Minolta Freedom Zoom Explorer. It's roughly the same size as the Olympus zooms. The great thing about it is that it has a 28-75 lens. That 28mm wide end of the zoom will be much more useful to you when traveling than the 120mm long end of the Olympus zoom. I believe the Olympus zooms start at 38mm. That 10mm may not sound like a lot but it makes all the difference in the world in tight spots...especially in Europe.<BR><BR>I have both the Minolta and the Olympus Stylus Epic with the fixed 35/2.8 lens...and that truly is a fine camera. But if you want a zoom, I think the wider angle on the Minolta is more useful. And the quality is quite good.<BR><BR>Lots of travel photos here:<BR>http://www.jimtardio.com

Jim Tardio

Let me also add that the long end of the zoom lens is where the quality will suffer most.<BR><BR>As to the quartz/date feature...I don't like the date stamped on the shot. But you might.<BR><BR>The Panoramic feature is also another personal choice (The Minolta Freedom Zoom Explore has this, too)...but all it does is mask the top and bottom of the frame. Someone mentioned APS...panoramic. One has nothing to do with the other. APS is another film formay altogether.<BR><BR>Here's a gallery of shots taken with the Minolta FZE (Freedom Zoom Explorer), that you may find helpful&gt;<BR><BR>http://www.photo.net/photo/freedom-zoom-gallery

Victor

Hi Karen<BR>Have you given though about getting a digital camera ? <BR>I was using a pentax & canon cameras before. As time goes on it become a storage headache. I then decided to switch to digital cameras. Now after trips or occasions I just put all the photos in a VCD format in a cd and pass to my friends, family etc. They can view it from thier TV. And if you are putting up webpages like me it is very convenient(mine is at www.vgpma.com/travel/) . I am not saying digital is the best but base on your needs it might be a better choice. If you like you can visit www.dpreview.com

mariacallas

The problem with digital is that the flash cards cost so much that it is not worth it to try to buy enough flash cards for all the pictures you might want to take. Plus, the camera costs so darned much you're afraid to take it out of your pocket. I vote a good 35mm camera and load up on the film. <BR><BR>I bought my little daughter a canon sure shot and she dearly loves it. Then I got one for my mom- the most meachanically challenged person in the world - and she can take good pictures with it. So.......

Gretchen

I used my digital exclusively this last trip to FRance and love the results. I have 3 memory cards--8,32, and 64MB. Olympus 3030 with 3.1 megapixel resolution. For this trip I dropped my resolution from HQ to SQ1 thereby tripling the number of images (plus being able to delete the losers up front). Total images at SQ is about 350 for those 3 cards.<BR>You can also get a zip drive to download to not requiring a computer--show pictures on TV, edit, arrange in albums, etc. That is not to say it is not an outlay of money but it is very satisfying in the results AND not dealing with stacks and stacks of prints and looking for negatives.

Art

Hi again Karen, Do you enlarge any of your prints. If so, then 35mm camera is still better. I blow up may of my better shots to 8 1/2 by 11 and post, add text to the top or bottom and print them out on photo quality paper and put them into a 3 ring binder. Also, based on my experience, I do use the telephoto, but use the wide angle much more frequently. The Olympus Stylus that I have goes from 28mm (wide angle) to 80mm (telephoto). Good luck.<BR>

BB

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