my new camera

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,782
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Yesterday, my new camera, an Olympus SP800 UZ came via UPS. My 'old' camera, a Sony DSC-H2 is still working fine but I wanted newer and with bigger, fancier features. After much deliberation I choose the 800. I was drawn to it primarily because of the 30:1 zoom lens and higher megapixels (14).
There are other features I like also. Mainly the ability to shoot a slave flash wirelessly and a wireless remote shutter release. A downside, for me, is lack of an eye level viewfinder. However, the LCD screen is very large, bright and clear. I'm sure I will learn to live with it, even with bi-focal glasses.
The 30:1 zoom is a killer. At full zoom it is the equivalent of about 840mm with a 35mm film camera. That coupled with the 14mp and a dual-stabilization feature, sharp pics are possible even hand held. (see my test pics)
The camera seems stoutly built and is heavier than my Sony, which is larger. A downside is that there is no where to really hold it. Gripping the body would prevent the built-in flash from opening. I will get, or make, a flash bracket for the remote wireless slave flash I have ordered. That will be my grip.
Note the pictures. The first is full wide angle. In the very center in the distance is a martin house on a pole, barely visible. At the base of the pole to the left are some yellow flowers. The second shot are the flowers, full frame at full zoom. This was taken hand held. The third is a 67% enlargement of just the flowers. At this enlargement the pic was getting just a little fuzzy but not yet breaking up in pixels. The camera was $349.00 from Amazon. The extras (flash, remote release) ran the price up some. It was all paid for from sales of pens and other items.
 

Attachments

  • wide angle small.jpg
    wide angle small.jpg
    136.5 KB · Views: 39
  • full tele small.jpg
    full tele small.jpg
    140.3 KB · Views: 37
  • full tele plus 67 percent larger small.jpg
    full tele plus 67 percent larger small.jpg
    143 KB · Views: 37
Excellent!

Ahh, being a gadget freak cameras are another one of my weaknesses...

I'd love to get something like that one of these days!
 
Sweet! Congrats on what looks like a fine camera. The cropped tele shot sure shows how well the image stabilization works. :thumb:
 
Excellent!

Ahh, being a gadget freak cameras are another one of my weaknesses...

I'd love to get something like that one of these days!

Brent, this was several years in the doing. Originally, the plan was to sell my set of Nikon film cameras with lenses and lots of other expensive goodies to pay for a predecessor to this model. Nikon nebber sold. I was wanting $350.00 and turned down a $300.00 offer, probably a bad decision. Oh, well.
As a guy who started photography with a 4x5 slide film camera, worked up through TLRs and finally to 35mm, this is truly a technological wonder. What digi cams can do these days is flat-out amazing.
 
Sweet! Congrats on what looks like a fine camera. The cropped tele shot sure shows how well the image stabilization works. :thumb:

I haven't a clue how that dual stabilization works. :dunno: All I know is it does.
That cropped shot of the flowers comes out to about 1400mm hand held and still sharp enough for publication.
Tomorrow, I'm going up to a hill top and take a shot of Stu waving to me :wave: from his porch.
 
I haven't a clue how that dual stabilization works. :dunno: All I know is it does.
That cropped shot of the flowers comes out to about 1400mm hand held and still sharp enough for publication.
Tomorrow, I'm going up to a hill top and take a shot of Stu waving to me :wave: from his porch.[/QUOTE]

You might want to put the telephoto lens on for that shot.:huh:
 
Top