Olympus D560 3.2 MP with the easy-to-use Olympus Camedia D-560. Following in the footsteps of the D-550, the new D-560 offers a redesigned body that’s more sleek and compact as well as a higher resolution CCD sensor (3.2 megapixels) for print enlargements up to 11 x 14 inches.
Featuring a 3.2-megapixel CCD sensor, the D-560 delivers image detail up to 2048 x 1536 pixels. The Olympus aspherical glass 3x zoom lens (5.8-17.4mm, or 25-105mm equivalency in 35mm photography) also offers a 3.4x digital zoom for a 10x total.
The C-560 also features Olympus TruePic technology, which optimizes the image information captured on the CCD before the data is saved by using the brightness and color information of the neighboring pixels when processing the pixel data. This leads to digital pictures that set standards for picture sharpness, contrast, true colors, and gradation.
The included 16 MB XD memory card will store approximately 20 images captured at 2048 x 1536 pixels in HQ mode. Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.
Helpful consumer’s review
Maybe it’s because I design small electronic devices that I seem to have a better understanding of this issue of the D-560/C-350 and battery life than others. Digital cameras including this one with LCD monitor screens put savage power demands on their batteries. The basic chemistry and construction of alkaline batteries means that they are not able to efficiently deliver power at this very high rate. They just get hot and their voltage drops very quickly, making the camera shut down in a matter of minutes.
Olympus have been amazingly short-sighted in supplying a pair of alkaline batteries with the D-560. It’s giving users the very mistaken idea that it’s designed to use this battery type, when it *isn’t*. The manual on the CD-ROM more or less spells it out that alkaline batteries are only to be used as a last resort. OK?
Rechargeable Ni-MH and non-rechargeable lithium batteries (CR-V3) have a completely different chemistry. They *are* capable of efficiently delivering the kind of power this camera (and other digital ones) demand, to give a very useful operating time.
I’ve been using 2,000mAH PowerBase Ni-MH batteries in mine, and getting more than 150 photos before one set is discharged. I think that this is perfectly reasonable. The supplied 16MB XD card can only hold about 80 1024×768 pictures after all.
The bottom line is this: if you are going to buy this or a similar digital camera, be prepared to buy some Ni-MH batteries and a charger or pay a lot for CR-V3 lithium batteries for as long as you own it. Olympus should make this fact crystal clear in their owner’s manual, but they don’t.
Yes, the D-560 obviously does have a design fault. It will often give the Low Battery warning even on batteries which have just been charged. However mine doesn’t stop working, and the flashing red symbol disappears after a while. If you can live with this glitch and are prepared to buy Ni-MH batteries and a charger (or CR-V3 batteries), this is one incredibly good digital camera I fully recommend.
