This is a new model. All my other digital cameras have been either Canon or Nikon. Olympus Stylus 9000 is pocket size, goes wide-angle (28) to 10x optical zoom (280). I need a new camera, am considering this one. Unlikely that anyone else would have experience with it yet, since it just arrived in stores, but in general, would Olympus be a good make in terms of photo quality and camera reliability? We are not expert photographers or anything but we do like to take nice pictures, especially on hikes. As a point of reference we tend to like the results with Canon over Nikon (digital P & S only) but have found both to be pretty good.

Released at the same time I think?

Has manual controls for speed and aperture, focal length down to 26 mm equiv (26, not 28), macro to 1 cm and joy of joy it runs on 4 x AA batteries!

HUM!

Stylus 9000
Had a quick look at one the other day because it is so small for the 10x zoom. Nice feel .
The most obvious competitor is the Panasonic ZS1, a bit bigger and heavier. The Pana has a 12x 25-300mm lens, better movie mode, less but slightly larger pixels (10mp)on a slightly smaller sensor, so noise level should be similar.
The average snap shooter would be more than happy with either.
Franco

Thanks for the tip on the Panasonic! Looked it up; it is supposed to be on the market in April. I think I should wait so I can compare the two. I like it that the range is greater, since that's kind of what I am looking for.

I have given up, at least for the moment, trying to learn the complex nuances of digital camera settings that are supposed to substitute for the intuitive adjustments of my old manual film camera.

At this point I want to be able to get a lot into a picture (wide angle) or get a picture from far away (like animals I don't want to disturb (includes teenagers)) or compress the background so the pretty mountain doesn't disappear in the photo; and I want the camera to be small enough for my pants pocket--in a hipbelt pocket doesn't help me if I am walking around taking pictures without my pack on.

But I'd be sad if I got all these technological wonders and the camera took crummy pictures.

re. Olympus digicams: So long as they cling to the hopelessly crippled xD cards I advise looking elsewhere. (And I say this as an Oly dslr shooter.)

xD cards are slow, expensive per gigabyte and most importantly, limited to a maximum 2GB. This is absurd, considering 8GB SD cards are as cheap as $15.

Cheers,

Rick

Edited by halfturbo on 03/20/2009 10:31:22 MDT.

I have never used the 9000 much but i have used an Olympus Stylus 770SW a great deal. Pretty good camera. The only bad things about it are weight, for some people and it does not focus when it get's too cold. Say -20 F, used it in the worst conditions on earth and the outside looks like it went to hell, but still takes clear photos and video.

avoid a camera that uses AA- they do not perform in cold -32 or below- get a camera that uses Li ion battery and is rechargable.

I just bought an Olympus sp565.

xd cards: most Olympus cameras seem to use these. The latest Olympus cameras come with an adaptor for using with microSD cards. The microsd cards are a bit limited in my camera for movies.

AA batteries in the cold: Lithium AAs are fine in cold but expensive. Lithium AAs are not recommended for the SP565, just alkaline and NiMH. Some of the latest NiMH batteries (Eneloop) are supposed to be decent in the cold. I'll tell you more in December.

Hi Dana

It is well-known that alkaline batteries die in the cold. Their water-based chemistry freezes.

However, the e2 lithium AA batteries work in the cold just as well as the Li ion batteries - which figures because they have very similar chemistry. And you can buy or carry new ones when far away from home and a recharger.

Are the e2 lithium batteries expensive? yes, as an initial outlay. But since they last many times longer than the alkalines when used in a camera, I think they work out the same price or cheaper. And they are significantly lighter too.

Cheers