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Digital Cameras Olympus-X42 ---- don't buy
britishtrident - 19/11/09 at 07:19 PM

For anybody thinking of buying a digital camera for Christmas I would strongly advise against buying the Olympus X-42.

We bought an X-42 to replace our 4 year old Samsung Digimax A6.

The dinky little 12mp Olympus cost more than the 6mp Cannon did over 4 years ago but in comparison the picture quality is dreadful, the lens seems good (as one would expect from Olympus) but when you try and blow up & crop an image it appears grainy and lacks detail in fact my old 1.2mp mobile phone takes pictures that are as almost good, I suspect the image sensor is just not up to the job.

The other fault is it takes an age to process a picture before the next one can be taken.

A real shame because it is a charming little camera and having enjoyed owning Olympus cameras in the past I was expecting good things from it.

I am now trying to get my money back from Argos. Even if I don't get my money back I will buy a Cannon before going to Pompeii next summer as the Samsung has started chewing through batteries at an enormous rate.


prawnabie - 19/11/09 at 07:22 PM

I had a great little Kodak point and shoot that I sold on here and bought a cannon DSLR (also on here lol). As you expect with Canon it is top notch stuff.


Werner Van Loock - 19/11/09 at 07:29 PM

I'll stick to my 16year old kodak dc5000

waterproof, shockproof, 2MP and fast good pictures, almost never a blurred image or moved one

had 2 other ones in the meantime, brought them back to the shop within a few days to get my money back


DavidM - 19/11/09 at 07:42 PM

A bit of a sweeping statement there. I've got an X-42 and I'm very happy with it. I've found it great for point and shoot outdoors or indoors with reasonable lighting. You need to play about with the settings in low light conditions to get good results, but with 5x optical zoom and up to 12mp I think you'll struggle to find better for £70 from Argos.

Perhaps yours is faulty.

David


austin man - 19/11/09 at 08:40 PM

sounds like digital zoom may be getting used not optical zoom. Have you checked the settings on the camera you may only be taking images in the lowest resolution, i would expect a quality picture from a 12 megapixels and 5x optical. I have a Kodak z650 wit 12 x optical and 10 x digital. as soon as you use digital zoomthe quality is on its way out


franky - 19/11/09 at 09:04 PM

12MP will take a while to save due to the file size and a point and shoot lens on a camera of that price with the resolution isn't going to be the best.

3MP will print a3 size.


flak monkey - 19/11/09 at 09:52 PM

Panasonic/Lumix make the best point and shoot compacts

Nuff said


DavidM - 19/11/09 at 10:19 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Panasonic/Lumix make the best point and shoot compacts

Nuff said


But not for £70 from Argos!


dhutch - 20/11/09 at 12:01 AM

Never been a fan of kodak, i cant see why they make them, but all in they make better film than camera.

Had a lot of success with the nikon coolpix S2## series cameras although a Canon Ixus compact does well too.


Daniel


britishtrident - 20/11/09 at 08:11 AM

One of the reasons I bought it is the X-42 is supposed to have a 5x optical zoom ----- I am pretty sure the problem is the sensor isn't up to the job.
Taking a picture of the front of my house with the 6mp Samsung, when I load the picture into Picasa I can blow it up and see quite fine detail on the brick work. Taking the same test shot a minute or later with the 12mp Olympus the details are lost in a graininess not pixcelated but grainy like an ultra fast film would produce , the result is only a little better than a picture taken with my 4 year old much abused mobile phone.

quote:
Originally posted by austin man
sounds like digital zoom may be getting used not optical zoom. Have you checked the settings on the camera you may only be taking images in the lowest resolution, i would expect a quality picture from a 12 megapixels and 5x optical. I have a Kodak z650 wit 12 x optical and 10 x digital. as soon as you use digital zoomthe quality is on its way out


[Edited on 20/11/09 by britishtrident]