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Reviews for Olympus Stylus 600 6 Megapixel Compact Camera

2.5" LCD - 3x Optical Zoom - 2816 x 2112 Image - 640 x 480 Video - PictBridge - MPN: 225690

  • 5
  By member: nbruland - Aug 27, 2006

Excellent for it's intended use

Strengths: Compact size, splashable, efficient battery, quick response, video capability, good range of picture resolution, range of ISO rates (to 1600)

Weakness: No sound on videos

I've had this since January 2006, taken it on several trips with a 1gb memory card. I have a small belt pouch I carry it in, and it is awesome as a snapshot camera. It turns on, brings out the lens, and is ready to shoot in just a couple of seconds, so you don't have to carry it in your hand unless the action is really fast. I've used Sony and Canon digital cameras and have found them very slow to respond and non-intuitive, so I like my Olympus Stylus 600 digital.

The LCD is bright and useful, and yes it is a little difficult to see in the full sun, but what LCD isn't? If you frame your shot with outlines, the focus and color work well enough that you can just snap the shot and move on. The quality of the shots in some sun directions is better than others, backlighting with a hill or trees gets kind of dark, but the auto-exposure can be compensated by setting the exposure based on the darker parts of the picture and then re-framing. It's just a very nice camera design overall. The battery is great. I've used it for at least 300 pictures between charges, probably more. I just don't have to charge it up much. Even when the battery light comes on, you've got a lot of pictures left.

Advice: Get the 1gb xD card. Take lots of shots. Discard those you don't like, and have fun with the memories!

It won't allow you to change lenses, it won't let you totally set the shutter and exposure, but you can't expect that in a point and shoot camera anyway! It's a pocket camera, literally!

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  • 5
  By member: burtonhoff - Oct 25, 2005

Excellent Camera

Strengths: Several shooting modes to choose from, beautiful clarity of pictures, size and weight make it very portable.

Weakness: Flash could be a little bit stronger. No viewfinder, sometimes when on the beach the LCD display is hard to see.

I bought this camera to take on my trip to Antigua, and I loved it. Most of our pictures were taken on the beach, on a boat, or at sunset. The camera has a beach mode and a sunset mode taking all of the guesswork out. The pictures turned out beautiful, the water resistance made you feel like you didn't have to run and dry off to get a shot you wanted, just pick up the camera and shoot away. I'm looking forward to getting an underwater housing for this camera, and using it for years to come. With the 1gb memory card you get about 700 pictures on the standard mode, that came in handy in the islands since we don't have a laptop. I would highly recomend this camera.

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  • 1
  By member: user111 - Mar 27, 2006

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY !!

Strengths: great size, lovely large lcd, lots of settings , easy to use....

Weakness: takes unfocused pictures, not true to color, weak flash

I had to return it a couple times, the new one was just as bad as the first one. Pictures were out of focus, slow in taking. I feel i simply wasted my money.Frustrating !!

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Reply by member: cmiago
Dec 31, 2006

This was my 4th Olympus and I found the review completely accurate - it has been a very disappointing camera. The pictures are not nearly as good as my 5.0 Camedia/s - I purchased it prior to my daughter and 85 year-old mothers weddings - I have never been more disappointed. I want a camera that I can use easily - I tried all the settings, but none of them resulted in photos I would even print. I paid $240 for it last year......now look what it is worth!

  • 4
  By member: richarde - Dec 22, 2005

Olympus Stylus 600

Strengths: small,lightweight, great value for the money, long lasting battery charge

Weakness: no viewfinder, uses pricier XD picture card

The Stylus 600 is a great compact camera that fits conveniently into a small pocket. It allows novices to keep some or all of the auto factory settings and the more advanced to adjust the 23 or 24 modes for more professional quality pictures. The XD memory card is essential but costs more and is not as readily available as an SD. For the technologically challenged, Olympus offers good online support. The abbreviated and the longer version of the manuals may be downloaded from the internet. I use this camera at the beach frequently without worrying about water splashes, am very happy with the quality of my pictures and would highly recommend it to others.

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  • 4
  By member: roy5051 - Mar 16, 2006

Olympus Mju600 Digital Camera

Strengths: Light weight, lovely design (mine is blue), easy to operate

Weakness: Pictures in dim lighting not too good, flash not strong enough.

Overall a very good camera, not worried about the lack of sound, outdoor pictures are brilliant, well exposed, well saturated. When are camera manufacturers going to supply a fitted case as standard equipment?

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  • 5
  By member: schmikinheimer - Oct 30, 2005

Olympus Stylus 600 6 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Great picture quality, good price, easy to use

Weakness: none so far

This camera is great! I got it as a birthday present and have realy enjoyed it. It's controls are easy to use and understand. Large LCD screen is easy to see. 26 different picture modes make it easy to find the best settings for a certain picture. Litium battery fully recharges from dead in under 1 1/2 hours. Nice and compact. Highly recomended!!!

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  • 4
  By member: alemarny - Nov 16, 2005

Olympus Stylus 600

Strengths: small, good battery - last for a long time :)

Weakness: there is no FULL AUTO option

This camera is very good. I bought it few weeks ago. It's easy to use and understand all option. What I love aboit this camera is larege LCD screen, so the pix you took are easy to see. 26 different picture modes. Great compact camera. Definately recomended!!!

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  • 5
  By member: kimbershop - Apr 4, 2006

Ready to go

Strengths: Easy to operate, love the picture modes, lens opens quickly to catch your shot

Weakness: none so far.

I've owned mine for a month now, afraid I was not going to like it due to some reviews I've read. But.... I love it so far!! Takes great pictures in an auditorium, I'm sure most peoples problems could be rectified if they used their camera properly! I knew when I bought it there was no sound. So... no, I was not disappointed there wasn't any.

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  • 1
  By member: TheCritic - Mar 4, 2006

Mediocre Camera

Strengths: So far I have not seen any strenghs for a 6 megapixels camera

Weakness: Everything is this camera is technologicaly out of sync and time.

I bought this camera less than a month ago and the only thing I have come to like so far is the large lcd. However almost every camera on the market nowadays have these type of lcd's. I own a 2 megapixels nikon that outperfors this camera. The pictures are always either washed out or too bright. This is a very disapointing camera for a 6 megapixels. If you are out to buy a new camera please don't buy this one as you will be very disapointed.Any other brand name will be better than Olympus. Mediocre all the away.

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Reply by member: user111
Mar 27, 2006

I agree completely. Don't buy it !!!

Reply by member: nbruland
Aug 27, 2006

I think you are probably not using the camera correctly, because I've had very few issues with the quality of the photos over 8 months use. True, it isn't studio quality pictures all the time, but for the most part the quality is adequate for a compact point-and-shoot style.

  • 5
  By member: PatBlough - Mar 10, 2006

I love it

Strengths: I love the weight, very light. Easy to read. Great pictures! Small enough to carry in a pocket.

Weakness: none so far.

So far I love my Olympus stylus 600.
Seems to be easy to operate and easy to read with the large LCD screen and icons for whatever I want to take pictures of. I am looking forward to taking vacation pictures with it. And the big plus is it is weather resistant.

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  • 2
  By member: michaelmoyes - Nov 30, 2005

THIS CAMERA DOES NOT RECORD SOUND

Strengths: Compact size, ease of use, fast start-up, good picture quality.

Weakness: THIS CAMERA DOES NOT RECORD SOUND

THIS CAMERA DOES NOT RECORD SOUND. I am absolutely sick that I chose the Olympus Stylus 600. I was in shock when I realized that I wasn't hearing sound with my video recordings. I thought sound was standard equipment on cameras now days so I didn't even think to ask whether it had this feature. I mean cars come with wheels, houses come with roofs, and digital cameras come with sound right? WRONG!

Aside from this major oversight, the camera is pretty good. I like the compact size and the weatherproof design. I don't think the pictures look as good as my 3.4 MP Nikon, but I think that's just a lack of familiarity.

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  • 1
  By member: CarlNToney - Dec 18, 2005

A dissapointment

Strengths: Small, light design. Bright LCD, large. Very quick at taking picture (low lag-time). Relatively weather-proof.

Weakness: Blurry Photos. Washed out/over-exposed pictures because of too bright of flash. No view-finder.

My whole family owns Olympus cameras, so I was excited to finally purchase this camera. However, I was very dissapointed with the photo-quality. The two main issues were focus and too bright of a flash. Unfortunatly, I could not adjust the setting adequately on the camera to fix these problems, so I returned the camera. Right now I'm debating between a Casio ex-slim 500 (which is a fast picture-taker, but only 5 mega-pixels) and a Canon Powershot 500 (which takes excellent pictures, but is a bit slower with taking photos).

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Reply by member: camerareviewer
Feb 17, 2006

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU ON YOUR REVIEW FOR YOUR CAMERA! i had the same excact problems! and when my friend dropped the camera from about a foot high, the lens stopped working! i think it is a terrible camera, has terrible focus, and terrible flash. so i brought it to the store where i bought it, and they said there was somehting wrong with the autofocus, and right now i am getting it repaired. i am thinking about the sony cybershot dsc n1...

  • 3
  By member: liur0000 - Feb 3, 2006

Not a big deal

Strengths: 6.4 MP, big LED and light

Weakness: Fair quality.

1. The first one I got is down due to jam of lens when I first use it.
2. The LED quality is fair. Not the same light and clear as the Canon's Products.
3. The Quality of photo is acceptable and focus is quick.

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  • 5
  By member: dsgdrghrd - Dec 27, 2005

i love my camera

Strengths: it has a good zoom it is tiny and easy to take anywhere it has a lot of different flash modes i also love the big screen on the back and it takes a great quality picture. i love my stylus 600! :)

Weakness: ummmmmmm.......let me think, NONE :)

i just got this camera for christmas. we went to a christmas party and i was using it like crazy. i was soooo happy with the way the pictures turned out. i love the big screen on the back because it was easy to share the pictures with more than one person at a time. well i love my camera. ;)

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  • 2
  By member: p_studi - Jul 6, 2006

Mediocre - buy something better!

Strengths: Lightweight - can carry in my pocket. Long battery life. Macro function is excellent.

Weakness: Picture color brightness/saturation is far from perfect. LCD is good indoors but useless outdoors. Lots of built-in but good-for-nothing functions.

I used an Olympus D-540 digital camera before this one, an in many aspects that one was superior. With Stylus 600, I tried various auto/manual settings, and always had to change saturation/contrast later on my computer. With hundreds of pictures, it can take hours!
There is no viewfinder and the LCD sucks outdoors.
I like some of the functions, for example macro is truly superb, but others such as museum/fireworks/night scenes would need a tripod to provide adequate quality. And who wants to carry a tripod with a miniature digital camera?

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Reply by member: p_studi
Aug 7, 2006

Update:

It is getting worse and worse. Last weekend I was hiking in the White Mountains and most of my pictures are awful. My camera seems to have a kind of "anti-polarizing" effect, in my pictures everything seems to be covered with some haze/fog. I think I will throw my Olympus Stylus 600 camera literally into the garbage.

Reply by member: p_studi
Aug 7, 2006

Update:

It is getting worse and worse. Last weekend I was hiking in the White Mountains and most of my pictures are awful. My camera seems to have a kind of "anti-polarizing" effect, in my pictures everything seems to be covered with some haze/fog. I think I will throw my Olympus Stylus 600 camera literally into the garbage.

  • 2.8
  TopTenREVIEWS.com - Jan 26, 2009

Olympus Stylus 600

Olympus Stylus 600 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.24 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #456 Compact digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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