Diana G Loc: San Diego

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with the Olympus SH-50 digital compact P&S ?? Looking for a solid pocket size camera for all around fun out and about. Online user reviews are good but would like to hear more from someone who may have used it. Anyone??

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

I personally don't own one but a friend of mine does. It looks pretty impressive, a compact pocket camera with a 24X optical zoom.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Thank you for your reply ... and if you've seen the results of the Olympus SH-50 that is a good word to me. All reviews are very high. I have a like-new Nikon D3100 and some lenses to sell, and just want enjoy a good P&S camera that I can grab in a hurry or keep in my handbag at all times.

Vic. Loc: Ohio

I don't know about that one, my wife has Olympus fe 5020 point and shoot, does a great job.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Thank you for your reply. I will look into the Olympus you mentioned. I appreciate your feedback.

Vic. Loc: Ohio

You are welcome.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

I didn't know about this camera until you mentioned it, Diana, but I have owned numerous Oly compacts. I currently own an SZ-31mr, and I love it! It is apparently very similar to the SH-50, but the SH-50 has some manual controls- the only thing lacking in the SZ-31.

Unless you need manual exposure (ISO, shutter, and aperture) you might also consider the SZ-31. The 24x zoom is equivalent to a 25-600mm, and the image quality is excellent except at the long end, and even then it's not bad in bright light. Movies are outstanding, and it does slo-mo. You can take full-res images while shooting hi-def video, and you can even extract a frame from a video to use as a snapshot. It does this and more (like HDR and other exposure compensations) with two processors on its CMOS sensor. At 16MP, I would match its quality with any other 16MP camera (it's not just MP, but also image processing that makes IQ. Just look at the 12MP Canon SX-50.)

Hope this is useful.

You might compare the two. I'll be taking a close look at the SH-50 now. Like you, I want a compact to take with me when I don't want to lug around my DSLR & lenses.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Thank you, Duane. Your response is very helpful and I will definitely look at the Olympus SZ31 as it sounds terrific. I appreciate all that you shared as it is hard to make a choice and I only want to make it once and hope it is the best one for me. I plan to sell my Nikon D3100, and an assortment of Nikon lenses ... everything is beautiful condition, should you or anyone else wish to contact me privately. Thank you for your generous reply re Olympus.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Hi Duane, Just wanted to let you know that I have ordered the Olympus SZ-31 and it should arrive this week, hope I have time to familiarize with it prior to leaving on vacation next week. It looks like a super on-the-go camera. I would not have known of it without your comments. Thx!!

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

Glad you ordered one- you will love it! If you aren't completely familiar with it, just put it on auto and let it figure out the rest! And thanks for letting me know what you decided.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

I don't expect it to arrive before leaving for vacation according to the shipping tracking info ... darn, but after I have had time to use it, I'll let you know how it's going. I'm excited!! I just never got into the DSLR as I had hoped, so anticipate the fun of the simplified P&S with lots of bells and whistles. More later ....

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Duane ... what memory card are you using in your SZ-31?? I am reading horror story reviews regarding various cards and will be happy to avoid a mistake in purchasing. Thank you.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

I haven't heard of any card issues. I've used a Sony 32gb class 10 sd card and a couple Samsungs with no trouble at all.

Diana G Loc: San Diego

Thank you, Duane. I need to get a new card and after reading reviews on the Transcend and SanDisk cards I was glad to ask the person using the same camera I ordered for a recommendation. Many thanks, again!