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This is the first digital camera that I have ever purchased for myself. I must say that I am pleasently surprised with its' capabilities.

When using a STEADY hand, the picture clarity is unbelievable, this is great! Not only that, but I was completely unaware that there was a movie capability on it...silent and short, but still it is pretty cool and fun. For 16 seconds, one can chase cats all over the place.

The video out function is cool too, being able to plug it into the TV and view all the photos and movies is swell...although it runs off of the camera's power.

My only complaint is the the battery case slides open for me, and it might be just how I hold it - but it is a little annoying.

Purchase this at Best Buy - for $60 you can get the service plan and they will replace the batteries for free when they are below 100% and will cover all wear and tear on it.

I expect this to be the only one I get.

I purchased this camera a couple of weeks ago and couldn't be more happier with it.

I bought this camera for its size (small and compact)and I am delighted. I'm a point and shoot type of guy and love to take photos but hate to carry a camera. After buying the Stylus 300, I took a 5-day trip to the desert with it in a small carrying case on my belt. After five days of hiking and climbing, I didn't even know I was carrying a camera on my belt. If you carry a cell phone on your belt, you won't notice the Stylus 300 there.

Compared to my previous digital camera (Kodak 4800)this camera is a dream to carry. In addition, the battery life appears to be much better than the Kodak. I bought an extra battery for the trip and took approximately 150 photos during the five days and didn't run out of battery life.

A couple of small gripes. First, the camera doesn't allow you to date stamp a photo. I like to use the date stamp on occasion and the Stylus 300 won't allow you to do it.

Second, there is a setting that allows you to reset the camera's settings when you shut the camera off. Or you can choose to keep your setting when shutting down. I would have like to see a chose to lock certain settings and have the camera reset the remaining settings you don't wish to lock.

Third, the camera doesn't come with a carrying case. I bought one for less than $10 that worked fine but an Olympus case would have been nice.

However, these are minor issues that do not distract from the overall performance of the camera. I am very happy with the Stylus 300 and would recommend it to those "point and shoot" folks that don't like the hassle of carrying a camera around all day.

This is a snap response after recieving this camera today and playing with it for about an hour or so.

First, THE GOOD:

The first thing you're gonna notice about this camera is it's apearance. It's simply GORGEOUS! It's called the STYLUS for a reason! It's STYLISH! It's hands down the most attractive looking camera I've seen, it just looks cool. You're bound to get compliments any time you whip it out among company. The shiny aluminum case is no just very classy looking, but also makes for a durable and sturdy frame.

The Stylus 300 Digital by Olympus is very well made, and feels firm and durable in the hand. It does'nt feel flimsy at all. You get the feeling that if you dropped it on a sidewalk a few times it would probably survive with little more than a dent (Although I wouldnt try that!). Also, it's supposedly made for all-weather use, so you should be able to take pictures in driving rain if you wanted to. You'l notice that all the ports and connectors are protected by rubber covers and all the little compartments with plastic doors (for example the little cover that you flip up to put in a memory card) covering them are sealed with rubber rims to keep out water. This is a great camera for anyone who tends to be a bit clumbsy or who wants to be able to have take pictures in bad weather.

The camera is also pretty small. It may not be the smallest camera out (when compared to other super-tiny models) but it's pretty damn small! It's about the size of a pack of cigarretts! It's actually smaller than my wallet!

The camera is also very well designed. There is no lens cap to loose or have to remember to put on. Instead a door slides over the lens and protects it. This same door/sleave is used to turn the camera on/off. Turning it on is as simple as flipping the door over. Start up is very quick! I was able to turn the camera on, take a picture, and turn the camera back off and in my pocket in about 10 seconds! It's pretty responsive. It's pretty quick taking pictures too, the wait time between pictures is very short (shorter than my 35mm), not quite as fast as would be wished for though.

Olympus also through in a remote control! This is great for self portraits or when you want to actually be IN the pictures you're taking. The battery life apears to be pretty good, and a lithium Ion battery is included as well as a charger. Also included is a 16 MB memory card. I wish there was a little built in memory or a larger card had been included for the money. The card technology is either a new one I am not familiar with or a proprietary one - it's called "XD picture card". The 'card' is a TINY (about the size of thumbnail).

USB is supported (as expected) and you can ussually plug the camera right in and windows (XP and ME) will automatically recognize it as a removeable drive. This is great as you can even use you're camera's memory to carry around or transfer other types of files as well which might be useful in a pinch. It also supports video out so you can view pictures on your TV.

Finally there is also a movie mode that lets you take 16 second video clips. The down side is that this is in quicktime format (I would much prefer MPEG or AVI). Another thing is that the length is ALWAYS limited to 16 seconds - even if you have a 128 MB card in there, you can only take 16 second clips... that's just dumb. If I have enough memory why cant I take longer clips? Come on Olympus, release a firmware patch to allow us to take longer clips or use a different video format. There is also no sound, which is a feature that IS present in models made by cannon and Kodak (who provde both built in mics, built in speakers, and the time of your movie clips is only limited to memory restraints). This is a significant drawback if this featureset interests you, but isn't enough to weigh down the rest of the quality present.

The interface is also pretty easy to use and supports plenty of features. It's not QUITE as easy as the Kodak DX4330, but most people will find it pretty simple with a minimal learning curve.

All in all, this is a GREAT camera. While you're probably going to want to buy a bigger memory card, you'll probably be VERY happy with this as a choice. The only cons are the lack of support for video features - the lack of sound and the time restraints are both unexcusable considering the price.

Still I give it a 5 star rating for the quality of construction and the over-all design. Im very happy with this camera, they just need to add sound to the next version. Heck, if they would just release a patch t allow video clips to use MPEG or even just allow us to take longer clips, then I would call this the ONLY CHOICE in digital cameras for the price range.

Pros: Weatherproof with excellent photo quality, Small design, easy to use, excellent resolution, great features, Stylish(cute), metal housing.

Cons: Shutter lag is a little slow, No manual controls, Movie mode doesn't have sound, short video length.

Summary: have to admit that this is the only digital camera I've ever owned, so consider all of this novice information. I just went into Best Buy and Curcuit City and asked, "What is your best compact model?". Both recomended the same. I purchased this one from CC, along with a 3-year replacement warranty. I figured I would just return it if not completely satisfied. They offer a 30-day no questions deal. I think I'll keep it, though.

Picture quality is amazing, both on my television screen or printed via PC. I will never own another 35mm again. I have 2 Olympus SLR's(OM 2000) and 3 lenses. You'll probably see them on Ebay soon. Great cameras, but I just got tired of carrying the units around, which later led me to not using them at all. I was going to purchase a high quality compact 35mm to replace them--glad I waited.

Construction seems to be very durable. The entire housing is made of metal and almost has a jewelry-like look to it. It's hard to see in advertisments but the "OLYMPUS" logo on the front of the camera is holographic, and changes colors at different angles to the person viewing it.

It is sold with a 16MB memory card that stores anywhere from 99 images in the lowest pixel mode, to 6 in the super high quality mode. I noticed they had larger capacity cards at the store, but I wanted to see what I needed before I started purchasing extras.

The zoom feature is very nice. The manual says the maximum is "a maximum of approximately 15X". This is when optical and digital are combined, however that works.

I've had the camera 3 moonths now and I still love it! It is compact, takes great pictures, and easy to use. It took very little time to learn how to use it. If you're looking for a point and shoot digital camera, this is a great choice. I was initially concerned that it only uses a rechargeable battery, but the battery life is surprisingly good. I used it on vacation took 70-80 pictures and still had plenty of battery life left. The compact size is also a plus - can be comfortably carried around in a pant pocket. Compared to other digitals I've tried, the Stylus 300 has a solid, sturdy feel to it. For the everyday photographer, this camera is a great choice.

I've had no problems with indoor photos unless trying to take a shot a a great distance. Picture quality is always excellent unless I don't hold the camera steady. The Olympus software is simple but let's me do everything I've wanted - e-mail, print, etc. I rarely used my old film camera,but I carry this camera with me everywhere now. With a 128MB card I snap all the pictures I want with no concern about space. This is the best toy I've bought in years.

I am very pleased with the Olympus Stylus 300. I have owned other digital cameras and this one is by far the the best. Small and compact, lots of features, easy to use and produces high quality photos. No fumbling around with lens caps with the built in slider. The camera is weather resistant and has a nice big display for viewing photos. It is everything I wanted in a digital camera and not overpriced.

This is the first digital camera I have purchased and it is wonderful. I would recommend this camera to everybody. The body of this camera is great its small, light and compact and its fits right in your pocket. It also takes great pictures the zoom could be alittle better but its still good. Easy to use the software installed it the same day I got the camera. If you want a camera thats small and user friendly than this is the camera for you.

Awesome camera. I bought mine right before a trekking trip to the Patagonia. I used it indoors and outdoors. The camera took great pictures regardless of the lighting. The digital zoom is very surprising. The camera has many settings that one can use to get the best possible picture for each situtation. The camera can also record short movies. I would suggest investing in a larger memory card than the one it comes with if you are not going to have access to a computer on a regular basis.

I researched and researched for the best compact digital camera. I had a few favorites a Nikon model that was over $600 a Minotla Dimage xt which was $400 and this camera. At first the all weather was what sold me. I don't want to have to baby my camera, the reason I got such a compact camera was so that I could have it on me at all times. I'll start off with the negative aspects of this camera. The most anoying is the lens cover. Inorder to open the lens you must slide open the cover to the right, it opens to the right and while holding the camera and taking a picture, at first while taking pictures if I put any pressure on the cover it would move to the left it would shut down the whole camera...I got used to this and don't do this anymore, but that is just a poor design. The camera seems to be tough, I have gotten it wet and have dropped it and it is fine. One of my favorite features is the Panorama mode, which allows you to stitch together with the use of the Camedia program up to 9 consecutive photos! It is really amazing, I'm not sure how they are able to do this, but I am having a lot of fun with this!
The battery life is pretty good. I can use a battery for 2-3 days before recharging...it depends on how many photos you take, I take quite a bit. I bought an extra battery between both of them I don't have to worry about power. The cards are getting bigger and bigger, I have 2 128 mb cards which are great, in the highest quality mode I can take 55 shots per card, or in the lowest quality 798! which is good enough for computer screen. I would sugest getting the biggest card you can afford, I wish I had a 512mb. I am really glad that I got this camera, even though I thought it was a little spendy, I think that it is well worth it, the technology is amazing.
It takes great shots and has exposer contral of + or - 2 which is very handy, you'll want to use this, once you figure out the comands it is easy to get around in the menu mode.
It does not record sound in video mode, I wish it did, but I can live without it.
I recomend this camera.

This is a great camera, with an excellent price value. It is better than a 'point and click' camera because it has some additional features and adjustments if you want to use them.

It is compact, stylish, well designed, and relatively easy to use. If you are completely inexperienced with cameras, and don't understand how to use a flash indoors, or can't figure out how to save a picture on a computer and then email it, perhaps something from Kodak would be more appropriate.

I wanted to have at least 3.2 megapixels of quality, and Consumer Reports shows Olympus with one of the better track records on camera durability (less repairs). I didn't want to pay some serious bucks for a camera, and then be worried about letting my 11 year old son use it.

By the way, I gave him the manual, and he figured out how to use this camera in one hour and then showed me how to use it. Still, this is not a good camera for a 'beginner.'