A new CAMERA!

After six years--and with a trip overseas hanging over us--we finally bought a new digital camera. We replaced our Olympus c4000Z with an Olympus Stylus 1010.

The old one was medium-sized, 4 megapixel with a 3x optical zoom. The new one is a ultracompact, 10 megapixel with a 7x optical zoom. And--whatever anyone may try to tell you--the megapixels make no difference on these point-and-shoot cameras. 4 MP was just fine. It's the size and optical zoom that makes the difference. We wanted something that could get in a little closer but was still pocket size. Olympus made our day when they produced the first ever 7x ultracompact.

The untold story that's been unfolding over the last few weeks is truly one for the history books. We actually purchased a Sony to start with. We loved the tiny size and quick pictures. But the pictures themselves looked like total garbage: fuzzy with bad color. We hated them! After a long, frank conversation with the manager at an undisclosed electronics store, they let us return it for an upgraded Sony. More megapixels, more zoom. All the cutting edge and hi-fi stuff. Same problems as the first.

The store sheepishly accepted our second return and sent us to the floor manger in photography. He explained to us the strong points of all the makes and models and that the "fuzzy picture" complaint was common with Sony returns. He pointed us toward a new Olympus (originally, I wanted to try a different brand from our old camera, just to have a new experience). We like the picture quality on this tiny little model and are counting on it surviving the trip to East Africa!