Olympus SP-800 Ultra Zoom

Great to use and hold, takes excellent photos! – I bought my Olympus SP-800 Ultra Zoom in 2010, after a long gap with no good camera. I had been used to my unwieldy Nikon SLR with a powerful zoom and macro lense all in one, and preferred to use manual settings. It had become difficult to focus through the lens wearing my glasses. Finding this Olympus, with a similar combination of both macro and powerful zoom was a joy. Being light in weight, partly because it has a rechargeable battery and fitting in my hand comfortably were additional desired features. I do not use the accompanying onboard software for sorting and processing as I prefer to do this using Adobe Photoshop, however this appeared helpful for beginners and family snapshots etc. I am an artist, so use the camera a lot in my work, and find it very convenient. I am still discovering new features that are useful. A quirky one is deliberately choosing the suite of noise signals for its functions rather than silent. My chosen combination at present includes a squeak as each exposure is made, which amuses myself, birds, children and animals, especially in multiple exposures or a bracket. I achieve great results long after sunset, without using the flash. I find the display screen very bright and clear, although being fixed rather than a fold out angled one can be frustrating. I have set the resolution to fine, then using my computer, I can still adjust the huge files to 300px resolution on my computer for work to be displayed or printed. Navigation is reasonably intuitive and quick and there is a comprehensive onboard manual. I am really happy with this camera and others ooh and ah over the artistic as well as the landscape and close-up nature shots that I am able to achieve. Greener with it's rechargeable onboard battery, easily held, extreme macro and zoom capability, convenient Reflection on subject from silver ring around lens under bright conditions