Olympus SP-590 - portrait setting is a bit gimmicky

[gubak]

I still use my Oly 510-UZ more than any of my other Oly cameras, but I think Olympus has made a noticeable improvement with the 590-UZ. There are less exterior controls to confuse one, and the zoom is much better (you can try it on the simulator: Olympus SP-590UZ Test - Simulator ) than the ring zoom on the previous model. The ELVf is good and has a calibrating knob. Nice big LCD, great focal length range, light weight, and simple controls make this a nice camera to use.

At $440 USD this is a good value camera. The Xd card would be better replaced with an SD card, but I have so many Xd cards from owning previous models, I can live with the extra cost/Mb of the Xd's.

No regrets thus far. I bought the previous model to this one last year and only kept it a few weeks before gladly selling it.

Disadvantages:
Lens cap is constantly falling off. This needs to be changed to a better design.
Auto-focus still delayed, but better than previous models.
The "beauty" portrait setting is a bit gimmicky, but for non-photoshoppers, it might come in handy.
Shutter lag still annoying

[pandora]

It's an excellent P&S.

[Chromenut]

I've been seriously considering this, especially after finding it for $335 USD. I've been watching kenntos posting his macro shots here and it really works well in macro mode, just curious about your opinion on it zoomed out to maximum? I think it's a winner of a PAS, don't need the video portion (wish everyone would stop that, that's what video cams are for!), but it appears to be a great stand-in for when I want to put down my dSLR and stop dragging around all the assorted accessories for those cams.

Oh, and thanks for posting your feedback here, it's very helpful. I doubt I'll use that "hollywood" feature (beauty mode), as I tend to post-process to get the pic the way I want it, so that's not much of a bother. Have you done any action shots with your's yet? I do an awful lot of action photography, gymnastics specifically, and the PAS's I've got fail miserably at capturing action. This one looks to have that pretty well wrapped up. Also I do a lot of night photography and I've heard this is also a real winner at night shots.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. I'm 99.5% sure that this is the camera I want.