I love this camera and have had it for a little over a year. My only complaint is that pictures taken by looking through the view finder come out slightly off center (while the monitor is accurate). I encountered this problem immediately after receiving the camera as a gift. After returning it, I encountered the same problem with the new camera. I wrote to Olympus and received no reply, which made the situation twice as aggravating. I love my camera and consider this problem a minor flaw, however I have likely made my last Olympus purchase.

the small peg on the media door
can't handle the "press to open"
action & (on my camera) broke after
maybe a dozen presses.

In our quest for the perfect digicam, we bought the Stylus 400 in February of 2004. The camera had a lot going for it: small, lightweight, quick start up time, short shot-to-shot lag time. The "weatherproof" feature was also big for us, we're tough on our stuff. We liked the all-metal body for durability, too.

After 10 months of using the camera, these features all lived up as advertised. It survived being dropped and wet or sandy conditions very well.

We purchased a spare battery and charger, and swapped them out every day so we always had a full charge on the camera. We NEVER ran out of charge on a battery.

The driverless USB connection allowed us to unload pictures FAST and very very easily.

Having a camera that could survive the abuse we heaped on it was important, but when it comes right down to it, if the pictures are NO GOOD, then what's the point? And on this the Stylus 400 REALLY disappointed us. Pictures taken without the flash were blurry, (unless under bright bright outdoor light). Pictures taken with the flash were blown out and the colors completely unnatural. And the flash is no good at all beyond about 6 feet.

Olympus is on the right track. Maybe someday they'll combine their quality optics with this sexy, sturdy camera body and they will have the PERFECT camera. But for what we paid (nearly $400 for camera, extra battery, charger, and 64M xD memory chip) it would have been nice to actually get decent pictures.

I don't buy the "if you want good pictures, spend more." I've had cheaper digital cameras that took MUCH better pictures. But they would break the first time I dropped them, then I'd have to duct tape the battery compartment closed or whatever. Or the shot lag was intolerable. Or they'd burn through AA batteries like candy. Good image quality does NOT have to be expensive. It is a darn shame that we can't get it all in one package.

I am seriously disappointed with the durability of this product. For a product whose primary feature is it's water resistance, you'd expect more outdoor ruggedness. The clasp failed after a couple months light use and now water can freely enter the media ports.

Also dissapointed with the .mov video format. Would have preferred the choice to record .mpg or .avi. (anything that doesnt use a proprietary codec)

This camera takes good pictues in well-lit, close-up situations--a good point & shoot camera.

I have a major complaint with Olympus' failure to honor the 1-year warranty on this product. A plastic component of the USB port broke, rendering the USB port useless. Olympus refused to honor the warranty for this repair, despite repeated requests from both me and the camera shop where I purchased the camera.

Also, the "metal body" description of this camera does not apply to the media door--it is plastic, and prone to breakage.

I own about 15 cameras. This was my first Olympus, and based on their failure to honor the warranty, it will be my last.

My Husband and I found this camera to be great. It is also great for transferring into computer. I have been able to make a photostory with the pictures and download it to a CD, for the purposes of entertaining our family. The pictures are great and it is easy to understand how to operate. I'm not too good in understanding electronic gadgets, but I certainly picked this one up pretty fast. Sometimes, my husband will ask me how to operate the camera. Now, that's a switch :). He usually is the expert in cameras. I bought it for him for Father's day, in 2004, and it's been a fantastic camera. People have asked us where did we get it from. I let them know, we ordered it through amazon.com. I would recommmend this to all who are looking for a great digital camera.

When I first bought this camera, I loved all the simple-to-follow features. It was lightweight, took clear pictures and was very simple to download. Everything someone looks for in a digital camera, right?. . . Wrong! After approx. 2 years of owning this camera, the sliding on/off "door" started to act up. When you open the "door"/turn it on and go to take a picture, it will retract and shut off on it's own. After a while it constantely did it to the point where taking pictures was a hastle. Now, I am seaching once again for a new digital camera and the $300 I paid for this camera (at the time) is wasted and thrown away. They should test cameras more thoroughly before putting them on the market for hard working buyers to select from.

My next camera, being that the expensive memory cards only are compatibale to Olympus and Fuji, may be the Olympus Stylus 500 5MP. It seems to have gotten very good reviews and I'm willing to give them a second chance but I am doing a bit more studying this time before spending my hard earned money!

I used this camera for about 20 months, taking thousands of photos. It was my first digital camera and I really enjoyed using it. It survived some falls as well as taking pictures in light rain.
Some room for improvement:
Indoor and shaded photos require the flash or a tripod.
Macro mode couldn't focus on red items (flowers).
Viewfinder was off center when using extreme digital zoom.

This is a great Camera! We bought this camera for a family wedding noy knowing if we would be happy since it was our first Digital. It is so easy to use and the quality of the pictures is fantastic! We haven't looked back and only regret not getting a digital sooner. The battery life is fantastic! We bought a second battery just in case but have had to use it only once when we were assigned to be photographers at my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. We took pictures all night long and also took posed pictures of everyone with my parents. The 256 MB XD Card will hold approximately 250+ high resolution photos!

The Camera is durable, well made, and weather resistant. Every opening has ruberized gaskets to keep water out! The display is a good size, easy to view even outdoors, and the buttons are easy to access. It is easy to use, and you can learn how to use this camera in about 5 minutes just by fiddling with it!
It has a great panoraramic mode! The XD memory card is about the size of a stamp, and its small size helps conserve battery life. You can get an adapter for the card to make it compatable with other formats.

My wife was interested in buying a cannon SLR but after using this she is no longer interested. She uses it to take pictures of nature and Extreme Close-Ups of flowers, for example. The Quality, Detail and Bright Colors are absolutely Awesome!

You won't be disappointed!

This may be OK for taking snapshots of your friends or kids around a birthday cake, but it does not perform well in most situations.

1) The cameras sensor is not very sensitive to light, so photographing indoors out of the flash's range is impossible (blurry images).

2) The video mode has no sound AND does not allow you to zoom in at all. Even if you zoom-in all the way, as soon as you put the camera in video mode it zooms back out.

3) Even if you are unconcerned with shutter speeds, apertures, and ISO levels, you should still look for a camera that has a way to have a bit of control over these things. For instance, many consumer cameras have a "sports" mode for fast moving subjects. This mode sets the shutter speed to be fast, and therefore eliminates motion blur. THIS CAMERA made blurry pictures of Moneen onstage at the Warped Tour even though they were in full sunlight. With a setting like the one described above, I could have had some great visual memories of the show.

I've had my Olympus Stylus 400 since Christmas of 2003 and take it everywhere I go. It's compact size allows me to stick it in my pocket if I want to. It has been a rugged little camera. I do a lot of camping and hiking and have dropped it on rocks before and it keeps on taking great pictures. I originally bought it for the fact that you could buy an optional waterproof case. I wanted that feature so I could use it while participating in water sports, it worked great in those situations too. The outdoor picture quality is exceptional for a point and shoot camera. I use another camera for serious photography but this camera takes extremely good photos for someone looking for a simple to use camera. The XD memory cards were expensive at first but they have gone up in capacity and down in price.

The battery life is very good between charges. I always have at least two batteries for my cameras. I've found that the battery will last through a three day weekend with a lot of picture taking without a need for the back up battery.

One very cool feature that no one here has mentioned is that this camera came with a remote control. This is great for setting the camera up on a tripod and having the ability to get in the shot without having to set the timer and run in front of the camera to get in the picture. You can take as many pictures with the remote and never have to reset the camera. I don't know of another camera that has a remote like this.

Drawbacks: The first drawback I noticed was it's small size and flat shape. I know I'm getting a little contrary here but the same small size that allows you to put it in you pocket also makes this a camera that is hard to grip with your hand. I have dropped mine several times and learned early on to always use the wrist strap that comes with it. It would be nice if this camera had a little shape to it that allowed you to grip it.
I've had some problems with the sliding on/off door that also acts as a lens guard. This can be annoying at times and you'll be getting ready to snap a shot and it will suddenly shut off because the door has slid just a little toward the off position. This can be avoided with a little pressure on the door while using the camera. I think some of the problems with the door has been due to my rough treatment of this otherwise durable camera.
A good buy for the money.

DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA WARNING!!!!!!!The front door that is used to turn the power on to take pictures breaks too easily--Olympus customer service will do nothing to help. If you look on the web multiple people say they have the same problem which equals a design flaw and they will not help. The $300 plus I paid is in the garbage and Olympus wants $$$$ to fix it and will do nothing to keep a customer. As far as I am concerned I am running the camera over with my car and NEVER BUYING AN OLYPUS AGAIN.

I bought this camera about 3.5 years ago and took thousands of pictures with it. It was my first digital camera and I loved the convenience of digital photography and the small size of this camera. We got a lot of great shots on hikes, some pretty good pictures while diving (using underwater case), and treasured family photos including our new baby. I did eventually learn how to work around some of the idiosyncrasies - for instance, pre-focusing at the halfway-down shutter detent position really helps to get clear pictures. The low light performance is marginal, and the flash is next to useless. Over the past couple of months it started to flake out - started recording pictures with bad timestamps and the sliding front panel switch became so sensitive that the camera kept turning itself off while I tried to take pictures. I took the front panel off to clean out some lint and when I put it back together it didn't work any more. (So don't do that!) I am replacing this camera with the Canon PowerShot SD900 because I really liked my friend's SD550 and my Mom's SD800.

I love my Olympus Stylus 400 for daylight photos, but no matter what I do, pictures taken at night (whether in nighttime mode or not) come out EXTREMELY blurry. This has been a great disappointment; however, I have no complaints about indoor flash or daylight outdoor pictures. They always come out great!