Olympus D-425

In the D-425, Olympus is offering an affordable point-and-shoot alternative, featuring a 1/2.5-inch 4 MP CCD and slightly expanded 4x digital zoom lens. The 425 is part of Olympus’ D-series, which they advertise as "Easy and Fun." The D-425 caters to the point-and-shoot crowd by offering 9 still shooting modes along with a QuickTime video capture alternative, although surprisingly (from one of the major manufacturers of digital recorders), there are no audio recording capabilities included on this model. Each available mode on the D-425 is accompanied by a brief description to help less familiar users identify the setting’s intended use (although most are fairly ambiguous and seemingly irrelevant). Design-wise, the D-425 is horizontally situated with a low slung body that is easy to control. The frame is filled with large controls and features that sit close to the surface of the camera and allow for basic navigation without confusion or cluttered extraneous features. A 1.5-inch TFT LCD screen with approximately 85,000 pixels is fixed to the back of the camera body. The camera does not contain a viewfinder, so users will have to rely on the 1.5-inch screen as their only viewing alternative. The intuitive controls, menus, and automatic features of the D-425 make it specifically geared towards the point-and-shoot consumer who is either buying a digital camera for the first time, or has little desire to manually control the shot. The setup of the camera is simple enough to allow the user to become accustomed to the medium without the pressure or consternation of manual controls. The D-425 can currently be found online for roughly $120.00 (USD).