Olympus D-460 Digital Camera Review First a little history about the D-400 line of cameras ... The Olympus D-400 hit the market in late 1998 and was an instant hit. Among its many attractive features, the D-400 used the traditional Olympus clamshell chassis design with a sliding door that protects the lens and viewfinder. Other popular features included: 3x optical aspherical zoom lens (35-105mm equivalency on a 35mm camera). 2x digital zoom at any focal length. 1,310,000 pixel CCD (1,280 x 960 pixel resolution). Smart media digital film up to 32 MB card. Exposure compensation. Spot and center-weighted meter patterns. Macro mode. Four function pop-up flash. 1.8" TFT LCD with toggle control 3x magnification. 10 frame burst mode for sequence shooting. FlashPath floppy disc adapter for transfer of images on Smart Media cards. All of this capability built in to a camera that easily slides into your jacket pocket. Then, in Aug. 1999, Olympus announced an upgrade of the popular picture taker, the D-450. Key differences between the two cameras are: D-450 has three ISO film speeds (160, 320, & 640); the D-400 only has ISO 160. D-450 has an improved TFT LCD screen for better viewing in bright light. D-450 NO LONGER includes the FlashPath floppy disc adapter. D-450 has additional burst modes for the various resolutions; the D-400 only has a 10 frame burst mode at the 640 x 480 resolution. D-450 was introduced at $499. The D-400 was introduced at $999 and was finally discounted to $599 right before the release of the D-450. Not long after the release of the D-450, Olympus announced the refined D-460. They stuck with the 1.3 Megapixel resolution, in part to keep the price at $499. But they continued to improve the camera's handling and functionality. The kept all of the good specs mentioned above, but added these improvements: New buttons, icons, and controls are easier to use than previous models -- which is true and a welcome enhancement. Burst mode can shoot up to 10 pictures at 2 frames per second. More compression ratios, including uncompressed, SHQ, HQ, and two SQ settings for more flexibility. Two long-life LB-01 Lithium batteries instead of the old useless Alkaline batteries. Taking Pictures With the D-460 The D-460 cameras is a terrific picture taker. I've printed sharp prints up to 5" x 7" with my Epson Stylus 740 printer. Most of my digital images are for web publishing, and the resolution from these cameras gives me plenty of room for cropping while still being able to run very large images. One of my favorite features is the ability to magnify an image on the LCD screen by 3x for close inspection. By doing so, I can better determine if the picture is worth keeping while it's still in the camera instead of waiting to upload it to the computer for critical review. Lens sharpness and color resolution are of high quality. The fast zoom lens (f 2.8 at the wide setting) allows natural light shooting in brightly lit rooms. Overall handling and portability are excellent. Battery management is very good when using rechargeable AA NiMH cells or non-rechargeable LB-01 Lithium batteries. Minor complaints include the flash's tendency to overexpose at relatively close range and a somewhat slow opening and closing lens ritual at the beginning and ending of the picture session. I don't miss the no-longer-included FlashPath floppy disc adapter , but I do lament the lack of a USB port. Instead, we're still stuck with the tedious serial connection. What makes the serial connection even worse is that all new Macintosh computers are USB only, so you have to buy a SmartMedia reader to upload your shots. Figure an additional $70 for the card reader. (Macs also no longer have floppy disc drives ... so who cares about FlashPath!) Minor complaints aside, the D-460 a delight to use. I've already published dozens of pictures with previous models, and it's a "must have" camera on the road. Reviewed by Derrick Story, Sept. 1999 Revised Dec. 1999 Revised June 2000