Any digital equivalents of Olympus Stylus Epic?

Hello everyone;
I'm in market for a compact digital camrea. I want it to be a backup for my
Canon Elan II. Currently I use Olympus Stylus Epic (the non-zoom compact
camera) and am extremely happy with the result but would like to have a
digital camera as well. Therefore, I would really love to find a camera that
meets as much as possible of the following criteria:
- is decently small,
- have a very fast and sharp lens (just like the Epic),
- doesn't neccesarily have zoom (as a matter of fact I'd prefer a fixed
focal length, 35 mm or perhaps 28 mm if possible),
- around 4-5 megapixels,
- I would prefer to be able to use a viewfinder for shooting (so optical
with a paralax correction lines and a autofocus point or electronic
viewfinder would be prefferable) and LCD only to check out the resulting
photo,
- my budget would be up to around 600 USD.

I keep going through the camera review sites, but seems that everything
these days have zoom. I would really greatly appreciate any opinions or
recommendations. I have around three more months before my next vacation and
would like to get a camera before that time. Thank you all in advance.

Best regards,

Alan D.

 

Alan:

You probably will not find a fixed focal length 4 or 5 MP camera. Since you
like your Olympus Stylus Epic, how about a fixed focal length Olympus D390?

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&p=16&bc=1&product=911

It is only 2 MP though which will be good for snapshots, but not 8*10
enlargements. I do not know about it's availability.

Steve

 

I'm in market for a compact digital camrea. I want it to be a backup for my

Have you checked out the Digital Olympus Stylus?
Just like the film version, but digital. All the buttons are in the same place,
etc. Similar photo quality.
The digital version does have zoom, although not as extreme as the film
version.
Nice little camera and the price for the top one is well within your budget.
This is B&H's blurb on it:
http://tinyurl.com/28dur
Also look at the Olympus C-50. A little faster lens and shutter. Same form as
the Stylus.


http://www.madmousergraphics.com
web design, print design, photography

 

Canon IXUS i is small and fixed focus. Caled Powershot SD10 in the
USA. 4 Mpix. Only f/2.8 as the aim of fixed focus = small size.

 

I think you should get a Canon S400.

 

You're looking in a corner of the camera market where there isn't much
choice. With film cameras, all cameras can use the same film, so your
choices are along lines of zoom range (or none) and camera size and
features. But in digital cameras, a major portion of the cost is
determined by the sensor size, and 4-5MP cameras are fairly expensive,
and expensive cameras mostly come with zoom lenses and lots of features.

There are also simple inexpensive fixed-FL-lens cameras, but they are
mostly lower resolution (e.g. Canon A300).

But you should look at the Canon SD10. It's 4 MP, fixed FL lens at the
equivalent of about 39 mm (not as wide as you want, I know), no optical
viewfinder, but it is very small.

If you allow a bit larger, the S400 is 4 MP, with optical viewfinder and
3X zoom, but the zoom doesn't impair its small power-off size.

Dave