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Olympus µ Digital 500: manual and user guide

The 5 MP Olympus compact with a 3× zoom that doesn’t mind splashes. Its official manual, then the essentials.

Official Olympus PDF, which Olympus no longer publishes: the link opens the copy kept by Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Getting started

Charging Slide the LI-12B battery into the LI-10C charger plugged into the mains. The lamp is red while charging and turns green when it’s full, after about 120 minutes. The camera only accepts Olympus LI-12B and LI-10B batteries.
Battery and card With the camera off, slide and then lift the battery/card cover. Push the battery in until its lock button holds it, then push the xD-Picture Card in straight until it clicks. Close by pressing the centre of the cover and sliding it.
Switching on for the first time Turn the mode dial to camera and press POWER: the lens extends and the screen lights up. The first time, the Y/M/D screen asks for the date and time: choose the date order, set each value with the up and down arrows, move to the next with the right arrow and confirm with OK/MENU.
Language The menu language depends on the country of purchase. To change it, press OK/MENU, choose MODE MENU, then SETUP and the language line: select ENGLISH and confirm with OK/MENU.
Your first photo Put the focus marks on your subject and press halfway: the green lamp lights up when focus and exposure are locked. Press all the way, gently so as not to move. The lamp blinks red while writing to the card: don’t open the cover at that moment.

A 3× optical zoom, from 35 to 105 mm in 35 mm equivalent, extended up to 12× by the digital zoom, which you turn on in the menu (DIGITAL ZOOM). The more the digital zoom magnifies, the grainier the image.
The SCENE button gives twenty modes: program auto, landscape, portrait, indoor, sport, beach and snow, behind glass, sunset, night scene, cuisine, documents, candle, self-portrait, and two underwater modes for use in a waterproof housing sold separately.
Video with sound, at 320 × 240 or 160 × 120 at 15 frames per second, until the card is full. During a movie, only the digital zoom works and the flash doesn’t fire.
Close-ups: from 20 cm in macro mode, and from 7 to 50 cm in super macro, where the zoom sets itself and the flash doesn’t fire. Press the right arrow (macro) several times to switch from one to the other.
The QUICK VIEW button shows the last photo without leaving shooting mode. Press it again, or lightly touch the shutter button, to carry on.

Four modes, chosen with the left arrow: auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in flash that fires for every photo, and flash off.
It reaches from 20 cm to 4.2 m at wide angle and to 2.6 m at telephoto. It needs about 4 seconds to recharge after a full flash.
It doesn’t fire in super macro, or in the behind glass, sunset and documents modes. With the flash off in dim light, the shutter speed slows down: put the camera on a tripod.
In ISO AUTO, the sensitivity rises by itself when the subject is too far for the flash, or when you shoot without flash in the dark.

It doesn’t mind splashes, wherever they come from (IPX4 standard), but don’t wash it, don’t submerge it and don’t shoot underwater without a housing.
Close the battery/card cover and the connector cover properly, otherwise water can get in. Wipe off drops with a dry cloth: the battery itself isn’t waterproof.
A card from a brand other than Olympus, or formatted on a computer, may not be recognised: format it in the camera. Never open the cover with the camera on, you could lose the whole card.
After 3 minutes without use, the camera goes to sleep: the shutter button or the zoom button wakes it. 15 minutes later, the lens retracts and it switches off.
Left without a battery for about a day, it forgets the date and time: check them before important photos.

Sensor: 1/2.5-inch CCD, 5 MP effective, images up to 2560 × 1920
Lens: 3× zoom, 5.8-17.4 mm (35-105 mm in 35 mm equivalent), f/3.1-5.2, up to 12× with the digital zoom
Focusing: autofocus from 0.5 m to infinity, macro from 0.2 m, super macro from 7 to 50 cm
Shutter: 1/2 s to 1/1000 s, up to 4 s in night scene
Metering and sensitivity: digital ESP or spot metering, sensitivity AUTO or ISO 64, 100, 200 and 400
Screen: 2.5-inch colour TFT, 215,000 dots
Video: 320 × 240 or 160 × 120 at 15 frames per second, with sound (QuickTime Motion JPEG)
Battery: lithium-ion LI-12B (or LI-10B), 3.7 V, 1230 mAh, about 200 shots per charge (CIPA standard), LI-10C charger in about 120 minutes
Card: xD-Picture Card from 16 to 512 MB
Body: splash-resistant (IPX4), 99 × 55.5 × 31 mm excluding protrusions, 165 g without battery or card