Most digital cameras ship with a USB or serial port, and with a set of software drivers that allow you to download your pictures to your computer via an image-editing program. Olympus has gone one step farther, and essentially built the functionality of a USB card-reader into their digital cameras. What this means is that for the newer versions of Windows and the Mac OS, you don't need to install extra software. Simply plug the camera into your computer, which recognizes the camera as a removable drive. You are then free to drag-and-drop your pictures wherever you like.

Power requirements are standard at four AA, or two CR-V3 lithium batteries. The D-510 uses SmartMedia cards, and ships with an 8 MB card.