Upping the ante in the 2.5 megapixel camera race is the Olympus 2500L -- combining the look, feel and features of a traditional 35mm SLR (single-lens reflex) camera with all the options and advantages of the digital photography medium.

While many manufacturers have moved toward smaller and smaller high-resolution digital cameras, the 2500L has the feel (and size) of the kind of camera experienced photographers are accustomed to.

It also does a good job of leveraging the digital medium, allowing consumers to control almost every traditional and digital aspect of a photograph.

Traditional SLR Features

The 2500L is one of the first digital cameras that actually operates like a traditional SLR (single-lens reflex) camera.

While other manufacturers make quality high-resolution digital cameras, I've never cared for their size and shape. Having used full-size 35mm SLR cameras for years, and abhorring those little point-and-shoot abominations, I like the size and weight of the 2500L.

For starters, the 2500L includes all the features standard in better digital cameras:

Full-size SLR body

Top pop-up flash

3x zoom

High-resolution LCD screen on the back for viewing and deleting photos

Self-timer

But the 2500L builds on this base -- all of which is standard in its predecessor, the Olympus 620L -- with lots of new features that experienced photographers will appreciate.

Sporting some of the best manual controls out there, the 2500L allows the consumer to manually set the shutter speed from 1/10,000 to 8 seconds -- an important tool for both experienced and experimental photographers.

The lens has a selectable aperture range of f2.8-f5.6 for wide and f3.9-f7.8 for telephoto, with the 3x zoom equivalent to a 36-110mm lens on a standard 35mm camera.

Perhaps most important, the focal range has been increased to an incredible 0.8 inches -- enabling a quite impressive macro photography mode.

Speaking of focus, the auto-focus has been improved. It does equally well with hard-to-focus objects such as those encountered in macro photography and conflicting light situations (much better than the 620L and at least as good as its competitors).

The camera does have manual focus controls -- the one area in which digital cameras still cannot match the ease and incremental adjustment of traditional film cameras.

One nice addition to the 2500L is a small (matchbook-size) remote control for triggering the remote timer -- rather than setting off the timer and running into the frame, you can adjust and compose your image, and then when you press the button on the remote control, the camera focuses and shoots in two seconds.

The 2500L also has the requisite easy-to-use spot meter, exposure compensation (up to -2 or +2) and white balance controls. And the flash can easily fill or light images up to about 10 feet away.

Leveraging the Digital Age

Of course, one of the 2500L's greatest strengths is the digital options and features not available to film-based cameras.

For starters, it is one of Olympus' two forays into the 2.5 megapixel range. That means it can produce images up to 1712 x 1368 pixels (the 620L megapixel camera maxes at 1280 x 1024 pixels).

The 2500L is also one of the few cameras on the market to support both memory standards -- CompactFlash and SmartMedia. A side panel opens to reveal slots for both formats. Besides offering more storage choice, you can also use both slots for twice the digital photograhy memory.

Like most digital cameras, you can view images you've shot on the LCD screen, and delete those you don't want to keep.

But the 2500L also allows you to view images in 'index' mode, showing thumbnails of four or nine photos on the screen at once. Or you can digitally zoom into an image (up to 4x) -- a great feature when trying to evaluate how the details or highlights came out on a subject.

The camera's myriad of controls can be a little daunting to get the hang of, but its menus and buttons are reasonably intuitive, and the degree of control is an empowering boon for a digital photographer.

Transferring Images (s-l-o-w-l-y)

Unfortunately, Olympus still relies on a serial connection for transferring your photos to the computer. This means that unlike most of the newer digital cameras, the 2500L still crawls when moving images.

The process is relatively simple. After installing the Camedia software, you plug a cable into your camera and computer, and run the program. Then you can drag images from the camera's memory card/s to your computer. But the images -- especially in high resolution -- take far too long to transfer (a problem Olympus' forthcoming 3030L is supposed to address).

While you can use Olympus adapters (for floppy drives or notebook PCMCIA slots) or third-party card readers (such as the Photochute3 by Altec) to transfer images directly from SmartCards or CompactFlash memory, many manufacturers have moved to faster USB transfer cables for normal transfers -- especially with high-resolution cameras.

Although Olympus (like all companies) bundles software with its camera, editors and photographers will still want to use traditional image manipulation programs such as Photoshop or Fireworks to manipulate and prepare graphics for publication.

Bits and Bytes

Besides the slow serial transfer cable, one disappointment in the 2500L is Olympus' move away from a cordless battery charger. While the inclusion of a battery charger (and four rechargeable AA batteries) helps keep the ongoing cost of digital photography to a minimum, previous models have flip-out AC prongs, making the whole unit slightly larger than a deck of cards.

Having to connect an AC cable to the charger may seem like a minor inconvenience, but extra cable and parts can be a nuisance when taking digital devices on the road.

Overall, the Olympus 2500L is an excellent digital camera, sporting more features and custom settings than most of its competitors. Without venturing into the $5,000 + professional digital camera range, this is one of the best out there.

But therein also lies one of its drawbacks -- price. At about $1,400, the 2500L may be a bit pricey for the average consumer.

Those looking to spend a little less, and who do not need the 1700x resolution, can find many good alternatives in the $700 range. Those who need even more resolution might want to look at the forthcoming Olympus 3030L -- a 3.5 megapixel camera that ups the resolution to 2048 x 1536 and comes in a more traditional black aluminum body.

If you are tired of the strange squares and rectangles that pass as digital 'cameras' today, and you yearn for the features and control traditional 35mm SLR cameras offer, the 2500L may be just what you've been looking for.