Good Little Looker (Olympus µ[MJU:] 300 Digital)

Name: Smudger246

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Product:	Olympus µ[MJU:] 300 Digital
Date:	23/08/05 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stylish, Durable, Compact and very easy to use

Disadvantages: Small picture card supplied

I purchased this camera 4 months ago mainly to take photos of items for uploading onto Ebay, and general album photos. I did a little bit of research before purchasing and for the cost it appeared to be good value for money. I should mention that I’ve never owned or used a digital camera previous to this one. It is a very rugged, compact and weatherproof unit which was proven on a recent stag weekend in Berlin, it spent the whole weekend in my pocket and came away unscathed (not an easy task for anything).

Simplicity itself to operate, you open the lens cover and the lens comes out automatically, there is a two-stage shutter button, you press the shutter button gently (halfway) which auto focuses and determines automatically if the flash is required, when the lamp on the viewfinder lights (approx 1 second) it’s ready to take the photo, which is done by fully pressing the shutter button.

Various modes are available but I have found the auto program to be adequate for most situations. The other options are Portrait, Landscape + Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Self Portrait And Movie. It’s a simple case of pressing one of the 6 control buttons on the rear of the unit to select the mode you require; there is no sound with the movie option.

The unit comes with a 16MB picture card, which takes 12 – 16 photos. I upgraded to a 256 MB card, which enables you to take approx 326 photos in normal mode. I also purchased a spare battery in case I was caught short, however the battery seams to last forever, but it’s nice to have a backup. I also purchased a case separately as it came without one. On hindsight I should have purchased the larger picture card, battery and case with the camera and saved on postage, and could have maybe struck a better deal.

The macro (close-up) setting is handy and again operated by one of the six control buttons; you can use the manual focus-rocking button to zoom in or out.

The 3.2 Mega pixels are enough to produce nice quality photos and the 3X optical zoom is adequate. I could copy all the specs into my review but for the people who require and understand them, the Olympus site is the place to visit.

The software that was supplied was simple enough to setup on my PC and was just
about adequate for basic needs, I upgraded to the Pro bundle, which takes approx 20 minutes and is just a case of downloading the upgrade after paying for it, and the link to carry out the upgrade is emblazoned on the original software. Once installed you can cut, crop, rotate, edit, change background, In fact the original picture can be changed to almost anything you might require.

To download from your camera to the PC is just a simple case of connecting the USB lead and the program starts automatically, follow the on screen directions, it’s as simple as that.

The only problem I’ve had is when I’m operating the camera and my thumb (which rests on the battery compartment cover) has accidentally released the battery cover. This has happened a couple of times but now that I’m aware it’s just a case of taking more care. If the battery should drop out, all the photos on the picture card could be lost.

It comes complete with the following: wrist strap, LI 10B lithium ion battery, battery charger and cable, software, USB cable, xD picture card.

This camera is a very versatile and resilient piece of equipment, which is easy to operate, and should cover the needs of most budding photographers.

Summary: Very easy to operate, weatherproof, stylish and it fits in your pocket.

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