Phototastic! (Olympus µ[MJU:] Mini Digital)

Name: 87degrees

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Product:	Olympus µ[MJU:] Mini Digital
Date:	24/10/06 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, long-lasting, great photos

Disadvantages: No viewer

I was given this camera, second hand, as a birthday present and I've been happy with it. It has a few faults, but then what camera doesn't? I'm not a great photographer. I take pictures of my friends at parties and events or different places when I go somewhere new. I imagine my style of photography is very similar to a large number of people; you point the camera, press a button and expect to get a decent photo out of it.

I'd had my previous camera ages and it was also second hand. That was one of the early digital cameras. While the Olympus mju Mini has its drawbacks, I still prefer to use it than the old one.


~~~ Appearance ~~~

The camera is pretty small and fits easily into my handbag, or even my jeans' pocket! I think the main point in its favour is its size, since its so much easier to carry around than the brick I used to use. It's not too heavy and it doesn't get in the way. Its shaped is very rounded, which helps when I shoved it in my pocket because it doesn't dig in at all. The shape is slightly non-rectangular. The right hand side, looking at the front of the camera, leans slightly, which is a little weird but not too ugly.

Most of the back is taken up with the camera's screen, so you can get a good look at all your photos.

I don't go for a camera because of its aesthetics, but I have no complaints about the appearance of the Olympus mju. Mine's a nice, silver colour, but there are other colours available, including black, blue and gold.


~~~ Ease of Use ~~~

I've found this camera to be very easy to use. The power button is labelled "power" in nice, clear letters. The button for taking photos is obvious. There's a little wheel on the top left (again, looking at the camera from the front) which you use to switch between modes: photo, film and view. The icons on the wheel are clear, there's a picture of a camera for photos, a film camera for taking films and a green play symbol to look at what you've taken. I picked up the camera and started using it without even a glance in the direction of the manual.

The zoom in and out buttons are on the back of the camera, again obviously labelled with little magnifying glass icons. It's a 2x zoom, which is pretty standard. To the left of the screen is the quick view button. This lets you see several photos on the screen at once, instead of having to scroll through all of them.

On the bottom right, at the back of the camera, are most of the controls for options. There's a little, circular "OK" button, with another circle of buttons around it, which can be clicked left, right, up and down. Right, labelled with a lightning bolt, gives you flash options: on, off, auto or red-eye. Down gives you the timer, shown by a circle that might, just about, resemble a clock. The timer only has two settings, on and off. If you turn the timer on and then press the photo button you have about ten seconds until the camera starts beeping, at which point you have about two seconds before the picture gets taken. The button the left, labelled with a flower, gives you something. I'm not certain what it does. The top button lets you select what type of photo you're taking, night scene, portrait etc. and changes the settings automatically to suit.

Taking films is as easy as pictures. If the camera's on film mode, press the photo button to start and press it again to finish. Simple as that. You can play films back on the camera, complete with sound.


~~~ What it comes with ~~~

A Wrist strap. Mine's white, I don't know if the colour's standard. It's smooth, so it doesn't hurt your wrist and it's nice and sturdy.

An Olympus 16Mb xD Card. This really isn't a great deal of memory. I got a new memory card for it, because the one that came with the camera doesn't hold many pictures, not if you want high quality ones at any rate.

An Olympus Li-30B Li-Ion Rechargeable battery and battery charger. The camera only works with the standard battery that comes with it. I imagine this could cause problems if the battery is lost or broken, unlike other cameras where normal AA will suffice. Still, I've not had a problem so far. The charger is pretty efficient, with an LED to show you when it's charging and when it's finished.

A USB Cable and an AV Cable so the camera can be connected to a computer or TV. I've not tried linking it to the TV, but I've not had any problems with computer connection.

A Software CD-ROM (Olympus Master 1.1). I've not used this at all. I just plugged the camera in and could get the photos straight off it.

Manual. Maybe I should have a look at this. I might actually find out what the flower button does…

I think, if you buy it new, you get a warranty with it. That may depend on the shop. As I said, mine was second hand as a present, so I didn't get a warranty.


~~~ Downloading photos ~~~

Downloading photos to the computer was easy. You flip open one side of the camera (it's the only bit that opens, you can't go wrong) and stick one end of the cable into the only slot that's the right size. Actually, if the battery's in, there's only one place you can stick the cable. The other end goes into the USB port on your computer.

At this point, the screen on the camera lights up and asks if you're connecting to a PC or a printer. I frequently forget this happens and wonder why my computer's not detecting the camera. Oops.

If you have a photo printer, you should be able to print the pictures straight off without an intermediate computer. I don't have a photo printer, so I can't comment on how easy this is. I imagine it would depend on what printer you have.

Once the camera is connected to the computer, I can open up a folder and just copy the pictures and videos straight into My Pictures, or anywhere else on the computer. I don't know what's in the software, since I can do everything I want with my camera without installing anything on the computer whatsoever.


~~~ Improvements on my Old Camera ~~~

The size. It's up there in the title of the product: this camera is mini. It's about 9cm x 6cm x 3 cm. These sizes are approximate, since the shape isn't cuboid and the edges are all rounded. It fits nicely in one hand, can go in a pocket and doesn't weight too much in a bag, 115g. This is really the major plus as far as I'm concerned.

The lens cap. The lens cap is built into the camera. When you turn it on, the cap whizzes to one side inside the machine. My old camera, the cap was something you put on manually, which meant it was forever falling off when my camera was in the bag.

The screen is a little bit bigger, 3.8cm x 2.9cm. This is also makes it possible to look at multiple pictures at once and still work out what's going on. Actually, my old camera didn't have the multi-picture view option anyway.

Films. My old camera was strictly a photo only camera. I don't take many films, but I have a couple of short ones and it's nice for the option to be there.


~~~ Downsides to the Camera ~~~

The viewer. There isn't one. I like having a viewer to look through when using a camera. There are two reasons. The first is that using a viewer instead of the screen means that the battery lasts longer. The second is that it's much easier to hold a camera steady if it's up against your face than if it's held somewhere out in front of you while you try to see the screen. Most of the time, this isn't a problem, but if you want to take night shots or pictures with a long exposure time, they're going to get a bit fuzzy and shaky.

You can't get the memory card out without taking the battery out. This isn't much of an issue, since I connect to my computer with the cable, but if you use a card-reader I imagine this would get very annoying quite quickly.


~~~ Durability ~~~

I mentioned right at the start that this camera was second hand. I can't comment on how well the previous owner looked after it, but it's still in perfect condition. I don't go around dropping the camera onto concrete to test how well a camera lasts, but it's survived me as an owner for several months, so that must say something about its reliability. I've climbed trees with this camera in my pocket, I've shoved it in my handbag that then dumped the bag around the place, I've taken part in a photo scavenger hunt that involved lots of racing around, and the camera is still in perfect working order.

I know a couple of people with Nikon cameras (different cameras, but similar), where the bit that holds the battery in snapped off for no reason in barely any time at all. You can be pretty certain that the Olympus will last better than those.

I have not a single word to say against the durability of the Olympus mju mini.


~~~ Photo Quality ~~~

The only complaint about the quality of my photos would be the skill of the person behind the lens!

I take photos in high quality, and think they live up to that description. Nice, clear images, except for night shots. If you expect to take photos in low lighting, I would seriously recommend getting a tripod. There's a hole at the bottom of the camera where you can attach a tripod (I think most cameras have this). I find it hard to hold the camera steady enough to get a good photo at night.

In good lighting, or if the camera's on a steady surface, the pictures come out brilliantly.


~~~ Price ~~~

I got this camera without paying a penny for it, but that's not helpful to you, so I've had a browse round to find out prices. While, this is the section of the review that will go out of date quickest, at least you can see whereabouts it is compared to other cameras.

The Olympus is available from the Apple Store at £199. Pricerunner.co.uk has it for £136.52 from Infotech Systems. Looking at pricerunner.co.uk, most other cameras from Olympus comes between about £145 and £300, but there is one for £89.89.

Compared to cameras of other makes, it doesn't do too badly. It's certainly not the cheapest out there, but it's good qualities should make up for that. Considering there are cameras out there with only 1x zoom that are a lot bulkier and heavier selling for £699, I think the Olympus mju mini is pretty reasonable. You will be able to find cheaper cameras, but they probably wouldn't last as long as this one.


~~~ Overall ~~~

I would absolutely recommend it. Really, the only drawback to this camera is the lack of a viewer, but I know some people always use the screen anyway when they have a digital camera. If you're looking for a digital camera, you could do an awful lot worse than this one.

Great pictures, easy to use and a long-lasting camera. What more do you need?

Summary: A brilliant, little digital camera

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