Pictures are priceless (Olympus µ[MJU:] Mini Digital)

Name: floatingclouds

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Product:	Olympus µ[MJU:] Mini Digital
Date:	22/10/07 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sleek, stylish, trendy, small, easy to use .

Disadvantages: Needs a larger memory card ! 16mb is not enough !

The Olympus 4.0 megapixel Mini mju digital camera is something to admire. I've have previously owned two other digital cameras and neither of them were quite as impressive. The graphics were terrible, the memory was disappointing and they didn't look to stylish either.

So how does it look?
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The mini mju is small, sleek (95 x 55.5 x 27.5mm) and available in a selection of colours, these are:

Jewellery Silver
Pure White
Cosmic Black
Crystal Blue
Velvet Red
Copper Orange

I own the Jewellery Silver mini mju. Not only does the camera look good and feel good, it's also easy to use and only weighs 115g(s).

Easy? How easy?
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The top of the camera has two buttons and also a wheel switch. The small button turns the camera power on; the larger button takes your photos. To determine if you want to view photos stored on the camera, record some video footage or take some pictures you move the wheel (which has symbols on it) to the indented line next to the wheel.

When you turn the power on (the small button) you have allocated the setting on the wheel and are now ready to carry out your task.

**Viewing photos**

The camera has a 1.8 inch LCD (134,000 pixels) screen and to the right of this screen is a circular button with four points.

So if you have decided to view your pictures, to scroll through them you just press the right hand side of the circle or the left if you want to go in reverse order. Simple huh?

In the center of the four points is another circle this is the 'OK' button if you press this whilst you're viewing photos it will bring up a menu on screen and give you the option to delete the present photo, to change the mode (you can make the image black and white for example). Or you can simply view information about the photo (the size etc.).

**Video star**

So lets move on to the video option; this is the middle selection on the wheel. I will be honest I have not had much experience with this feature and so hope the following information is correct.
With the OK button pressed you will have the following options appear

Exposure compensation
Quality
White balance
Mode menu

You can apparently record (in simplistic terms) fifteen frames per second in a frame size of 320x240. Please feel free to correct me, if I am making no sense!

**Taking pictures**

The camera has a built in lens cover which springs to action when you turn the power button on. When you press the OK button the options available are;

Exposure compensation
Image size/quality
White balance (Auto, Sun, Cloud, Lightbulb, Flourescent),
Mode menu.

How to explore these menus are as previously mentioned, using the circle and the OK button to select the option you require (this does take a little getting use to).

The Memory
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The camera comes with a 16mb XD memory card, I'd recommend upgrading this. It's a shame I don't take my own advice at times. If I did, I'd no longer be moaning about only fitting 16 photos onto the camera at parties or other events and having to save them onto my computer so often!

Try these places to buy additional memory:

amazon.co.uk
picstop.co.uk
warehouseexpre ss.com

The Zoom
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The Mju has a 2x Optical zoom and a built in 4x Digital zoom, it is advised to use the optical zoom because of the poor quality when the zoom is used digitally.

The zoom function can be allocated on the camera, above the circular button, it features as a small rectangular shape and includes two letters, these are; W - T. There is also a picture of a magnifier under the T.

The Battery
=========
I'm quite pleased with the battery, it's a rechargeable lithium-ion battery LI-30B. You just sit the battery into the charger, plug the adapter into the wall and away it goes. Don't worry the charger comes with the camera when you buy it. The AC adapter is a D-7AC connected via power coupler. AC 100V - 240V, 50 - 60Hz; DC 4.8V. (I hope that makes more sense to you than it does to me!!).

Conclusion
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You have probably already gathered my delight with this camera.

I like it because:

It's easy to use (really it is!!);
Navigation in a description/review can sound complicated unless you have the equipment in front of you.

The amount of features available:

I've had this camera for six months, perhaps longer and I'm still not competent with all the special things you can do with the Mju. Not because it's complicated (I'd be contradicting myself if that was the case) purely because I'm lazy. To be honest doing this review for Dooyoo has been an eye opener for me. It is not until you sit down and evaluate the device you are about to write about and realise how much detail as a consumer you miss out on because you just use the basic features. Most people buy a camera to take photos, going beyond that possibly means reading the manual (I don't do reading - not manuals any way!).

It looks good:

This is true, just as people buy the smallest, funkiest mobile phone. Digital cameras play an important role in street cred. When I went looking for camera I wanted something small, something 'different' and if I'm to be perfectly frank the actual specs of the camera was some thing I didn't even consider until the checkout process.

Viewing pictures is simple:

If I want to view/upload my pictures to my PC I just take the XD card out of the Camera and slot it into my Epson R300 printer. The printer picks the card up straight away (as long as it's switched on!) and will display the images on screen. However if you do not have one of these wonderful printers (Jots down next idea for a review) then you can use the usb cable supplied and upload your photos that way. You can install the enclosed software but this is not necessary as your computer should still recognize the hardware and allow you to view the photos (or perhaps I am just lucky?).


So finally, if you want a camera (that's digital) look no further. You may wonder why the price follows my conclusion, but in the whole scheme of things I consider the price to be quite reasonable - pictures of friends, family and memories are priceless!

Uh Oh the price!
=============
Carmera Centre Cardiff
cameracentrecardiff.co.uk
£135.99

Digital First
digitalfirst.co.uk
£139.95
Oyyy
Oyyy.co.uk
£ 164.14

**Accessories **

There are accessories available for the Mini Mju, so in case you are interested I have listed some of these below.
Leather case
PVC Case
Tripod (the tripod mount is on the bottom of the camera).
Neckstrap
Power Coupler BPC-01
Sandisk ImageMate 5-in-1 Reader


N.B In reference to my review I should have really called the 'wheel' a rotating dial. It would have made the description process a little less painful but I'm sure you'll forgive me (eventually!).

Summary: A fab camera for a sentimental fool like me!

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Picture quality: