Olympus MJU
Written: Oct 18 '02
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Pros: Nice zoom, relatively easy to use
Cons: Auto focus and aperture systems need work, big, heavy.
The Bottom Line: It's a so-so 35MM camera, but most users will probably want to go for an APS or digital version.
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| jazz976's Full Review: Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 Deluxe 35mm Film Camera |
I bought this camera while in Singapore. My family had been in need of a new camera for a while, and this one seemed like it would be great - after all, it was fully automatic, had a flash and a zoom, and felt quite sturdy.
The MJU is built like many other 35MM cameras today, with a sliding door that you open in order to turn it on. When opening it, the first inch or so of the zoom lens sticks out, which takes a second or two. In addition, the flash retracts from its little hiding place. While the sliding door design is good for keeping the lens from getting dirty, etc., to me it ended up being kind of a nuicance. Every now and then I accidentally push the door too far to the left, and as I am about to take a picture, the camera turns off on me, taking 10 seconds or so for the lens to go in and then back out. That gets kind of annoying.
Speaking of the lens, I love the zoom. It zooms to about 3X the size of the original picture, which is quite a bit. You control the zoom with a small lever on the top of the camera. I don't really like the lever though; it feels flimsy and for some reason is at an angle rather than being straight left to right.
Battery life is long enough for most people, it lasts longer than several rolls of film, and it has an auto-power off where it turns itself off after a certain period of time.
I am a pretty tech-savvy person, and it took me no time to figure out how to use my MJU, but for other family members it took a longer amount of time to figure out. It will be quite easy for most people though, in general it is the epitome of point and shoot.
The MJU doesn't skimp on features. There are a few different flash modes - red eye reduction (the flash flashes a bunch of times before actually taking the picture; this illuminates the subject beforehand), night mode (the shutter speed slows down), no flash (completely shuts of the flash), and force flash (the flash goes off no matter what). You can also combine the night mode with red eye reduction to take a red eye reducing shot at night. In addition to those, there is a self timer as well as an infrared remote. Those two work very well, as long as you have a tripod or another place to put the camera. The final feature is that of date-imprinting. The camera will print the date and time of the picture on the actual negative while you take the picture. However, because the text is on the front of the print, it usually interferes with the actual photo. The only remedy to this is to go for an Advanced Photo System camera.
While I love many features of this camera, I have had a lot of trouble with the auto-focus and auto-aperture system. Many photos that I take with it end up blurry or badly lit, ruining many good opportunities. While this is sometimes my fault, it occurs much more frequently than I have experienced with other 35MM cameras. The other problem I have with this camera is the size. Cameras these days are getting smaller and smaller, what with smaller 24MM film and digital cameras, but if you are purchasing a 35MM camera, you can't get that kind of miniture size. It is probably impossible to fit in a 3X zoom lens with 35MM film in a tiny package, so I don't blame Olympus for that, but in my opinion the user would be better off buying an APS or digital camera. The picture quality on those cameras will be equal to or better than that of the MJU, and you probably won't end up paying much more. The type of film in this camera is becoming rapidly outdated, and it shows. My advice is to shy away from older film types and go digital or at least APS.
Thanks for reading.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): ??
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Epinions.com ID:
jazz976
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Location: Lexington, MA, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 1 member
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