Super camera that's light on weight and your wallet
Written: Apr 28 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Photo Quality: |
|
|
|
Pros: Small, lightweight, lots of functions, panoramic mode
Cons: Closing the film compartment can feel funny
The Bottom Line: The is a very good general purpose camera.
|
|
|
| wakiz's Full Review: Olympus Stylus Epic 115 QD 35mm Film Camera |
I purchased the deluxe version of this camera. The difference between the regular version is the panoramic mode, and the dating function as far as I can tell.
It's posh and different from other cameras with its slide open design and gold / champagne color. I prefer it to the bland and ubiquitous black color of all the other cameras out there. The front panel opens to reveal the lens, and sensor components (focus and exposure sensors, etc). At the same time, the flash comes out of its hiding place in the corner. Close the cover and the lens and flash automatically retract. It has seals all around to keep water and dirt out. Olympus claims that the camera is water resistant from splashes, rain, and the beach, but not for under water use. I'll take their word for that. No sense in ruining a perfectly good camera. It is also very light, weighing in at about 9oz or so with film and battery. The size is very small, it fits in the hip pocket of my jeans easily.
I like the many functions of the camera. Although I might not use them all the time, they are very handy when they are needed. The camera features a focus lock function. With some cameras, when you take a picture with your subject in front of a distant background, the background will be in focus if your subject is not in the middle. With this camera, you can focus the camera on the subject and then move the subject off to the side without the subject looking fuzzy because it's out of focus. There's also a exposure lock function. With this you can have your subject in the dark with a bright background, or vice versa without worrying that the photo will be incorrectly exposed.
There are several flash modes for different occasions. Such as red-eye reduction, and night mode. Night mode will illuminate your subject with a night scene in the background.
There is also a 38mm to 115mm zoom lens. It allows for a wide variety of occasions. Although it's not as long as some of the newer cameras (I've seen 170mm), it is sufficient for most pictures.
The panoramic function lets you take photos that can be developed to be twice the width of the standard size. Most film developers, upon special request, can do them. It does this by cropping off a section from the top and bottom. This gives the picture the appearance of being wider, especially when enlarged.
What I don't like about the camera is that the film compartment needs to be pushed harder than you'd think it needs to be before it clicks closed. Maybe this is because of the gasket that keeps water and dirt out. Other than that, I can't complain.
The pictures that come out of the camera are very good. The are clear and sharp. It even made the pictures I took during midday in the desert sun with ISO 400 film look good. They were not over exposed. If you know what I'm talking about, you know what a big mistake I made. I originally used that film to take pictures of the Las Vegas Strip at night, but forgot about that when I went to the desert.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 146
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
wakiz
|
|
Location: California
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.