Olympus have come up trumps again with this beautifully engineered digital camera, and whilst I never originally set out to specialise in reviewing cameras, this turns out to be my seventh to date.
Digital camera technology is proceeding at a ferocious rate - hardly a month goes by without a new clutch of 'stronger faster better more' models from all the camera manufacturers - this is rather more to do with being a market driven commodity.
The photographic industry, like Information Technology and pop records thrives in novelty and innovation. There are several publications which regularly publish articles by comparing various 'new models' from different manufacturers in 'head to head' reviews.
Of course, if you don't have a new model on the market, you tend to loose out.
From this standpoint, you could quickly anticipate that I'm about to say that there really isn't that many differences between this, and any other similarly priced Olympus camera produced in the past two years or so - which is only true to a point.
The Olympus Mju (pronounced 'mew') 300 ties the camera, in name at least, to the already popular and well respected film camera range - and justifiably so, I say.
Canon have already done this with the 'Ixis' range, which
come in film and digital formats.
Olympus market the Mju 300 in their 'Stylish' range of cameras - this is doublespeak for 'pretty much the same specification as cheaper models but a lot better built' - I'd have to agree, it is little short of exquisite.
The model is described as 'weatherproof' - which means it can sustain the occasional splash of water without being ruined, but I would still be tempted to buy the optional case (about £24) besides - the metal body construction is screaming 'go ahead - scratch me - I dare you' - you certainly wouldn't want to put it in your pocket along with keys and change!
The other thing I find hard to understand is why they should leave the 1.5 inchTFT LCD monitor unprotected - just how much would it have cost to have placed a small metal window over this to stop it being scratched?
There is an internal flash, but in my view this is far too close to the lens, this will almost certainly result in 'red eye' unless you specifically set that mode on the flash - still, it keeps the overall design compact.
If you simply took a look at the specifications; 5.8 – 17.4 mm F3.1 (wide) / F5.2 (tele) lens (equivalent to 35 – 105 mm lens in 35 mm format) - Optical real-image viewfinder, 3x optical zoom (which can be increased to 5x with digital zoom) - built in flash, and a range of exposure modes, it probably wouldn't look much different from a standard APS camera.
That doesn't, on the other hand, take into consideration the vast improvements in build quality, nor the firmware upgrades which have resulted in a much more 'usable' camera.
In terms of specification - other than offering 3 megapixels, as opposed to 2, this is almost identical to my C220-zoom which I reviewed several weeks ago.
In the flesh, however, it's an almost entirely different beast.
The previous Olympus cameras which I've used have been, without pulling any punches, a bit 'plasticy' - not that there's anything wrong with plastic, I only object when it's made up to look like something else (like metal).
The Mju 300 boasts a 'full metal body' - which has to be an improvement - it certainly gives the feeling of being a lot more solid!
At 99x56x33.5mm it's a good deal more 'dumpy' than the previous Olympus Digital cameras I've reviewed, this is mostly because they have abandoned the AA battery compatibility in favour of an LB10B rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery - and by doing that, if your batteries go flat, you're stuffed, unless you have had the presence of mind to buy an extra battery and charge it before leaving home! - a serious mistake in my opinion!
Secondly, and far more imprint to me as an existing Olympus user, the industry standard 'smart media' memory chip has been replaced with 'xD-Picture Card' technology - this is a new form of medium which has been developed in conjunction with Fuji - and whilst this offers many technical improvements (faster data transfer speeds and a theoretical maximum of 8Gb of storage - that's more than your average DVD disk!) the moderately small production volumes will mean that extra cards are always more expensive than more popular formats.
It also means that any existing memory cards you might have will be useless! - I suspect this may be a 'betamax of the future' - the industry can only support so many formats for memory cards, and I feel that the market is already over saturated!
The camera comes with a 16Mb memory module, which only offers 6 images at maximum 2,048 x 1,536 SHQ mode, however this increases to 58 pictures at the more practical 1,024 x 768 SQ2 resolution.
Having said that, the camera boasts a remarkable range of features.
Whilst I was mildly disappointed in the reduction in features comparing the C960-Z with C220-Z models, the Mju 300 offers extra features by the bucket load!
White balance, Scene Program: Portrait, Self-portrait, Night Scene, Landscape, Landscape plus portrait exposure modes, light compensation plus and minus two stops, to name but a few.
The menuing system has been tidied up considerably - outwardly the four cursor buttons and two functionkeys remain, but the addition of 'exposure modes' make selecting the ideal parameters relatively simple.
The camera offers two output ports; PAL composite video (which allows you to plug it into the telly) and a USB port - which in the simplest mode allows you to treat the camera as an external hard disk on your PC - in conjunction with the legendary 'Camedia' software - very little extra is left to be desired.
As a guide price, these units can be bought for around two hundred pounds sterling - expect to see this price fall - or the inclusion of many of the 'optional extras' as the announcement of newer models comes closer.
I personally wouldn't take out a loan to buy one of these (or pay it off on a credit card) - as by the time you finish paying this off, the camera will be worth considerably less thanwhat you ended up paying for it, however I appreciate not everybody has the financial means of shelling out two hundred clams at a time.
Unless you absolutely *must* have the newest camera on the block, I'd probably not bother trading up at this point, there are far too many changes in technology to justify the modest upgrade in features.
As a first midrange digital camera, however, this is a well built versatile unit which is certain to please you and ought to give many years faithful use.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Good review, will keep this one in mind i,m still looking at all options .. Donna
Olgita2 04.11.2004 20:51
Very good and detailed review - thanks!!!
james68 20.08.2004 15:27
Nice, entertaining review. You may want to check your resolution modes and pixel details there though: "SQ1" mode is 1600x1200 on this camera for example.
Advantages: Excellent value for money, good range of features, high quality camera and photos Disadvantages: No manual adjustment of exposure duration, only short videos possible, with no sound
Advantages: Showerproof. Great pictures. Fast transfer. Works OK with my 512Mb XD card. Reasonably quick autofocus and flash Disadvantages: Build quality concerns: Plastic switches. Weak zoom switch. Silver colour soon wears -off all switches. Sliding front has switch which often fails due to dirt/dust. Noticably slower startup when using a large (512Mb) card. Short videos. No sound.
Advantages: Excellent value for money, good range of features, high quality camera and photos Disadvantages: No manual adjustment of exposure duration, only short videos possible, with no sound
Advantages: Gorgeous design, weatherproofing is a plus, easy to use Disadvantages: Few override options, no sound on the video mode, loses out in the value stakes these days
![OLYMPUS Battery LI-12B For C-50, C-5000, C-60, C-7000, C-765, C-770, Ferrari Digital 2003, FE-200, µ[mju:] 1000, µ[mju:] 300, µ[mju:] 400, µ[mju:] 410, µ[mju:] 500, µ[mju:] 810 Battery Rechargeable Battery](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/107364544.jpg "OLYMPUS Battery LI-12B For C-50, C-5000, C-60, C-7000, C-765, C-770, Ferrari Digital 2003, FE-200, µ[mju:] 1000, µ[mju:] 300, µ[mju:] 400, µ[mju:] 410, µ[mju:] 500, µ[mju:] 810 Battery Rechargeable Battery")
![OLYMPUS LI-42B Battery For FE-150, FE-190, FE-230, FE-240, FE-280, FE-290, FE-300, FE-360, µ[mju:] 1050, µ[mju:] 1060, µ[mju:] 1200, µ[mju:] 700, µ[mju:] 720, µ[mju:] 725, µ[mju:] 730, µ[mju:] 740, µ[mju:] 750, µ[mju:] 760, µ[mju:] 770, µ[mju:] 770SW, µ[m](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/107371944.jpg "OLYMPUS LI-42B Battery For FE-150, FE-190, FE-230, FE-240, FE-280, FE-290, FE-300, FE-360, µ[mju:] 1050, µ[mju:] 1060, µ[mju:] 1200, µ[mju:] 700, µ[mju:] 720, µ[mju:] 725, µ[mju:] 730, µ[mju:] 740, µ[mju:] 750, µ[mju:] 760, µ[mju:] 770, µ[mju:] 770SW, µ[m")
![Olympus µ[MJU:] 300 Digital](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/normal/037/product-5333037.jpg)
![Overall user rating: Olympus µ[MJU:] 300 Digital](http://images.ciao.com/ide/images/stars/2003/stars45.gif)
Oct 5th, 2003
exceptional by (4%):
very helpful by (89%):
helpful by (7%):
![Olympus µ[mju:] Tough 8000](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/655/prod_small-7056655.jpg)
