Olympus µ-mini DIGITAL S

...µ [mju:]-mini Digital S from Olympus is the one that I will review at this time, I bought it for the wife but I'm the one that uses it most of the time. Firstly I will give you a brief history of the Olympus company, they formed in 1919 and they started by making microscopes and thermometers. In 1936 the first Olympus camera called Semi-Olympus I was unveiled and then again in 1948 when Japan's first 35mm camera with a lens shutter system was introduced ...
...a biological microscope and the Olympus Pen half-frame camera.


They have been involved in dozens of groundbreaking innovations since then, especially in the medical world, but have become well known world wide for the design, production and supply of top quality cameras. I have always had an Olympus camera, and others as well, but this latest one seems to have it all even though it is small it is packed with so much you just ... more

With the travelling that I do these days I would not be without my trusty camera to record the events of everyday moments in time. To keep a record of all those colourful images that the minds album, even through my ageing eyes, stores up but lets them slowly fade away over time. Ugly, cumbersome, heavy, large and quite fragile are just some of the words I would use to describe cameras in general use at one time in the past but not anymore, they have come a long way forward since then. The new µ [mju:]-mini Digital S from Olympus is the one that I will review at this time, I bought it for the wife but I'm the one that uses it most of the time. Firstly I will give you a brief history of the Olympus company, they formed in 1919 and they started by making microscopes and thermometers. In 1936 the first Olympus camera called Semi-Olympus I was unveiled and then again in 1948 when Japan's first 35mm camera with a lens shutter system was introduced called the Olympus 35 I. In the 1950's saw the introduction of a Gastrocamera, a biological microscope and the Olympus Pen half-frame camera.

They have been involved in dozens of groundbreaking innovations since then, especially in the medical world, but have become well known world wide for the design, production and supply of top quality cameras. I have always had an Olympus camera, and others as well, but this latest one seems to have it all even though it is small it is packed with so much you just wonder where they put it all. In 1991 the first μ[mju:] (Stylus) camera became available this was designed to fit cosily into one hand, be lightweight and be fully automatic. It was not long before this type of camera became a best seller and then in 2004 the μ-mini Digital, at 4.0 million pixels, was launched closely followed by the μ-mini Digital S, at 5.0 million pixels, which won the TIPA 'Best Innovative Design' award for 2005. The µ [mju:]-mini Digital S from Olympus comes in five shiny colours which are Lagoon Blue, Enamel Black, Liquid Silver, Gloss Beige and Pearl Pink the latter being the one we have. The price is £139.99 delivery free from Cameras2u.com as of the third week of February 2006.

It's sleek, slim and stylish design fits snugly into the palm of your hand and only weighs 115g (without the battery) it has a weather-proof compact designed body and they boast that it is crafted from a single sheet of metal, a process that is exclusive to them. The lens itself retracts into the camera and hides behind a fully automated lens barrier thats slides across the hole which then lies flush with the face of this very smooth lined camera. The box contents include a wrist strap that is easily fitted to the camera, you get a LI-30B Lithium ion battery and a LI-30C Battery Charger the charger usually is an extra but not in this kit, a 16MB xD-Picture Card, USB Cable, AV Cable, Software CD-ROM (Olympus Master) this is a really good program to put on your PC, the Instruction Manual and a 2 year warranty card normally you only get one years warranty. You will find that the xD Picture memory card supplied will not be big enough if you are taking lots of pictures so my advice would be to buy larger memory formats of say 512MB priced at £27 approximately from Amazon ASIN: (B00012KBVK).

We also bought a spare battery from Amazon (ASIN: B0007LFU70) at £26 that we keep charged up and ready. When you get your new camera the battery will need to be charged up and this will take three and a half to four hours initially and then only two and a half hours to three all the times after that. The battery does not need to be fully discharged before you recharge you can charge it up anytime and as many as 300-500 times. Any custom camera settings that you have made and saved, and if you have set the onboard clock, will be safe for up to one day after removing the battery so you have plenty of time to charge your battery and replace it. You can always check the power left in your battery by watching out for the battery symbol on the display at the back of the camera. The battery compartment is at one end of the camera and is accessible by pressing and holding a button whilst lifting the compartment cover upwards, the battery snaps into place only when inserted properly. In this compartment you will find the memory card holder.

Fold back the hinged memory card cover towards you and then slide in the memory card the right way up until it clicks into place then fold the cover back and close the compartment cover. I must mention that you can record videos with sound on this camera, which is a brilliant extra feature that we have had a lot of fun with, the length of the video you take is really determined by the size of your xD-Picture memory card, so obviously the bigger the better. Every time you take a picture you will see a memory gauge on the LCD display this tells you that it is being recorded onto your picture card, the gauge will be fully lit if you have just taken several pictures fairly quick this means you should wait until the indicator turns off again before taking anymore. The number of pictures that you can store on a 16 MB xD-Picture Card depends on your settings, the lowest being (image size) 640x480 =90 frames, 1024x 768=58 frames, 1280x960=38 frames, 1600x1200=24 frames, 2048x1536 20 frames and 2560x1920=13 frames in HQ Mode or 4 frames in SHQ Mode.

Recording a movie with sound in HQ Mode, with an image size of 320x240= (15 frames/sec.), is 41 seconds on a 16MB Picture card or 1 minute 45 seconds in SQ Mode with an image size of 160x120= (15 frames/sec.). So if you do decide to get a larger memory card these figures do go up significantly. Turning on the camera is a doddle, on top of the camera there is a multi function mode dial you will need to set this to the picture of a camera and then press the power switch, thats it now the lens pops out and the screen/monitor lights up. The screen will show the battery check indicator and what shooting mode you are set on and it will display the amount of pictures you have left to take depending on what image size setting you are on. There is a sleep mode that automatically puts the camera to sleep after three minutes of inactivity and can be reactivates as soon as you press the shutter button. After fifteen minutes in the sleep mode the lens retracts and the camera turns off, you will need to turn the camera on again to use it.

The lens is a bit more complicated and technical to describe so for this reason I shall be brief. It has a 2x optical zoom and 1x - 4x Digital zoom or when these two are combined then this will be 8x. Focal length ranges from 5.8 - 11.6mm with a maximum aperture of 1:35 (wide) - 4.9 (tele). Focusing is auto with contrast detection and the scale of focusing in the Standard mode is 0.5m - infinity and 0.2m - infinity in Macro mode, in Super Macro mode you can take very close up pictures from 8cm away. Shutter speed 1/2 - 1/1000 sec (night scene 4 sec), Sensitivity in auto ISO 64 - 400 (640 for indoor and candle shooting), in Manual ISO 64, 100, 200, 400. There are fourteen scene programmes, Portrait, Night Scene, Night scene with Portrait, Self Portrait, Self Portrait with Self Timer, Beach and Snow, Cuisine, Indoor, Landscape, Landscape with Portrait, Behind Glass, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks). Image processing is TruePic TURBO, pixel mapping, noise reduction. Function shooting 2 in 1 function, panorama function.

On the back of the camera is the very impressive 4.6cm / 1.8" TFT colour LCD screen (134,000 pixels), this one is not an ordinary LCD screen but one that uses HyperCrystal LCT technology. This display allows you to view the image that you are wanting to capture from almost any angle within 160 degrees and without having to move the camera about, up and down and side to side, you can see the perfect image even in really bad conditions like sunshine and bright snowy or icy conditions. When you turn on the camera for the very first time you will be prompted to set the time and date and the option of changing the language settings, by default this was already set to English. Also on the back cover is a quick view button for viewing your last picture taken or for viewing any that are on your memory card all this is achieved by using the arrows on the Scene Key button, the up and down arrows give you ten pictures back or forward, and the left and right arrows gives you the previous or next picture in the display.

The fourteen scene programmes do make taking your snaps a cinch under all differing conditions from ski-ing to water sports or from romantic meals to snowboarding or even surfing. They even make snorkelling possible by using the Outdoor Case that they sell as an optional extra this protects the camera to a depth of three metres. What I like about the μ-mini Digital S camera is that many of the functions can be operated or adjusted manually, this making you believe that you are in total control. One of the many functions allows you to edit your images directly in the camera letting you choose from different effects such as Fish Eye or Soft Focus. The Exposure compensation function lets you make fine changes to the exposure setting in the range of plus or minus 2.0 in one third steps. Once you have made these changes you can check out the results on the monitor. I will give you a brief example, bright subjects like snow sometimes turns out darker but by adjusting the exposure towards the plus sign this will bring the subject closer to their real shades.

They even suggest that adjusting the exposure in this manual manner may give you better results in some instances. The Calendar Display function is very handy indeed it puts all your images in order of date taken and displays them by monthly calendar format. Other settings on the Scene menu consist of setting the flash mode, taking close-up pictures or using the self-timer. Printing off your images can be done easily either by taking your memory card to a photo processing shop or one of the new self printing booths that are popping up around the country in shopping malls, by pc, using the supplied software that comes with the camera or by PictBridge. This method uses the camera as a USB device by connecting it to a remote or portable photo printer that acts as the host via a USB cable. I like to put all my pictures on my computer and then burn them to CD first and then print them out so I have always got plenty of copies. Installing the Olympus Manual and Master Software that comes with the camera is a must do.

This software helps you organise and manage all of your images downloaded from your camera, by selecting slideshow you can browse through your images or movies and playback the sound as well. You can make Panoramic images that you have taken in panorama mode, and the software lets you edit your images either by rotating, trimming or changing the size before you print them out. The Olympus Master software also contains the user registration which allows you to register the camera online if you so wish, you will then receive information on software and firmware updates as and when available from Olympus. Overall I give this camera a ten out of ten I would definitely recommend it to you all. You may prefer a different colour, as I do even though it's not mine, but be assured different colours work just the same. Sometimes you may find that this camera comes under the heading of Stylus Verve S rather than the μ-mini Digital S this is because they use that name in America the Stylus Verve S that is.
 

...less