Olympus mju 700 Review at FotoAparat

#1 Gavin Ross

If you want a point and shoot camera that fits easily in your pocket or handbag and gives good results then I would defintely say this camera is for you.
Cost-wise at <300 Euros for a 7.1 megapixel camera represents extremely good value for money when compared with other digi-cameras which in many instances (as of April 2006) are costing a similar amount but are only 5 megapix.
The camera has a clever slight wedge shape to the design and mouldings in the rear casing that intuitively fit the hand resulting in a camera that feels sturdy and is easy to hold - this is usually the biggest drawback of thin cameras because to get good pictures you need to be able to "hold" the shot and the Mju 700 is fabulous in this regard.
Control and menu buttons also fall intuitively to hand and are extremely well laid out and easy to use - the only button which is a little on the small side is the "Power" button, but whilst this might make it a bit fiddly for some folks to use, it does also mean that the camera doesn't get powered up accidentally.
The lens is 3x optical zoom and 6.5 - 19.5 mm which in most digi-cameras is pretty much par for the course. The lens itself is Olympus (hardly surprising in an Olympus camera) which whilst not of a "high-end" expert user standard is still good quality. The rear screen is 2.5" which is super clear to see in dim light but not so great in bright sunlight. (This in all digi-cameras is the trade off: the protective coating on the screen is slightly light reflective so the more protection, the less clear the view). For a 7.1 megapixel camera, the pixel density of the screen is realtively low at only 115,000 and so removes the camera out of the "high-end" camera where resolution and "seeing the picture" is everything.
The biggest shortcoming of the camera is it's internal memory only stores 12 photos taken at HQ (High Quality), or only 5 at SHQ (Super High Quality), so a memory card is a fairly essential immediate purchase - Being an XD card this is also a bit more expensive than the more common SD card.
A digi-camera is howver much more than just the camera itself - there is the software that comes with it, which can in some cases be too all singing all dancing that it takes a month just to read the manual however in the case of the mju700 the software is very user friendly and tremendously easy to use.
The camera is weatherproof (not waterproof)and comes in silver, black or other colours - For myself it was a difficult decision to go choose between the black or silver aluminium fronted version as both look equally cool. I eventually opted for black and am very happy with it's durablity and scratch resistance.
The camera also comes with a lead that enables viewing of the camera photos on your televion which is seriously nifty.
In summary, in my own view, for the vast majority of home users who want a digi-camera that is intuitively easy to use, the mju700 represents an excellent value for money camera. For sure there are "high-end" cameras out there that cost more and will give better quality shots in terms of noise and resolution but to get the best out of such cameras takes a whole lot of time to get fully familiar with.
Photography is all about "capturing the moment" and this the mju700 does exceptionally well (I was going to say standing on its head, but so easy is the camera to use it would be very easy to use it standing on your head!)- Take it straight out of the box, pop in the battery, power up and start taking excellent photos that are considerably better than your average "holiday snap".
The mju700 is likely to become the digi-camera that sets the standard in design and ease of use to make it a firm favourite that all the family can use.
For family and holiday photos the mju700 will stay being a good camera for a long time.

10:52 am - Sunday, April 2, 2006