Olympus Mju-II (Stylus Epic)

As always, i will start with the usual disclaimer that I am not a point&shoot compact kind of person. So this review is probably very scatty and highly subjective.

I got this camera in a car boot sale, it was sold to me for £1 and got it in order to sell it on and make some money to invest on other cameras. I shot half a film with it (removed it and put it again on the Spotmatic SP) the results were good and this is where the story ends really.

This camera is the update to the first Olympus mju-1, featuring some improvements to the size (this is smaller), lens (it has a faster 35 f/2.8) and features (adds spot metering). As with every compact, comes the trouble of having to disengage the auto-flash each time you switch on the camera. The lens is quite nice and contrasty, got some lovely pictures from it and it is very compact to carry it with you all the time. There are various reports on the internet about this camera mis-focusing, i didn't have this problem i must say but

always make sure that you fully press the shutter button AFTER the green led has lit up in the viewfinder. The viewfinder is tiny, makes it difficult to look through it sometimes. I didn't use the spot metering feature to tell you the truth, pics came out properly exposed.

So this is a nice compact camera to carry around with you all the times but unfortunately there are a couple of issues. First of all, there is a very well documented problem with the film transport mechanism - it tends to break. Another issue is the price. I bought this camera for £1 and sold it for £50 - this is how much it costs on the Internet to buy it. I know - i am biased - but i see no reason why would someone spend this amount of money for this camera. On the other hand, others pay twice as much to get a Yashica T4, so go figure.

If you find it for a couple of pounds, then yes why not. If you are into P&S compact cameras, get a Nikon L35AF for half the money and you will not regret it.

A few samples :

Comments

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The Film Retriever

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