Olympus FE-300 gets reviewed

While its smile-detection feature alone may be enough to entice some buyers, the folks at PhotographyBLOG decided to dig a little deeper into Olympus' new FE-300, and they've now churned out a full review of the camera. That feature aside, however, it seems that the camera is a decidedly unimpressive affair, with it boasting some decent specs on paper that unfortunately don't all add up to a top-notch camera. On the upside, the camera is apparently easy to use for novices, and it's said to be "reasonably swift" in operation, but its overall image quality seems to leave quite a bit to be desired. As is often the case, things get particularly bad when you start to move up the ISO settings, with camera shake posing some problems as well. So, unless you're really having trouble capturing the slightest of smiles on your subjects, it seems that you can likely do better elsewhere.

[Matthew Hilario @ Nov 28th 2007 4:14PM]

considering i bought 4 digital cameras in the past year, the main thing i look for before buying is how "EASY" it is to use. flash, red eye, background, camcorder mode, viewing mode..a while back everyone was getting the cybershot because it had a "touchscreen" but god, using that thing was a freaking pain! changing setting and stuff like that, i mustve had to touch like 50 different things, as opposed to the powershot which was way more intuitive.

[luzzio @ Nov 28th 2007 6:42PM]

call me old fashion but I like my controls physical too ;) they feel more intuitive and responsive then Touchscreens. Was using a PDA for nearly two years and felt right at home when I switched back to a candybar Nokia

[spaceb @ Nov 28th 2007 4:25PM]

Nice gadget although I don't change my Canon solar camera for anything in the world.

[KorruptioN @ Nov 28th 2007 5:20PM]

ISO6400 on a small sensor is always good for a laugh.

[Zo @ Nov 28th 2007 6:39PM]

As long as there is a Megapixel war between the camera companies, plenty of stupid products are yet to be released.

Maybe at PMA 2008 we will see sensible Mpix to sensor size ratios and they will start to compete on features and not pixels. Most consumers just go to the store and buy the one with the largest Mpix number and then complain later.

At the P&S size 7 to 8 Mpix should be plenty for many who will never print more than 4 x 6 pictures to begin with.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Nov 28th 2007 7:36PM]

*yawn*

Digital cameras have been officially boring for the last two years or so.

[MikeG @ Nov 28th 2007 7:36PM]

Can someone tell me exactly what ISO is.
My knowledge of ISO is only that I think it has something to do with 'white ballance', and that a higher ISO is best used in lower light situations?

[Tony @ Nov 28th 2007 8:38PM]

ISO is film speed. In a nutshell, it affects the level of light/noise in a picture.

P.S. Welcome to the internet. Google is to your left.

[luzzio @ Nov 29th 2007 12:23AM]

you can look up on photography definitions at

http://en.mimi.hu/photography/index_photography.html

that's where I get my fix

[Sirocco @ Nov 28th 2007 8:24PM]

You have to use a triod before really judging picture quality, especially with a telescopic lens. I think a lot of these reviews are unfair in this regard. In point of fact, cameras don't take pictures, people do.

[psyc @ Nov 29th 2007 1:14AM]

Olympus camera's have been rather average for their last few generations, they seem to be kicking them out at a phenomenal rate at sub standard qualities.

[Mike Klein @ Nov 29th 2007 1:17PM]

I bought a Kodak V1233 12M camera from Costco for $200 and am very pleased (2 amazon reviews are negative though).

It does 720p video (1024x768@30fps) and does it well. I had to rtfm though in order to get quality pics...imagine that.

Nicest part is that camera has SDHC and a 5v DC charging jack...which is USB voltage. I merely purchased a USBtoDC power plug and can now charge the camera over computer-less USB hubs, from the wall and from a usb battery pack.

I even found I could get extra batteries (100% oem) from China for around $5 instead of the $30 Kodak/others want...sweet!