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Average rating:
3.65
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<p>Budget compact with a larger than usual 5x zoom range (37-185mm equiv.) and a part-metal construction. Lack of true wide angle and very basic specification / feature set limit its appeal to serious users but, like most cameras of this type, it makes an affordable first camera for a teenager or anyone on a very tight budget.</p>
| Quick links: | Announcement | Forum |
| Announced: | Jan 22, 2008 |
| Price range: | $100 |
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Average rating:
3.65
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Opinion: The good. A very basic camera. Takes nice photos for what it is. Lots of scene modes but ho hum. It has a "digital image stabilization" mode which works and can be used in conjunction with the two macro modes (macro, super macro). Menu system is very simplistic, adjustments are easily accomplished through the buttons on the rear of the camera. In "P" mode you can actually set the ISO to AUTO, or increments 80 to 640. This is the only mode you can do this in. No focus assist. Has a power save mode, use it.
Personally, I like the camera even with the problems indicated below. Why, because it yields good basic photos with little effort. The focus acquisition in low contrast/low light conditions does not bother me much at all. Consider the cost of the camera, its dirt cheap. The battery problem is another matter. If this is a consistent problem within all FE-310s, then Olympus has a problem.
Problems: Focus acquisition in low contrast or low light conditions is extremely poor even when not zoomed. When zoomed, it is a challenge even though the ambient light may appear adequate.
My camera copy indicated a problem recognizing different battery voltages. It was tested using two types of name brand alkaline batteries and two types of name brand NIMH batteries. The supplied alkaline batteries (Panasonic) had no problems. The other pairs of batteries worked for a period, then when the camera was turned off and back on, would show a “low battery” icon in upper right corner. When turned off and left to sit for a brief amount of time, then turned on again, the camera would show a “BATTERY EMPTY” warning on the LCD. This was after each set of batteries had been subjected to a minimal amount of usage. This test was repeated a number of times with the same results. According to Olympus Tech Support you should get approximately 190 shots out of a given set of batteries. When speaking with the tech support and mentioning the problem with the batteries, he rather quickly remarked that perhaps the camera was not recognizing the battery voltages. Interesting that he should so quickly offer that up. Just a thought.
Opinion: Received this camera from Olympus after a previous model failed on me. Thats good customer service even on a cheap camera under $100. In good light it shoots great shots for the money. Not very good for shooting under unusual lighting though it does have a wide variety of auto settings ie; portrait, scenery, macro, super macro, action, sunsets and even a fireworks setting which probably uses the slowest shutter speed of 1/2sec.
If your after a quick camera for grabbing shots for social networking this camera will serve you well... but seeing as phones are getting better with the added ability to share instantly via internet its a mute point. Why not just get a good phone? The video is low quality but once again if you need to shoot some quick video this will do the job. However the sound is not good outdoors and barely passable indoors.
I think this camera is best at portrait and anything up to 6 feet away or handy for a quick macro shot.
The further away the subject the more soft focus you will get so give it something to focus on close and its ok.
If you know what you are doing with setting up shots you can achieve very good results. Don't expect it to be very forgiving if you shoot in changing light conditions. Great photos can be had by just about any camera depending on who's is taking the photo.
Comes with Olympus software for Mac & PC.
Once the Olympus drivers are installed it will also work with iphoto & picassa if you're not keen on using the olympus software.
Problems: The camera has been sitting in my draw as I thought it was broken. Since then found out this cam does not like cheap batteries with unstable voltage so I threw in a couple of fully recharged energizers and its working again hopefully I won't have any more battery issues.
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
