Olympus FE-350 Digital Camera
- Digital Zoom: 4x
- Camera Type: Compact
- Weight: 0.3 lb.
- LCD Screen Size: 3 in.
- Resolution: 8.4 Megapixel
- Optical Zoom: 4x
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The Smallest (And Most Convenient) Member of Our Camera Family
Pros
Compact size, decent results, video mode, general convenience, stylish housing.
Cons
Don't drop it. Not for you if you want poster size prints.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
A handy little camera that's just the ticket if you are the type who always likes one on hand for unexpected photo situations, or return visits to destinations.
My wife and I are photography freaks. Don't get me wrong, by "freaks" I don't mean we spend our days thinking up new and exciting ways to take the most arty shots of lamps or pieces of produce, but we like to own nice cameras and use them to take photos to commemorate places we have been and the moments of our lives.
We always like to carry a camera, but the major drawback to this is that our SLR, a second to most recent model Canon Rebel, is quite cumbersome to carry around, especially when you aren't specifically going to a tourist attraction. What about the time you just wanted to spontaneously take a shot of yourself outside the local supermarket to send to your family in Australia, or immortalise that particularly excellent plate of nachos you ordered? Larger cameras aren't convenient to lug around the place for this sort of off-the-wall moment and they aren't exactly the thing you want sitting in your car in case you need it either. This is where the Olympus Stylus FE-230 entered our lives.
The payoffs in coupons from Amazon Visa meant we could pick up this Camera for free, so after a little scouting at our local Fry's we decided on this model because it was the most compact one available from a name we trust. Some Casio models were smaller, but had a cheap, nasty feel to them.
So What About the Camera?
The FE-230 is a 7.1 megapixel camera, roughly the size of a credit card and a little over half an inch thick. We got one of the familiar champagne coloured models, which appears rather sleek and attractive. There's a 3x optical zoom and an impressive quality LCD display which takes up the vast majority of the back of the camera.
Because of the size this means the camera is extremely light and fits in a pocket easily. I am used to carrying a wallet at least twice as bulky as this so I do not even notice when the camera is in the front pocket of my jeans. This has proven to be a real boon for more casual photography, or for the times we return to places that have already had the "SLR Treatment", but when you want to have some sort of camera just in case.
Photography
Picture quality is very good, with colourful, vibrant results attainable, although you do have to be careful to use the right setting for the given situation. Also you have to bear in mind what type of camera this is and what purpose it serves. If you plan to take photographs of your first visit to the Grand Canyon which you plan to blow up to poster size, you'd be better off looking for a digital SLR rather than a model such as this.
While the camera comes with inbuilt "image stabilization", something we were told was essential for these models when taking photographs without a tripod, you still have to be pretty careful to stay still or else you will end up with a blurry mess. This smaller camera is far less forgiving of camera shake than our SLR, so try not to jostle.
For such a small model the FE-230 comes with a few interesting features, one of which is the "fireworks mode". We tried this out on some neon signs and the fireworks during a recent trip to Disneyland in Anaheim and while we haven't quite got the total hang of it yet, there were some interesting and surprising results - definitely potential there. There's a bunch of other shooting modes such as "beach and snow", "underwater" and other settings for specific environments.
Also a pleasant surprise was the video taking option, which I expected to be something along the lines of what you get on mobile phones - an extra of low quality just for the sake of it. Yes, it's true they wont be shooting the next Hollywood summer blockbuster on a FE-230 - you wouldn't ever use it over a *real* video camera, but for something that slips into a pocket you can take videos of reasonable length and resolution with very clear sound quality thrown in.
Additional Thoughts
The camera does appear to be rather easy to break, which I guess makes sense when additional housing is forsaken in the name of compactness. In short, if you drop the thing from any significant height, start thinking about buying a new camera. I wouldn't say the thing is fragile, it looks rather sturdy, but with all those electronics jammed in so tightly... you get my drift. Similarly, I would strongly caution about ever putting this camera in your back pocket, even if only for a minute, because more likely than not you will completely forget it is there, only to be reminded by a sickening *CRUNCH* the next time you decide to take a seat.
Battery life is fairly good, though as with all these compacts there is no viewfinder, so you don't really have the option to have the screen turned off while shooting to conserve power. That is, of course, unless you seek to set up a new concept photo album entitled "Pictures of the sky or the tops of people's heads". I could create an entire portfolio of such attempts at "from the hip" photography from a variety of cameras I have used over the years. It's far tougher than it looks.
The Bottom Line
Overall, the Olympus Stylus FE-230 has been a more than worthy addition to our family of cameras. Our Camily! Sure, it isn't going to be your first choice when you want to take stunning landscapes or important memories in the best quality possible, but it provides good quality results with a minimum of fuss and encumberance. Add to this a few nice touches such as the surprisingly adequate video mode and the wide array of features for one so small, and at well under two hundred dollars this tiny camera shapes up as a huge bargain.
4.5 Stars.
We always like to carry a camera, but the major drawback to this is that our SLR, a second to most recent model Canon Rebel, is quite cumbersome to carry around, especially when you aren't specifically going to a tourist attraction. What about the time you just wanted to spontaneously take a shot of yourself outside the local supermarket to send to your family in Australia, or immortalise that particularly excellent plate of nachos you ordered? Larger cameras aren't convenient to lug around the place for this sort of off-the-wall moment and they aren't exactly the thing you want sitting in your car in case you need it either. This is where the Olympus Stylus FE-230 entered our lives.
The payoffs in coupons from Amazon Visa meant we could pick up this Camera for free, so after a little scouting at our local Fry's we decided on this model because it was the most compact one available from a name we trust. Some Casio models were smaller, but had a cheap, nasty feel to them.
So What About the Camera?
The FE-230 is a 7.1 megapixel camera, roughly the size of a credit card and a little over half an inch thick. We got one of the familiar champagne coloured models, which appears rather sleek and attractive. There's a 3x optical zoom and an impressive quality LCD display which takes up the vast majority of the back of the camera.
Because of the size this means the camera is extremely light and fits in a pocket easily. I am used to carrying a wallet at least twice as bulky as this so I do not even notice when the camera is in the front pocket of my jeans. This has proven to be a real boon for more casual photography, or for the times we return to places that have already had the "SLR Treatment", but when you want to have some sort of camera just in case.
Photography
Picture quality is very good, with colourful, vibrant results attainable, although you do have to be careful to use the right setting for the given situation. Also you have to bear in mind what type of camera this is and what purpose it serves. If you plan to take photographs of your first visit to the Grand Canyon which you plan to blow up to poster size, you'd be better off looking for a digital SLR rather than a model such as this.
While the camera comes with inbuilt "image stabilization", something we were told was essential for these models when taking photographs without a tripod, you still have to be pretty careful to stay still or else you will end up with a blurry mess. This smaller camera is far less forgiving of camera shake than our SLR, so try not to jostle.
For such a small model the FE-230 comes with a few interesting features, one of which is the "fireworks mode". We tried this out on some neon signs and the fireworks during a recent trip to Disneyland in Anaheim and while we haven't quite got the total hang of it yet, there were some interesting and surprising results - definitely potential there. There's a bunch of other shooting modes such as "beach and snow", "underwater" and other settings for specific environments.
Also a pleasant surprise was the video taking option, which I expected to be something along the lines of what you get on mobile phones - an extra of low quality just for the sake of it. Yes, it's true they wont be shooting the next Hollywood summer blockbuster on a FE-230 - you wouldn't ever use it over a *real* video camera, but for something that slips into a pocket you can take videos of reasonable length and resolution with very clear sound quality thrown in.
Additional Thoughts
The camera does appear to be rather easy to break, which I guess makes sense when additional housing is forsaken in the name of compactness. In short, if you drop the thing from any significant height, start thinking about buying a new camera. I wouldn't say the thing is fragile, it looks rather sturdy, but with all those electronics jammed in so tightly... you get my drift. Similarly, I would strongly caution about ever putting this camera in your back pocket, even if only for a minute, because more likely than not you will completely forget it is there, only to be reminded by a sickening *CRUNCH* the next time you decide to take a seat.
Battery life is fairly good, though as with all these compacts there is no viewfinder, so you don't really have the option to have the screen turned off while shooting to conserve power. That is, of course, unless you seek to set up a new concept photo album entitled "Pictures of the sky or the tops of people's heads". I could create an entire portfolio of such attempts at "from the hip" photography from a variety of cameras I have used over the years. It's far tougher than it looks.
The Bottom Line
Overall, the Olympus Stylus FE-230 has been a more than worthy addition to our family of cameras. Our Camily! Sure, it isn't going to be your first choice when you want to take stunning landscapes or important memories in the best quality possible, but it provides good quality results with a minimum of fuss and encumberance. Add to this a few nice touches such as the surprisingly adequate video mode and the wide array of features for one so small, and at well under two hundred dollars this tiny camera shapes up as a huge bargain.
4.5 Stars.
