Aug 21, 2008 10:54 PM
3192 Views
I have been using the Olympus FE240 for about a year and a half and am quite satisfied. Its basically a good deal, a compact camera with 7.1Megapixels(Which is more than most people would ever need) and a 5X Zoom. It takes a bit of experimentation to get the best out of this camera, the cons would be the poor shutter lag(Time between you pressing the button and the camera actually capturing the image) and the memory card compatability.
Without the flash it took 0.58 seconds to take a single photo. This is roughly twice as long as many cameras take. It took 14.68 seconds to take five photos. Turning the flash unit on slows the camera down further. It took 1.68 seconds to take a single photo and 19.99 seconds to take five photos. These are all slow times.
The 5x optical zoom lens has a focal length of 38 - 190mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f3.3 - f5. There is also a 4x digital zoom feature available. In super macro mode the closest focusing distance is 3cm.
For composing images there is a 2.5" LCD screen. This is made up of around 115, 000 pixels.
To help take the best possible shots I counted ten preset scene modes. These are Sports, Indoor, Candle, Self portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Behind Glass, Cuisine, Documents and Auction.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.8m, falling to 2.1m when the zoom is in use. You can turn the flash on or off, allow the camera to control it automatically and use red eye reduction.
There are very few controls available to you. Features such as white balance, ISO and shutter speeds(1/2 - 1/2000 seconds) are all controlled automatically by the FE-240. You do have access to exposure compensation though(+/- 2 EV / 1/3 steps). There is also a mode allowing you to stitch together shots in panoramic mode. You need to use an Olympus brand memory card in order to use this feature. There is also a self timer with a delay of around 12 seconds.
You will find cables and software in the box to connect the FE-240 to a computer, television and PictBridge compatible printer.
Movies can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480. The top recording speed is 30 frames per second. The duration of a movie is only limited by the capacity of the memory card. Sound can be recorded and you can also zoom in and out while the movie is being recorded.
*Ease of Use
As you can see from the feature list above the FE-240 is one of the more basic digital cameras. This helps to make it easy to use. I like the fact there is control dial on the camera. This helps to put controls where you can see them. The menu system is straightforward enough too. There is also a built in photography guide. This gives you a few helpful tips on how to improve your photos.
