Olympus Fe
The best way I may think of describing the Olympus FE-45 is cheap and cheerful. This is a 10 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens. It is one of the most inexpensive digital cameras available from a leading brand.
The biggest attraction the FE-45 has is ease of use. There are not a outstanding number of buttons on the back of the camera to get to grips with and the menu system is reasonably straightforward as well. A huge share of the reason for this is that Olympus has held the feature set of the FE-45 to a minimum. You still get a few flash modes to choose from together with a 2.5 inch LCD screen, plus macro and movie modes. If you want to get a little more technical you likewise have access to a little number of more modern features such as white remainder and ISO settings. White remainder is utile if you want to boost the colour of a shot while higher ISO settings may help you to give rise to photos in darker conditions where you are either prohibited from using flash or you are out of range.
In terms of size the FE-45 will slip into a more prominent pocket, but it is distinctly larger than galore of the slimline cameras you may find. There is a more or less raised area on the front of the camera. This gives you a better grip of the camera, helping you to take a steady hold and stay clear from camera shake. There are three colour choices. These are black, silver and blue.
Power comes from two AA batteries. There are vantages and disfavors to the dissimilar types of batteries used in digital cameras. AA batteries mean that it is cheap to carry a spare set with you, but it may add to the overall running costs. If you have rechargeable AA batteries and a charger it is a good idea to take vantage of them other than as supposed or expected you may need to add the cost of batteries and a charger to your budget.
When buying at the for less end of the market you do need to make the odd compromise. The FE-45 may struggle to fetch out detail in light and dark areas of a shot, particularly when contrast levels are high in the scene. Overall all this leads to a lack of crispness in the shots the camera produced. How much of a problem this is will depend on how huge you are planning to make your prints. These difficultnesses will be a lot less apparent if you keep your prints to a littler size.
I likewise had issues with how slow the camera was to take a photo. It is surely slower than the immense majority of digital cameras and there is a danger of missing shots if you are photographing scenes that may alter quickly.
There are a number of similar digital cameras around that you may choose from. These include the Nikon Coolpix L19, Nikon Coolpix L20 and the Canon Powershot A480. In my view these three cameras all have a bit in hand over the Olympus FE-45 when it comes to picture quality. The Canon Powershot A480 has a few more features while the two Nikon models offer great ease of use. They are all available for around the same price mark.
If you are prepared to recompense a little more this brings into play a heap of smaller, slimmer digital cameras. Ones you may wish to consider include the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS6.
Where Sophistication Meets Simple. Super-wide 5x optical zoom capability in a slim, easy-to-use camera that brings you hassle-free performance and sharp effigy quality.
5x SUPER WIDE-ANGLE ZOOM(24mm).
All the capablenesses you need in one compact lens. The 5x optical zoom gets you close to the action while the 24mm wide-angle lens lets you capture breathtaking panoramas.
AF TRACKING.
The camera mechanically tracks the movements of energetic photo targets like kids and pets and continuously adjusts the focus and luminance to without apparent effort capture them sharply.
INTELLIGENT AUTO + SHADOW ADJUSTMENT.
A highly practical technology that identifies the scene youâ?TMre shooting, from Portrait and Landscape to Night +Portrait, Macro and Sports, and mechanically adjusts the cameraâ?TMs settings to keep both the subject and the background clear and in focus.
MAGIC FILTER.
Add a little extra dimension of drama or enchantment by applying a filter effect, such as Pop Art, Pinhole or Fisheye.
FACE DETECTION.
Tracks up to 16 faces and mechanically focuses and optimizes exposures for sharp, brilliant portrait pictures.
DIGITAL IMAGE STABILIZATION PLUS.
With high ISO sensitivity and more quickly shutter speeds, you may freeze the action to capture sharp, blur-free images, with less noise, even if you or your subject is moving.
STYLISHLY DESIGNED.
Not only does it take great-looking pictures, but the FE-5020 also sports a great-looking, super-slim body with a premium finish in one of various classy colors, including wine red, royal blue and dark gray.
VGA MOVIE WITH SOUND.
Make your own movies with the VGA Movie with Sound function, which includes the capacity to without apparent effort upload your finished productions to YouTube.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6170 in Camera & Photo
- Color: Wine Red
- Brand: Olympus
- Model: FE-5020 Wine Red
- Dimensions: 3.65″ h x .97″ w x 2.20″ l, .24 pounds
Features
- 12-megapixel solution for photo-quality prints up to 20 x 30 inches
- 5x wide-angle optical zoom; 2.7-inch LCD
- Capture images to xD-Picture Card or microSD (not included)
Reviews
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful.
GREAT LITTLE CAMERA
By Phenix
I really love the Olympus FE-5020. It produces very acceptable images for this price range. Olympus is a brand you can rely upon. I also own an Olympus Stylus 500 which I bought 5 years ago and it has produced many great images.
I see that the two previous reviewers here have decided to return their cameras. Don’t let that turn you off this camera. I am very fussy about picture quality. I was a professional photographer for 20 years before I left the business. Sure, there will always be cameras that take better pictures, but for this price range you won’t go wrong.
The thing about this camera that really appealed to me is the 24mm lens. I also own a Panasonic FZ28 and a Sony HX1, and while they are both superb cameras, they only go down to 28mm on the wide end of the zoom. The Olympus FE-5020 nicely fills that gap. Another thing I love about the FE-5020 is it’s compact size. It fits in my jacket pocket and will go with me everywhere. That’s a bonus because you can’t take photographs when the camera is sitting home because you didn’t feel like lugging it around.
I don’t find the controls too small. I’m a guy with large hands and have severe carpal tunnel syndrome but I manage nicely in navagating the camera settings.
It is true that you will probably need to manipulate the photographs on a computer. I believe that the beauty of digital photography is the ability to work on a computer rather than breathing the toxic fumes of a darkroom. To me, digital photography is 50% camera work and 50% computer enhancement. If you’re not onboard with this, you may want to look elsewhere. The images I enhance on the compter are great. You can either use Picasa which is free or the Olympic Master software included with the camera. I start out with Photoshop Elements 6, enhancing contrast and color saturation.
I opted for the dark gray FE-5020 because I’m old school and think a camera should only be one color–black. I was happy to discover that the dark gray is actually closer to a dark navy blue so I got pretty close to having a black camera.
The neopryne Olympus camera pouch advertised by Amazon fits the camera beautifully and is very nice. I’m going to order another Lithium battery because I’m running it down in about 2 hours of shooting. It would probably last most people longer than that, but I’m always checking each image, zooming in and out of the captured image which really eats up power. I also walk around with the camera powered up when I prowling for shots.
I hope this information is helpful to anyone interested in the camera. I’ve had mine for about 5 days and just love it. I will try to post a photograph in Images, but I’ve tried this before and my pictures exceed the size they allow you to post.
Enjoy your image making. I hope you enjoy photography as much as I do.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Looks good for the price, but lots of flaws
By Russell N. Balliet
My Canon SD850 got claimed by the sand dunes recently so I needed to replace it. I was looking for something with a wide angle lens at a decent price. After some research I decided to purchase the Olympus 5020 and here are my thoughts after some time with the camera:
First off the image resolution is decent, but the colors are very flat and don’t seem very accurate. Sure you could fix this in post processing, but you shouldn’t have to do that. The camera does seem to do well inside with flash as long as the subject is within a few feet. I actually probably could have dealt with the color issue, but the more I played with the camera the more I got annoyed by some other things. Olympus boasts about AF tracking and face recognition, but these modes do not operate simultaneously, you have to pick one or the other and at that neither seems to work well. Also, the stabilization that is a standard feature on most cameras doesn’t operate all the time, but has to be selected as a separate shooting mode. One really odd thing that I couldn’t figure out is when in the standard “P” mode the camera doesn’t shoot in full 12mp, but only 5mp; I went through all the settings, but couldn’t figure out why this was happening. Macro mode leaves a lot to be desired, the documentation claims 3cm, but the best I could do was about twice that distance. There’s pretty much 0 user control; in some settings you can change the white balance and ISO, but that’s it.
Most of the controls are within the menu system, which is easy to navigate, but it means a lot of button pushing to change the type of AF or shooting mode. There are a lot of different scene modes to choose from, but if you want to change the one you’re using you have to cycle through all the shooting modes back to the scene mode and pick the new one you want. In my opinion all this stuff should be at the fingertips; not buried in menus. The construction of the camera also feels cheap, the D-pad on the back feels very flimsy and “clicky” when used and the battery door feels like it would snap off very easily. Overall the construction and controls are very clunky and poorly designed.
The bottom line is that this might be a decent first digital camera for someone, but if you’re someone like me who has used digital for 7-8 years you’ll quickly see that Olympus left a lot on the table with this camera. I really wouldn’t recommend this camera to anyone as there are many cameras of this size and resolution out there; I had hope for the 24mm wide angle, but more cameras are offering wide angle now too.
Mine is going back and I decided to spend some more money and get the Panasonic Lumix FX580
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Olympus FE 5020
By R. A. Hartig
Great little camera for a very reasonable price plus free shipping from
Amazon. The 24mm wide angle lens makes point and shoot much easier, as it eliminates the hassle of having to back up to include everything or everyone in a close in shot. I would have prefered a written instruction manual as opposed to the supplied CD. The “quick start” instruction sheet is, I think, too brief.
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