Customer Reviews

Olympus FE-170 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After much research and consideration, I decided to purchase this fine little camera. This is my first digital camera and it was an excellent choice. I seriously considered getting a Canon Powershot but was a little apprehensive due to their recent problems with the dreaded e18 error messages. Granted, this Olympus camera is a new model so not much is known about potential risks, but I was willing to take a gamble and purchase it. Plus, with an excellent price point, I felt confident about my decision.

The large LCD screen is wonderful! This camera has a nice choice of scenes to choose from as well, but I have felt so far that the auto feature does the job just fine. It was easy to use right out of the box and took very little time to get used to. I have a Mac and it was a cinch to plug it in and start downloading pictures. The software that comes with the camera is not required for Mac users.

There are a few negatives. If you want to take very fast pictures, this probably isn't the camera for you. It takes a couple of seconds to take the shot. The camera also has a movie feature, but there is no microphone, therefore there is no sound. This really isn't an issue for me as I was not looking for a video camera. Out of the box the camera can only take about 7 pictures, so purchasing a xD picture card is a must. I also believe rechargable batteries and a charger is a good idea as this camera eats AA's for breakfast. The only other small complaint is peoples faces on the LCD came out a little more pale that I would like, but the digital image on my computer is excellent!

I would recommend this camera to anyone who might not have owned a digital camera before or may be tired of the Canon run-around. Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase.

this is a nice camera from olympus ,the big lcd is plus .It's small enough to fit in your pocket and fits comfortably in my hands.The image quality is good ,however the guide setting is very useful and pictures come out pretty clean,sharp and focused.The other settings results in soft images and the dis mode(digital image stabalization)results are noisy but stil usefull upto 4x6 prints.The battery life is mediocore,since it uses aa batteries,i recommend rechargeable they last long.For its low price ,large lcd,and good image quality ,i would recommend this camera to anybody.In the end its a good buy.

I bought an Olympus FE-140 originally and played with it for 24 hours before finding an FE-170 on sale. I returned the 140 and bought the 170 because although it has fewer settings the larger 2.5cm screen is much easier to see and the functions are more refined. I wanted a camera I could carry everywhere I go and take good quality pics that would suffice for photo competitions. It is a point and shoot but the picture settings are numerous and of good quality and images print perfectly to A3 size thanks to the 6MP. I also bought a little plastic sunshade that screws onto the tripod hole and not only protects the screen but also makes the screen easy to see in direct light. I also own some large cameras and use them for professional work but the FE-170 is perfect for everyday stuff and a valuable asset. Beware if you drop it the LCD screen can break and I have seen one with a nasty crack in it, but it still worked.

I would recommend te FE-170 to anyone. The flash is great, the menu options easy to follow, the digital zoom has been made better in this camera and its the perfect camera for the pocket.

Don't bother buying the FE-180 or 190 - they may be a few months newer but they don't have any better features.

I almost did not get this because I could only find a couple reveiws and they werent that good....GLAD I DECIDED TO TRY IT. It really is a great little camera very sharp looking and sturdy. It origionally says it only has the capacity to take 6 pics...but if you change the pic quality it can store up to 60. So you dont have to run out and purchase extra memory right way. It has tons of features that I found it to be fairly easy to use even with out referring back to the manual. Its not difficult so thats a plus.
Really my only negative is theres No sound it plays up to 30sec clips with the memory it comes with...really I dont have any complaints its a neat little camera. Very sharp looking and takes good pics I have taken some of my son, pets, scenary, and night time. All were great. I hope this helps I dont understand why most of what I found was negative. Its really very nice.
Thanks.....

This is a great camera. Low cost, which is always a plus, and it takes fantastic pictures. I have no complaints at all. The coolest thing about this camera, to me anyway, it uses two AA batteries. If your batteries die on you, go buy two more AA's. You don't have to worry about charging it, or buying a second battery. If your on vacation, you don't have to pack a charger, AA's are very easy to come by. I love this camera, and the software bundle is top notch. Edit: 1-23-2007, this camera takes unbelievable pictures, outside, inside, where ever. I have printed out a ton of pictures, they are absolutely breathtaking. I still recommend this camera.

I got this camera to replace an inexpensive Fuji that I had carried with me during a military deployment. Both camera's use the same memory card so I was able to save some money by reusing the memory from my first camera. The Olympus FE-170 was very easy to set up and use right out of the box. I like the large screen for reviewing pictures. The price was right where I wanted it to be and I understand the price vs. quality so my expectations were reasonable for my purchase. The pictures are OK but sometimes they appear a little grainy compared to pictures from friends cameras. I may need to play with the settings some to fix that. It does seem to cause a lot of red eye though. However I knew what I was spending and the price, size and easy of use help make up for picture quality. I like the camera but I wouldn't take the family photo for framing with it. It does take some very nice outdoor scenic pictures. Overall this is not a bad camera for everyday use. It is small so it fits in all my pockets and the lens is covered so it doesn't get scratched easily.

This camera is really good. I really like Olympus so it was no trouble in choosing a company to buy from. Packed with features, this camera is just amazing. It is compact and the LCD screen is perfect for viewing photos. In when receiving your camera, you may find that it only can take up to around 6 pictures, but have no fear: you can go to the setting and make the picture size smaller and thus, take up to 58 photos without a memory card. The cam will only take 6 pics at first because it arrives set at the largest picture size. And yes, like others have mentioned, it eats AA batteries like a hungry hippo. Believe me, scrambling around the house searching for batteries out of tv remotes, portable cd players, and whatnot is what happened to be my friends problem in using hers. So, that seems to be the only downside. Also included is the camera's picture editor, of which you install on your computer so you can edit and transfer images online or simply browse your taken images. All in all, good buy if you are just getting a cam.

I bought the Olympus FE-170 for my wife as a Christmas present. She had never used a digital camera before this - strictly a film person. Nevertheless, she took to this camera - as they say - "...like a duck to water." The controls and settings are intuitive and easy to use and the built-in help, or how-to, menu covers anything she could want to do with the camera. I, on the other hand, being a little more experienced in digital photography, nevertheless found the Olympus FE-170 adequate to my requirements as well. All in all, a good little camera for the beginner that will still be responsive as experience grows.

Purchased this camera for my daughter's birthday gift. The pictures she has taken as a beginner were very clear - she hasn't had the goof ups she has with mine. I am attributing that to the image stabilization. I loved the menu to help guide her on settings and she really likes the large screen. It was a good purchase - her camera is better than mine now (which was an earlier Olympus Digital camera).

My husband and I decided to upgrade from a 2mp to a 6mp digital camera this year for Christmas. Our old camera was an olympus that we had bought simply because the price was right. After 4 years, it had survived much abuse so we decided to go with olympus again. We purchased the fe-170 with high expectations. The camera took great outdoor pictures in bright sunlight. But indoor pictures had a blue haze to them and when we took the same pic with our 2 mp and compared them, the 2 mp was amazingly better. Conctacted olympus to find out if we just had a bad camera and their reply was to tell us to use the flash indoors, like we had never used a camera before! Took it back to circuit city and exchanged it for Nikon coolpix L1 which we are much happier with!