Olympus FE-20 - Digital camera - compact - 8.0 Mpix - optical zoom: 3 x - supported memory: xD, xD Type H, xD Type M, microSD - silver

by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 3.8 x 0.8 inches ; 3.7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• ASIN: B001E1ECNA
• Item model number: FE-20-Silver
• Batteries: 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,954 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 4, 2008

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Serves the purpose as a cheap point & shoot, indoor is awful, September 25, 2009

By 

Flippy Smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus FE-20 - Digital camera - compact - 8.0 Mpix - optical zoom: 3 x - supported memory: xD, xD Type H, xD Type M, microSD - silver (Electronics)

PROS: Very small, lightweight, decent outdoor picture quality, average to above average color saturation, large LCD for its size, easy to use menus and buttons.

CONS: Lens is noisy extending/retracting and stays open while reviewing pictures which is bad because of fingerprints on the lens when someone grabs it. Indoor picture quality is very grainy in all modes and has a lot of artifacts. Image stabilization appears to be a scene mode, meaning you can't turn it on while in another scene mode (night/portrait/indoor/etc), you have to choose between stabilization or one of the other modes. Olympus claims this camera supports MicroSD cards, but in reality it only supports XD cards, but includes a MicroSD->XD adapter that you can put your MSD card into. This makes it one more step if you like to remove your MSD card to use in a card reader. The USB connector is on the bottom of the camera, which was a really bad choice by Olympus because you have to set the camera on the LCD or the lens to plug in the cord.

OTHER THOUGHTS: I got this camera for about sixty bucks on sale, which is the only reason it's worth it to me. The outdoor pictures are not as crisp and clean as my Canon cameras (A80 powershot, elph, etc). Actually they're not even as crisp as my old Fuji Finepix 1400z, but they look good anyway, and print quality isn't bad. Indoor shots are another story completely. I adjusted the iso and picture modes all over the place and I couldn't get a clean picture using flash indoors. Every single picture was grainy. To understand the grainy I'm talking about, take a mid range point and shoot camera like a Canon Powershot and set it to iso 800 no flash in a dark room with a lamp or two illuminating your subject, or at a concert with no flash and high iso. That's what this looks like on iso 100 in a somewhat well lit room using flash indoors.

CONCLUSION: Overall this is a nice little camera if you can get it for 80 or less and don't do a lot of indoor picture taking. I wouldn't recommend this camera if you're looking to take good quality indoor pictures that you want to archive or print for years to come. I would give this camera 4 stars if the pictures were as good as my A80, but because of that, 3 stars. I would only give it 1-2 stars if the outdoor quality was as bad as the indoor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great value for a basic easy-to-use point-and-shoot camera, September 6, 2009

By 

Min L. Cai "in-ken-we-trust" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus FE-20 - Digital camera - compact - 8.0 Mpix - optical zoom: 3 x - supported memory: xD, xD Type H, xD Type M, microSD - silver (Electronics)

I brought this Olympus FE-20 digital camera for my children who start to get interested in taking pictures/movies during field trips and family vacations. The price is unbeatable, less $100 I paid. After I tried it for about a week, it met all my expectations.

Pros:
+ good price for a slim easy-to-use point-and-shoot digital camera
+ takes clear pictures and decent quality movies (640x480)
+ has all the basic features - auto, program, and 12 scene to select
+ small size and very slim, fit easily in a shirt pocket
+ battery life is good

Cons:
- feels cheap with plastic body, and very light (good or bad)
- lense won't retract while reviewing pictures
(my children's fingers have touched the lense few times while grabing to review each other's pictures)
- no sound during movie review, has to download onto computer to hear the sound
- noticable shuttle lack, especially in indoor lighting
- no optical image stabilizer (only digital)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great camera for a great paice, June 26, 2009

By 

Mike Karm "MK" (IN.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus FE-20 - Digital camera - compact - 8.0 Mpix - optical zoom: 3 x - supported memory: xD, xD Type H, xD Type M, microSD - silver (Electronics)

I have a Olympus 6.0Mpix,I broke the vew lens and have not had time to get it fixed so I bough this to get buy and it is much easer to use and takes great pic.I should have bought it sooner I got it the day befor we left on vation!![ THANKS] M.K.