Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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)

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.

The camera works great and is a huge upgrade from my kodak, but the usb port that connects the camera to my computer was defective. When I received the camera, the usb port inside was bent, and the cord would not fit. I know that the problem came from the camera, because my sister has the same camera and my cord fit into her camera perfectly. But the seller (bzsmile)was very polite and helpful when I told him about the problem, and the conflict was resolved easily.

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. 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 high quality 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 2 stars if the outdoor quality was as bad as the indoor.