Customer Reviews

Olympus FE370 8MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom (Pink)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just got this camera this week and I love it.

Pros: The screen is quite viewable in bright sunlight. Dual memory support gives you a choice on which media to buy. (I'm using a Class 6 4GB micro SDHC card). 5x optical zoom (the largest I've seen in this size and price range.) The iAuto is pretty smart. The camera is easy to figure out and use.

Cons: I'd like to turn off the image preview that comes up right after you take a picture. The "Smile shot" is cool, but I haven't been able to figure it out completely (I'm going to keep trying)

Conclusion: I don't regret getting this camera. We're going camping in a couple of weeks and we'll see then how well this camera will work. For the most part, I'm very satisfied with this camera.

10/13/08 Took the camera camping this last week and it performed wonderfully! I was able to take pictures of whatever I wanted. I was able to get the pictures I wanted without any trouble. I played more with the smile shot and I'm getting better with it. I think it's a worthwhile feature.

I purchased this camera as a gift and tested it beforehand to see if it was friendly enough for a novice digital camera user. I've been using a DSLR for a while, so I've adjusted my frame of reference for this review.
The camera has a good solid feel in the hand, and the view screen has good resolution and shows the image smoothly. I compared this camera to several other similar cameras in an electronics store before I bought it at amazon. The reason this one appealed the most was that the buttons don't get in the way when you're trying to take a picture. Some other cameras have wheels that stick out from the side of the camera, so it's very easy to accidentally change settings. This has well placed and simple buttons that are easy to use. They are small, but that was the case on all the other cameras of this size.
The camera takes a second or two to focus, but seems to find focus consistently. The face detect doesn't work that great for moving targets (toddlers) but seemed to work okay for posing adults. Once the focus is found, fully pressing the shutter release took the picture instantly. The camera feels very responsive, but only if you focus first. The few times I pushed the shutter without focusing first, I missed the shot because it took so long to focus and take the picture.
The image stabilization seems to work okay, I didn't notice a huge improvement. The digital stabilization resulted in very poor image quality, so I turned that off. I found that the pictures turned out much better with flash instead.
The picture quality is very good in broad daylight, but the pictures start getting fuzzy when the lighting is not so good. It seemed the picture quality is about average. The pictures are a bit distorted at wide angles, but I think that is expected at this level of camera.
Overall, I would recommend this camera as a fun point and shoot camera that is easy to use and looks and feels nice.

My problem was not so much the product although it failed in only a few months of light use, it's what happened when I contacted Olympus to get the unit fixed. They sent me an email with return instructions saying to send it to Olympus America for repair. There were no cosmetic damage, not even a scratch yet Olympus refused to honor their warranty. Their reason for refusal was the very reason it was sent in for repair. They informed me by mail of the refusal and sent a bill. I contacted the 800 number on the letter only to have to leave a message. After my call was not returned I tried email. The email explained the problem, provided my contact info and requested the issue be elevated to a manager. My email response was to call the 800 number, the one where you leave a message that don't get returned. So they don't honor the warranty, sent a bill, and do not intend to discuss their decision. I will not pay for the repair when I am not at fault and the product is under warranty. I'll never buy another Olympus product and hope you heed this warning and don't either. That's right, now I am out the money for the unit, shipping to me and shipping to be repaired and no camera.

This camera is a replacement for a super crappy one I got for free from somewhere long ago, with horrible lighting and all the other crappy features you'd expect from a crappy camera. But this one was 10 steps up.

1. I adore the color! Of course, who wouldn't?
2. Very fast first-shot time! No more than 3 secs.
3. Connects to my computer and my tv for easy viewing and sharing!
4. Very convenient battery charging, slides in and out of the charger like butter, but not the fastest charging in the world.
5. Battery life is very good, 4/5.
6. The size is just awesome! Even in its case, it fits everywhere! For a small, compact little camera to have so much is great.
7. Face/smile recognition is useful, but not entirely acurate.
8. Additional storage space is easily added, and it comes with a 1GB SD card. There is an adapter included for even more with Micro SD's, sold seperately.
9. Very large screen, but no viewfinder. I don't mind, since I have glasses and can't use them easily anyway.
10. Average next-shot delay.
11. Visible noise barely noticeable.
12. Seamless transfers from the camera to the computer, software installed quickly. Though I would suggest choosing the transfer destination folder FIRST, before transferring any. I made the mistake of overlooking the destination, and they all went straight to the wrong place. Moving them and then relinking them is quite difficult. I'm sure there's some snazzy way of getting it done in a snap, but I'm not that geeky.
13. The wrist strap that comes with is HUGE! I have tiny wrists to be modest, and honestly this thing barely grasps my father's wrist, which is quite thick. I never use wrist straps anyway, so I won't bother fixing it.
14. The end of the USB cord that goes into the camera is actually shrinking with the newer models. My older, crappier camera's USB cord won't fit into this one, but thank goodness this one comes with!
15. The zoom is just godly. That's what you really want to look for in a camera, megapixels and optical zoom. This one's got 5x, which is exceptional for a compact like this one.
16. You can even change the display to show a grid while taking pics! Good for lining things up and getting a straight shot.
17. Speaking of straight shots, this one's got an image stabilizer, which is supposed to steady the picture being taken if you've got a shaky hand.
18. It may stabilize pictures from shakers, but not pictures of shakers! Large movements blur easily.
17. Videos with sound! That couldn't happen on my crappy camera.

All in all, awesome camera! There's lots more to say, but I don't want you to hurt your eyes. Well worth the money, though I didn't buy mine on amazon, but instead at Costco. I believe it was either cheaper or the same. It came with a 50 day warranty, but I'm not sure whether you get one here. Well, this is a very nice point and shoot compact. Highly recommended!

EDIT:
Okay, it's about one year later now, and everything is pretty much the same except for one thing. I'm now experiencing minor zoom problems. Sometimes when I try to zoom in, I'll be holding the switch and nothing happens. Other times, I'll hold it and it will zoom after a few seconds of delay. It's kind of frustrating, but doesn't happen all the time.

I love this light-weight, small camera; it takes great pictures inside and outside. It has several scene and picture modes, and a real plus is its "behind the glass" setting. I have used that several times and gotten great pictures of the outdoors through a glass door. Sound works great with video recordings, and it does play with sound during playback. While Olympus uses the XD card, this camera is nice because it has an adapter and can use micro SD/SDHC cards which are a lot cheaper.

Pros: The battery lasts a long time, comes with MASD-1 (card adapter), has great optical zoom, takes 20 plus pictures without a card, video setting is great and easy to use, and the camera has an easy to work menu.

My husband and I received the Olympus fe-370 camera for Christmas in anticipation of our new baby this summer. The camera worked great the first time we charged the battery. Then we went on vacation and took the camera with us. After we got there, we went to charge it, and the charger would work for a short time then die long before the battery was fully charged. We'd pull it out and replug it in again, and it would start to charge then promptly die again. So we were not able to take any photos on our vacation. When we returned home I called Olympus, and they sent me a new charger. This new charger did the same thing! So we ordered a new battery thinking this might be the problem instead. The same problem occurred with the new charger and new battery. We have noticed this trend, when the charger is first plugged in, it will start charging right away and will work for a good 5-10 min before shutting off. If we pull it out and wait 10 seconds or so to start charging it again, it will shut off much sooner. If we plug it in immediately it won't even start charging. We are calling Olympus again tomorrow to find out what our options are. At this point it looks like we might just have to go with a new camera system entirely. It's a shame too as the camera itself seemed to work great. :(

Only having used for 2 days, this is a nice little point and shoot camera. There is only moderate adjustments that you can make (ISO, White Balance, Exposure compensation), and no shutter speed or manual focus, but it takes great pictures on auto setting. The super macro is nice, letting you get as close as 1". Battery life seems very good, after its first charge we filled the onboard memory (most pictures had flash) and had many reviews of our collection, battery power still looks full! My favorite part is that this thing is tiny!
- Olympus website states it can use microSD -or- microSDHC cards (much cheaper than xD cards)

Pros: Tiny, lightweight, good pictures.
Cons: No manual focus or shutter speed.

I recently bought this product and I love it! I took it with me on a holiday trip to the caribbean and after a while of fiddling with the different setting modes and lighting options the pictures came out wonderful. The blues of the water stay true in the pictures, and even the indoor artifical christmas tree lights turn out great in the right setting. I would really recommend reading the manual first to learn how to use all the settings. At first they can seem overwhelming, but they are very user friendly. The body design of the camera is very sleek and stylish and it feels light in your hands. I have not bought a case for it yet and I don't plan on it. I have dropped it several times already and the camera shows no signs of scratches or internal damage. I recommend this camera for those who feel like they can take the time to learn the setting buttons. This is not for the first time camera buyer who doesn't have some expirience with similar cameras that have come out in the last few years. Without some knowledge the camera will probably seem to be of poor quality if you don't know how to change from outdoor sunny lighting to an indoor portrait mode.

Overall once you get the hang of this camera and all its amazing features it will become your best friend you will want to stick it in your pocket and take it everywhere with you. It is a handy, fashion foward model from Olympus that you will defiantly want to consider.

I wanted to gift a camera to my brother and had been searching for a perfect one for him. I didn't want to spend too much and my budget was under $150. I wanted a nice zoom, anything more than a 3x optical. I first bought fujifilm finepix z20fd in iceblue and hated it as soon as I took the first picture. The pix were grainy and blurry. I own a panasonic DMC-FZ3, which has been with me for a little over 3 yrs and I have taken it with me to numerous international trips. I love the pix my camera takes and I love the 12x zoom,that was the main reason I had bought my camera. Anyway coming back to the review, I compared my pix with the fujifine pix and they didn't even come close. I couldn't buy a panasonic for my brother since any panasonic camera with 5x zoom was out of my price range. So last week I was at costco I saw this olympus camera and decided to give it a try. It's been 2 days since I've had this camera and I love it so far. The pic quality is not like my panasonic but it's close and for the price and all the other cameras in this price range I think this is the best. I took a 40 sec movie and it is awesome! You won't be able to tell that it was made with a digital camera and not with a pricey handycam.I am still trying to figure out a lots of features and I hope this camera lasts. Oh and one more thing, if you buy it at costco it's for $129 and comes with a 1GB card, carrying case, a micorsd converster. It's a steal! I am uploading a few pix of my twins since there aren't any pix that you can see and decide if this camera is for you.

Of coarse the camera is not the top of the line but it is a great camera. It does everything I want it to. It has a great quality video with adequate sound. The picture taken is nice and good quality. I can take decent pictures in dim light. The price was something I could afford but the time it takes to take a photo is annoying. It has a delay while it does the auto focus or red eye but what do you expect with a digital camera. I would purchase again, in fact my last camera was an Olympus, good brand!