Customer Reviews

Olympus Stylus FE-230 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Olympus used to make good-quality digital cameras, but their product lines in the last couple of years have been emphasizing the wrong set of features. The company tries to out-do the others by making tiny digital cameras -- the FE-230 is probably the smallest real digital camera I've seen -- you have to see it in person to believe it. It packs over 7 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom that also works in movie mode, and a number of useful shooting modes. It's also very easy to use.

Unfortunately, the picture quality, which Olympus should have invested money in improving, is very lacking. Still images all have this blurry or fuzzy look to it, even when shot on a tripod. There's something not quite right with the lens. I guess it's both because the camera's super-super-compact body demands a tiny lens, and optical physics tells us that a tiny lens often screws up the image quality (by bending and deflecting light too much), and because Olympus uses some cheap lens (the camera is made in Vietnam). Compare this to Fuji's and Sony's just-slightly-bigger models and you'll see the latter companies use much better lenses which are probably no bigger than the one on the FE-230.

The upshot is, the FE-230 takes incredibly dull and fuzzy pictures, as if the camera cannot focus properly. If you are in sales (e.g., a real estate agent) this is a good pocketable camera to carry for business. But if you want to take pictures for your own photo albums, skip this. Get super-slim cameras from Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, or Casio instead.

(Also, this camera uses the xD-card flash memory, which in my previous experience with lots of Fuji cameras is not very reliable and is definitely quite slow, esp. at capacity of 1GB or more.)

This camera really wowed me in the shop, great design, easy to use, large screen. The zoom is great and there is even a super macro mode for shooting small objects. But the pictures, regardless of setting, were really awful in my opinion. They are blurry and washed out. Other sites' reviews indicated similar issues. After about an hour of toying with it I decided to return it ASAP. I'd even eat a re-stocking fee I am so disappointed.

I was looking for a very compact digital camera, and I think I found it. I don't know how much smaller they can make a quality digital camera, but this little Olympus is probably about it.

The camera is easy to handle and has a large LCD on the back but no viewfinder, which would make it easier to use in bright sunlight. The controls are easy to use, and in automatic mode anyone can use this camera with success.

I compared indenticle shots with this camera and my Nikon D70 DSLR. While the D70 images were a bit snappier with better contrast, the Olympus images were remarkably close and surprised the heck out of me. More zoom would be nice, but 3x is adequate for most people in a point and shoot camera, unless you shoot a lot of nature images.

The camera works well in low light situations (without a flash), and the flash exposures appear to be very good. And, since it's hard to handhold a camera this small, the image stabilization works as advertised.

Since I've been taking SCUBA lesson I went ahead and got the underwater case (PT-083) and the case fits the Olympus like a glove, with access to all controls. The price on the case was also very reasonable for an underwater case that will go to around 100 feet, which is farther than I'll be going, and it's not one of those Baggie type cases; this is a well made plastic case with large O-rings.

I haven't had it long enough to check battery life, but so far it's lasting much longer than my Pentax Optio.

I believe if you are looking for a small, quality camera that will fit in just about any pocket this is it. Prices have gone down on all digital cameras, and for under $200 this one is hard to beat. Have also had good luck with Olympus cameras in the past, so expect no less from this one.

And, if you have a problem or question, Olympus support is excellent.

I bought this camera about three weeks ago and I hate it! It is sleek and small and very nice looking and the settings are easy enough to use but the pictures are terrible! I have tried every setting, everything I can to change the quality and nada, pictures still stink! Fuzzy, grainy, lines through every photo no matter what light or conditions. Not one good photo yet, I give up. I am very disappointed since I had an Olympus Stylus 3.0 MP that worked great for years and years with great picture quality which I have now given to someone else and regret greatly. I thought it was time for more MP's and a smaller camera, big mistake. I will have to eat this one because it's been too long to return, I just purchased a Canon A630 and hopefully this one will live up to expectations. I wish I had researched more. Do yourself a favor spend a few more dollars and go for anything but this. Olympus, I am very disappointed in you and I am done with anything Olympus. Shame really because before this I would have raved about Olympus. Stay away from this camera.

I love every feature about this camera. It fits in my breast pocket, the battery lasts forever, switching between picture taking and review couldn't be easier, etc. etc.

But I am a little disappointed in the quality of the image, considering that it is a 7+ megapixel camera.

It seems to compare with my 3 MP camera, as far as image quality goes. Now that is OK for me, in that I take a lot of 4x6 type snapshots, and send the digtal images to my internet correspondants.

I should mention that I am using a 1 Gig Highspeed memory module, and store my shots uncompressed at the highest resolution. That should be the best image you are going to get. (That still gives me 198 pictures, between storage to the computer.)

But, if you want to take a portrait and stick it in a 8 1/2 x 11 frame, be prepared for a lot of graininess.

Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that I take a lot of indoor shots, in dark rooms, with the flash going, and tend to frame my shots, using some zoom. But, if 3X zoom is optical, and I stay below the red line on the zoom graphic, I should not expect much degradation. But it is there, nontheless.

I'm about to go on a cross-country trip to see Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, etc. Let's see how it performs in the full light of day, at wide angle, with no flash.

AFTER MY TRIP - Still not happy with the images. I give up. Went out and bought the Canon SD1000. Same physical size. MUCH better image. I'll review the Canon after I've taken more pics.

I bought this camera for my wife who wanted a "good small camera." She's not very tech savvy and was able to take the camera out of the box and begin taking photos. I would say mission accomplished. After several mixed drinks the stabilizing feature came in handy and we were in a VERY low light setting and got great pictures.

This is a very sleek, good looking camera that takes very good pictures and you can get it for a super price. It is one of the thinest on the market. It can easily fit into your pocket. Before I purchased the camera, I read the reviews posted on Amazon.com. There were not as many as there are now, but some of them mentioned poor picture quality. I looked at other reviews of this camera on the Internet. These reviews were done by professionals, who did a thorough technical examination of the camera. None of these reviews mentioned any problem with picture quality. Some did say that there was some fuzziness near the outer edge of the lens, but nothing that you would normally notice on a picture. The criticism that they had was the camera has no manual controls. If you want a camera with manual controls, this is not it. However, it is a very easy to use point and shoot camera. You can put it on "Auto" and can continue taking one good picture after another. If you want some control over what you are shooting, you can use the "Scene" selection. This will adjust the camera settings for sports action, beaches, snow, available light, etc. This gives me enough control.

I returned this product the second day I purchased it. The design was ok - as in it's quite sleek and compact; the menu features was pretty easy to comprehend and master; the only thing with it is the pictures taken weren't sharp enough.

I've read all basic and advanced manual, and took numerous pictures, it didn't do well enough for low light pictures. It looked like some software had blurred the pictures. The color wasn't vibrant enough too. I've tried almost all the settings but it didn't really change the blurriness of the pictures.

Missing manual mode really hurts, the other automatic scene functions are no comparision to manually adjusting aperture and shutter speed. The worst is the picture quality, grainy, poor exposure..., it is worse than my other 5MP Olympus at HQ mode and definitely uses more memory. Well, its only usage is as a quick point & shoot and easy to carry camera which my wife can fit it in a purse. I will not carry this to any vacation.

I was happy with this purchase until I printed some of the pictures. The photos were a bit blurry. The pictures were taken in a variety of circumstances and all looked a bit off (fuzzy). Some of the pics were indoors with a flash some outdoors with the stabilization feature turned on.
I did like to size and navigation menus. The red eye feature worked well. The shutter lag was good too; pretty fast turn around time to take the next picture. I didn't like that the on/off button was so sensitive. It was very easy to accidentally hit it. Battery life was nice and long too. I have since returned this camera.