Olympus FE-120 Digital Camera

value pictures for value camera

By JLT  Nov 26, 2006 | 4 out of 4 found this Olympus FE-120 review helpful

Pros: Image stabilizer, red eye reduction, HUGE LCD for the price

Cons: Slow aperture focusing, almost 0.5 second shutter speed, no view finder, lackluster video mode

Let's face it, when you spend 150 bucks on a camera, you shouldn't expect the performance of a high end SLR. The olympus FE120 does have a lot of good qualities that you won't see in most 5+ MP cameras for less than 200 dollars. First of ...all, the LCD. This LCD is close to the 1.8 inch range. That's enormous. Considering you're lucky if Kodak is willing to give you more than an inch on any camera they produce for less than 200. Image stabilization is divine. At almost 4 FPS, it's doubtful that even the most novice of photographers can get blurry pictures with this IFS. Of course all the goodies for most point and shooters are here too. Like red eye reduction and auto focus. However, I suggest auto focus for even the most professional users, cause unlike any SLR, this is a true point and shot. Focus is done with one touch. This brings us to the worst feature of the camera. Focus. This is the slowest aperture you'll ever use. You can sit and wait for the whirring to stop as you hear the lens focusing and refocusing, hell you can almost go out and grab a slice of pizza. But this doesn't in anyway sacrifice the picture quality. Afterall, it's still an Olympus, but remember to use the image stabilizer when taking stills and portraits. then again, most of pictures will be stills and portraits, action shots are almost out of the question. With an industry standard 0.6 shutter speed for consumer cameras you'll find most of your subjects have left, gotten into the car and filled up a tank of gas by the time your shutter goes off. Sure, 0.6 seconds is industry standard, but I expect almost professional speeds ranging more into 0.2 secs from Olympus. The missing view finder can be a pain too, especially those used to SLRs. The only saving grace is Olympus has somehow perfected battery power with an LCD on all the time. With a pair of Alkalines the typical user has a roll of 40-50 continuous shots before needing to replace the batteries, 35-40 on nickel cadmium and 30-35 on Li-On CVR. If you run Mac OS X just plug this sucker in, as for Win XP users, be sure to keep that drivers disc handy. Overall, a great buy for most amateur and a great spotting camera for semi-pros. Read more Less