Digital Camera Review by: Michael Gazzola

Lets just say, that at $299 what should you expect in a digital camera? Especially one that carries a well known brand? Will it be stylish? Will it have many features? Will it have a big LCD screen? Will the images be any good? All the usual questions could be asked and most people would not expect the whole suite – but somehow Olympus has pretty much crammed a large portion of these features into the new Olympus Mju 1040. So the answer is… yes, yes and well, yes again.

The model reviewed was the silver ‘Mirror’ version (also available in ‘Phantom’ black and ‘Hot Chilli’ red). And let me tell you for a camera priced under $300 the unit’s design, paintwork and styling is very cool, enough to catch the eye of many potential buyers browsing the shelves at their local camera store for something a little different.

The body appears to have a hard plastic outer with a slight metal feel due to the clever pearl paint finish on most of the body and a perfect mirror finish on a unique vertically sliding panel that conceals the lens beautifully when closed and exposes it only when in operation.

There is no On/Off button as the sliding cover activates the camera, so there is one less button cluttering the limited space. The buttons on the back are not like any previous styled Olympus compact, as all are flat and with backlit cold white line work – reminding me of the old ‘Tron’ movie… for those that can actually remember it… and those who don’t it’s now a cult classic!

Back to the review – the top has just two buttons, one to press and capture images, the other to zoom. It’s simple and how most compact cameras should be. The buttons for the main functions on the back are squeezed into a slice down the right, around a fifth of the total space which is all that is left over by the 2.7 inch edge to edge LCD screen.

There are six regularly used general functions accessible via six buttons, coupled with an additional criss-cross button layout that introduces four quick adjustments convenient while shoot.

The on screen navigation is very user friendly and has a type of ‘landing page’ where there are just 8 simple icons with text running through them, sub menu like, making it easier for the photographer to quickly decide what they want to find. Once you click on an icon you are then presented with a drilled down list to select the option you’re after.

The Mju 1040 also comes with ‘Face Detection’ and ‘Shadow Adjust’ technologies, which are a very handy features that can recognise up to 16 individual faces. Even when trying to trick the camera by pointing it at a TV screen with moving two-dimensional people the camera amazingly was still able  to pick up a number of faces, lock on and track them across the screen. What made this more impressive is that during live view the screen was rolling/flicker, (which is to be expected when filming a screen) with the tracking still working through all the noise and distraction.

There is also ‘Smile Shot’ technology, where the Olympus Mju 1040 automatically detects when someone is smiling once a shot is composed and takes three quick shots for you – so the photographer will never miss a child smiling again!

With a feature rich package, there is also a 10.1 mega-pixel capture and a 3x optical zoom lens providing a focal range of 38mm - 114mm (35mm equivalent). Plus a digital image stabiliser, super close macro allowing focus down to just 7cm, 9 scene modes and 48MB of internal memory to get you going before you add a memor card.

The built-in flash is quite small and as a result is not overly powerful – but this is the case with most small, energy efficient compacts. As long as you have good light indoor for shots taken 4 meters or more away from the subject, or you’re outdoor in daylight the images produced will give the photographer more than satisfactory results.

This camera also comes with the Olympus TruePic III image-processing engine, which was originally designed for their DSLR range. So like most good technology it eventually ends up in their junior counterparts. The standard colour and skin tone reproduction in daylight shots are mostly accurate but seem on the cooler side when using flash. The sharpness of images taken in bright light hit the mark on most occasions but was tested in low light, even when the camera signalled it had locked it’s focus it was not always accurate. But I guess the beauty with digital cameras these days is that you can keep shooting until you get your desired result at no extra cost.  This simply was not an option in the days of film.

Overall, I found the Olympus Mju1040 to be great value, feature rich and very high in resolution for the relatively cheap price tag. Most people will find the camera’s styling quite appealing whilst also having a little fun when using the mirror finish on the front sliding panel as a handy help for framing for party headshots or just whacking on a little bit of lippy in the reflection

Appearance rating	5 stars
Functionality rating	4 stars
Image quality	4 stars
Value for money	4.5 stars
RRP (AUD)	$299
Effective Pixels	10.1 Million mega pixels
Image Sizes	7 Sizes
Lens - zoom wide [mm]	38mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens -zoom tele [mm]	114mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens - Optical Zoom	Yes, 3x
Resolution Settings	From 640 x 480 to 3648 x 2736
Shooting Modes	9 Scene options
Manual Focus	No
Auto Focus	Yes
Focus Range [cm]	20cm to infinity
Aperture Range	F3.5 - F5.0
Aperture Priority	No
Macro	Yes
Macro Range [cm]	7cm (Super Macro Mode)
Shutter Speeds	4s - 1/1000s (up to 4 sec. in night mode)
Shutter Priority	No
ISO	ISO 50 - 3200 (3MP above ISO1600)
LCD Monitor	Yes
LCD Size	2.7" HyperCrystal LCD Screen
Viewfinder	No
Flash	3 mode options plus auto
Hot Shoe	No
White balance	Auto, Overcast, Sunlight, Tungsten, Fluorescent 1-3
Self Timer	Yes, 12 seconds
Movie Options	Yes. Limited only by memory card size.
Video Out	Yes
Storage Type	512MB ~ 2GB xD, Micro SD via MASD-1 Micro SD adapter (included)
Storage Included [Mb]	Onboard memory, 48Mb
Image / Audio Formats	JPEG, EXIF v 2.21, PIM III, DPOFAVI Motion JPEG with sound
Connectivity	USB
Power Source	D-7ACA AC Adapter with CB-MA1 Power coupler
Battery Options	Li-Ion Battery ( Li-42B )
Dimensions	89mm x 55.5mm x 20.3mm
Weight	108g without battery or card

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