EXCELLENT Value for the price... and a Great Camera

Author's Rating:

Pros: 5x Optical Zoom
Options
Design

Cons: LCD Scratches easily
Microphone for Video

The Bottom Line: 
This was a really good camera. Tons of options and easy to use. Great quality pictures, just an easily scratched LCD.

Author's Review
So, if you're like me and love to snap pictures, then you'll probably want a good Digital Camera. Now, you can certainly go with a point and click model, but all you'll get is point and click shots. These are usually blurry and not as nice as a higher end camera. Well, Olympus has a decently priced solution to this in the Stylus 840.

The first thing I noticed was the size. This camera is about the same size as the average man's wallet. Point in fact, it's a bit skinnier. The front has a retractable lens and the read has a 2.7” LCD display. The lens is nicely protected by a cover (which is common with most cameras), but the LCD display is very susceptible to scratches. All of the user controls are easily accessible to the right of the LCD display. The bottom compartment holds both the battery and the XD media card. From the top, the camera looks like a wedge with a lens sticking out of it. Overall design is a plus in my book. When powered on, the lens will stick out about an inch from the device. At most, it's 1.5” from the device.


Too bad form isn't the winner in this race. Or perhaps it's a good thing, since there's more under the hood here. At $220, this was the only camera to feature a 5x Optical Zoom. If you're not familiar with Optical Zoom, it means there are lenses in the camera that focus the image. If you were using Digital Zoom, the camera just blows up the picture, similar to what you'd see if hitting the plus (+) key while viewing a jpg in Windows. Eventually, the image becomes pixelated. Most digital cameras will remain around 3x Optical Zoom, then go straight for Digital Zoom to make up the remainder of the depth. Because of the 5X Optical Zoom, you're looking at more bang for your buck. To be honest, I haven't used the Digital Zoom on this model. I don't see a necessity with such a strong Optical Zoom. I just wish the camera would indicate somewhere what the current zoom was while you're adjusting. Besides, I have found that with 5x Optical Zoom, I can snap pretty clear pictures of people standing 30 feet away.

While snapping a picture there are two methods. First is the point and click. Point and click is by simply pressing the button all at once. When you mash down on it quickly, the shutter will click and just snap like any old camera. The second is with the auto-focus. After you've zoomed in to the desired range, push the shutter button about half way, and the camera will fine-tune the shot. This is very useful. More over, the camera can be set to track faces. It's not that great with tracking faces, as sometimes taking pictures of my kids, I find it tracking a tree behind them. Regardless, the pictures still come out very good.


This is an 8.0 MP camera. Images are huge at 3264x2448. When I try to work with more than 3 images, I need to reduce the size, otherwise the GIMP (my image editing application of choice) crashes on my laptop (w/ 2GB Ram & Vista). In addition to the 8MP resolution, Olympus gives the option of 5, 3, 2, & 1MP. I wouldn't go lower than 8, despite the average file size of 3MB. An odd resolution is “Widescreen” (16:9). These images are taken at 1080P (which is standard for most Widescreen televisions) or 1920x1080. So far, I have absolutely no complaints about either Widescreen nor 8MP modes.

To further the experience, Olympus offers 24 shooting modes in SCN mode. These are all pretty much circumstantial, and range from Auction, to outdoor, even candle light. I, honestly don't use these, as I find a little common sense, and you can pretty much take good pictures on your own. I did attempt to use these settings and noticed they make using the camera friendlier for beginners. There's a little less guess work. The only problem is that you have to know what the setting is for the mode to work. Like, if you're shooting at something behind glass and you're indoors, you may need to try both settings to see which works better. But, the upside is that you're not having to adjust ISO settings.

Speaking of ISO Settings, if you're shooting in the standard mode of operation, the camera will this camera offers a slue. ISO settings are based on the speed of film. Essentially, the higher the ISO, the quicker the shutter speed. So, the highest setting (1/2000 sec or 1600) requires the least amount of light. The downside to this is when you're in a darker room, the 1600 ISO setting won't accurately take pictures. So, you may need to lower the ISO. But, Olympus understands that not everyone is an avid photographer. As such, they offer two auto-ISO settings. One is “H.Auto” and the other is “Auto”. H.Auto is the high end ISO settings. If you're in an area with plenty of light, you may want to keep your camera on the H.Auto setting. The camera will automatically detect which of the higher 3 ISO settings to use for the picture. While, if you find yourself in a darker room, you can use the Auto setting for the lower 3 ISO settings. If you're using the SCN mode, all of this ISO stuff won't matter.

Like other digital cameras, the 840 tries to be a hybrid. Honestly, I don't like using it as such, but sometimes video capture comes in handy. You can take up to 30 minutes of Video (with Audio) on a 2GB card. It's not too bad, but the microphone is pretty harsh. Voices are OK, but sound a bit loud at times. It's like it's trying to be clear, but instead picks up too much sound while missing other audio. Not my first choice, if you have another video camera available.

Like all cameras, you can play back your videos and stills. This camera's 2.7” LCD display is very clear. I have absolutely no complaints about the clarity of playback. My only complaint is that this display is easily scratched. I've done my best to not have this and anything else in my pocket, yet, remarkably, I somehow have scratches on my LCD display. Even the lens doesn't scratch as easily.

Along with other nice features are a few fringe benefits. There's a shadow adjustment mode that works nicely when taking pictures into a light source. I've taken a few stills of sunrise. While the lens wants to adjust for the sun, which causes the rest of the picture to be darker, the Shadow Adjustment makes it so a happy medium between too much sunlight and not enough foreground light is found. Basically, it's not a dark hill with a bright sun rising over it, but the picture I took was a nice view of a grassy hill with the sun rising. I've used this setting also when taking pictures of friends standing in darker hallways while near a room with light pouring out of it. It works very well.

In photography, there's something called the 9-box rule. It means that you make a tic-tac-toe board of your subject. Then try to be sure that the center of focus isn't in the middle box. You should read up on it a bit more than what I've explained, but the camera will add a grid to your LCD, helping the user to figure out which box to put their subject in. Some of the best pictures I've taken were using this 9-Box display as a HUD (Heads Up Display) while photographing. If you learn the 9-Box rule, then using it with this camera will make your pictures much more dynamic and interesting. In addition to the 9-box mode the 840 also features the Histogram. Histogram is basically a meter that shows the user how much light is available for the shot. It's a good indication of what ISO to use, yet not necessarily something I'd recommend using for beginners.

Other miscellaneous functionality includes red-eye reduction, and fill-in flash. I honestly just chalk up the standard flash as an additional feature because I've managed to avoid using the flash in minimal lighting, yet all of my pictures (one I learned to use the camera) came out. Flash is good, but just not something I use. With the right ISO settings (or leaving it on Auto), you really don't need a flash unless it's pitch black. Never the less, the times I used the flash turned out fairly well. The camera does an average job of reducing red-eye by strobing people to death (like most digital cameras). The fill-in works, so not much to say there.

Like everything, you'll need to purchase memory. This model comes with 14.8 MB of internal. That's roughly 4 pictures at 8MP. Not nearly enough for a family picnic. I purchased a 2GB XD media card. I have about 500 pictures at the 8MP setting or 950 at the Widescreen setting. Other settings may vary the picture amount. Here's where Olympus plays it dirty. The Panorama mode for this camera can only be used if you have an Olympus XD card. I do not. As such, I can't use this feature. Panorama is the ability to snap a picture of something, move the camera, then snap another picture. The camera would then stitch together the pictures to make it look like one huge picture with an immense width. C'mon Olympus, why'd you have to play it dirty? The maximum addressable media is a 2GB card. With 500 pictures, I don't see most people needing anything larger.

There is a 2.0 USB cable that allows you to export your images to any USB enabled PC or Mac. Not bad. My laptop has a built in XD Card reader. I never use the USB functionality. Since it's burst transmission, it'd take a little longer than my built in reader. In addition to the slower USB speed over my Laptop's reader, I don't want to waste battery life. The battery is tested for about 190 shots. Though I don't understand why it's measured in number of pictures taken rather than the amount of hours it can be used, I've heard this is pretty good life for a camera. If you're taking a longer trip, I'd recommend carrying a second battery. The charge time is roughly 5 hours on the battery, so if it dies, the Li-ion isn't as easy to just replace or charge as a couple of AA batteries.

With easy to navigate menus and a sound design, I recommend the Olympus Stylus 840. It's been a good camera for me and I've taken almost 3,000 pictures since I bought it a month ago. Very few pictures turn out blurry with the automatic settings. The 5x Optical Zoom for under $400 is above the standard offering. If you're in the market for a camera, here's your solution! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED