The Olympus FE-110 is an entry-level digital camera. It has five megapixels and a 2.8x optical zoom lens. Its main attractions are its low price and ease of use. The FE-110 is likely to appeal to someone who is looking for a digital camera that they can start taking pictures with as soon as they've taken it out the box and loaded the batteries.
The features this camera has are a bit limited when compared to other digital cameras. You may find this a plus point if you are looking for a digital camera that is straightforward and easy to use.
Image Quality
The result of the test shots produced by the FE-100 fall into two main categories. The two categories are those taken indoors and those taken outside. Taking the camera's price into consideration the outdoor shots are of a fair quality. Indoors it is a different matter and I struggled to get the camera to focus sharply under artificial lighting.
Looking at the outdoor scenic type shots there are a number of pleasing points. The first is the focusing. This is an area where the camera performs well and although focusing falls away towards the edges of the photo, this occurs less than in other entry level digital cameras. Colour is another area where the camera produces better than expected results. Blues and greens have plenty of life and this should lead to pleasant landscape style photos. The camera can also cope with areas of high contrast. Many digital cameras find it difficult to show detail in very light areas. With this camera white sections of the photos show a pleasing degree of detail.
Downsides include a degree of purple fringing plus a tendency to produce darker areas around the outside of some photos. Purple fringing is where purple lines are added to the edges of very light objects.
The outdoor portrait is successful too. Here I particularly like the colours the camera produces. Despite the cold conditions at the time the photo was taken there is a warm feel to the shot.
As you would expect from any digital camera that falls into this price bracket you are likely to find limitations. With the FE-110 the main limitations are indoor photos. Both of my indoor photos are blurred and I would also like to have seen brighter photos as well. There is also a touch of red eye in the indoor portrait. It is possible to take decent indoor shots, but you will need very bright conditions.
Testing for colours I noticed particularly strong blues. This is good for landscape shots on sunny days. Although blue stands out more than other colours I don't think it is likely to completely dominate.
The macro shot is another of an acceptable standard. It is not the best I have ever taken, but taking the price of the camera into consideration again this is a good attempt.
My final test normally checks how the camera performs at high ISO settings. In this case I was unable to carry out the test as there is no option to manually set ISO levels with the FE-110.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
I managed to take a single shot in 1.03 seconds. This is a very slow time. It took 21.93 seconds to take five consecutive shots. This works out at a rate of one photo every 4.39 seconds. This is also a very slow time.
Shutter lag is likely to be an issue. If you are planning to use the camera mainly for landscape type shots or static portraits then this is unlikely to be a problem. Any shots where movement may been involved could be missed by the time the camera has recorded the picture.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
For composing and reviewing images there is a 1.5 inch LCD screen. This camera does not have a viewfinder.
The 2.8x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38 - 106mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f3 (wide) and f5 (telephoto). There is also a 4x digital zoom feature. For close-up photography there is a super macro mode that allows you to get in as close as 2 cm from your subject.
To help you take the best possible pictures the FE-110 has a small selection of predefined scene modes. All you need to do is select the most appropriate mode and the camera will use the optimum settings for the scene. The scene modes available are portrait, self-portrait, night scene and landscape.
There is also a panorama assist mode. This helps you to create panoramic type photos. There is a limitation that you need to be aware of and that is you can only use panorama assist if you are using an Olympus brand memory card.
Shutter speeds range from 2 - 1/2000 seconds. ISO sensitivity is between 64 and 320. Both of these features are controlled automatically by the camera. You do have access to exposure compensation (up to +/- 2 EV in 1/3 EV steps). White balance and centre spot metering are other features under the control of the camera itself.
The built-in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.8 m. This falls to 2.2 m when the zoom lens is fully extended. The available flash modes are automatic, redeye reduction, always on and always off.
For when you would like to appear in the picture yourself there is a self timer. The self timer has a 12 second delay.
Short movies without a sound can be recorded. The maximum resolution of a movie is
320x240 pixels. Top speed is 15 frames per second. Zoom is not available when a movie is being recorded.
Olympus supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the FE-110 to a computer, television set and a PictBridge compatible printer.
Ease of Use
It should not take you long to get to grips with the FE-110. In terms of the features this camera has all the bare necessities. This means there is very little you should find confusing or difficult. Key controls such as zoom, flash, reviewing images and accessing the menu system all have dedicated buttons on the back of the camera. When you need to access the menu system you should also find this easy enough to get to grips with.
Cost
You can pick up an Olympus FE-110 for around £100. This compares to around £85 for a Canon Powershot A410, £140 for a Sony DSC S600 and £135 for a Pentax Optio 60.
The FE-110 is one of the cheapest digital cameras you are likely to find from one of the major brands. Taking into account the fact it has five megapixels I would say this camera is reasonably priced.
Style
The FE-110 is a pretty compact digital camera. It is a bit too wide to fit easily into a pocket. Roughly rectangular in shape it has a raised area on the top of the camera and also a grip on the front to help you hold the camera steady when you are taking a shot. I found this camera sits nicely in the hand for picture taking.
The camera weighs 140g and has dimensions of 87.5 x 62.5 x 38.5mm.
Batteries and Memory Card
The FE-110 uses two AA batteries. I must admit I found this digital camera rather battery hungry. In order to keep running costs down it is advisable to use rechargeable batteries.
Built into the camera is a generous 28MB of memory. Therefore this camera does not come with a memory card. I was able to take 26 pictures before the internal memory became full. This was using the default settings. Even though this is an above average number of photos I would suggest buying a high-capacity memory card to go with this camera. It is compatible with xD cards.
Click here to save money on xD cards.
Points I like:
Price
Ease-of-use
Generous internal memory
Where it is not so hot:
Small LCD screen
Battery hungry
Indoor pictures
Shutter lag
Summary
Whether or not the Olympus FE-110 is a good buy or not will depend on how you plan to use the camera. If you are planning to use the camera more or less exclusively outdoors then I would say it offers good value for money. If you are looking for indoor shots as well you are probably best advised to spend a little more and take a look elsewhere.
Olympus FE 110 Front View
Olympus FE 110 Back View
Olympus FE 110 Top View
Sample Menus
| Olympus FE-110 Summary |
| Description: | Five megapixel digital camera with a 2.8x optical zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 9 |
| Features: | 6 |
| Colour: | 8 |
| Macro: | 8 |
| Indoors: | 5 |
| Value for Money: | 7 |
| Style: | 7 |
| Movie Mode: | 7 |
| Image Quality: | 7 |
| Build Quality: | 7 |
| Total: | 71 |
| Verdict: | The Olympus FE-110 is a typical entry level digital camera. Take it outside on a bright day and it will produce good photos. Use it in lowlight and it starts to struggle. Shutter lag times are also a drawback. |
| Review Date: | February 2006 |
| Click for: | Specification Sample Images |
Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.
| 
