Overview
The Olympus MJU 410 is a four megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens. It is easy to use and because of it's sleek, shiny body will appeal to anyone who is looking for a straightforward digital camera and finds style important. Size wise the Olympus MJU 410 will fit into a jacket pocket or small bag.
It is aimed at casual photographers who are looking to take holiday snaps and every day pictures of friends and family rather than the serious photographer. You certainly don't need to spend hours reading through the instruction manual before you can go out and start taking photographs.
Image Quality
All the tests that I set for the Olympus MJU 410 were passed. Outdoor scenes were reproduced with bright colours and there was the images were sharp. Indoors in poorer lighting the results were impressive too. This is an area where a lot of digital cameras come unstuck, but I was more than happy with the pictures.
One area that does disappoint is the standard macro or close up mode. You need to by 20cms or more away from the subject before the camera will focus properly.
Features
In terms of features the Olympus MJU 410 carries a fairly standard set of features for this type of digital camera. Although you can take pictures in automatic mode probably the most important attribute will be the pre programmed scene modes. These help the camera to get the picture right in different scenarios. The different scenes available are portrait, indoor, beach and snow, cuisine, landscape with portrait, landscape, night scene and self portrait.
For anyone wanting to fine tune the final image a little further you also have access to exposure compensation and white balance controls. Exposure compensation is used for pictures where there is a high contrast in colour. White balance is used in different lighting conditions with different settings for sunny days, cloud and the artificial lighting that you have indoors.
Other useful features include the facility to change pictures to black and white or to add a sepia tinge. You can also add a voice memo to a picture after it has been taken. Small copies of images can be made. These are ideal for sending by email or posting to a web site. There are different flash settings and a self timer for when you would like to appear in the picture yourself.
For those of you who like to use a digital camera to shoot short movies then you can with this camera. The maximum recording time is 90 seconds. This is a little on the short side in my view.
The macro or close up facility is disappointing on the Olympus MJU 410. Press the macro button on the back of the camera and you still need to be 20cms away from the subject for the camera to be able to focus properly. There is a super macro that you can use. This can get you as close as 9cms, but this can only be switched on via a menu.
To finish talking about the features on a high point, top marks go the LCD screen. On a number of digital cameras you will find the screen quite difficult to see once the sun comes out. The LCD screen on this camera remains viewable even in very sunny conditions. This can also be further enhanced by using the LCD screen brightness control. This probably sounds like quite a minor point, but it shouldn't be overlooked.
Ease of Use
The Olympus MJU 410 is a fairly straightforward customer. You can start taking pictures as soon as you have charged the battery and loaded the memory card. The optical zoom control, flash, self timer and picture review functions all have dedicated buttons on the back of the camera, so it is easy to access each one of these main functions.
The menu system is simple to use and there is very little that is tuck away so everything is easy to get at.
Cost
You can pick up an Olympus MJU 410 for around £200. That is about £20-30 cheaper than the Canon IXUS 430, a digital camera similar in style and power.
Style
One of the biggest selling points of the Olympus MJU 410 is its sleek good looks. It has a metal body that is also waterproof. That doesn't mean that you can drop it in the swimming pool, but you should be able to use it around the pool and on the ski slopes. I have to say that the finish applied to the camera seems to mark very easily. I have somehow managed to mark the camera on both the front and back. It doesn't appear to be very robust at all. All the other digital cameras that I have put through their paces remain in mint condition.
Batteries / Memory Cards
Power is supplied to the Olympus MJU 410 through a rechargeable battery. All batteries have their plusses and minuses if you'll excuse the pun. The upside here is that the battery lasts longer than a set of AA batteries before they need recharging. The downside is that it is more expensive to buy a spare battery. If you plan to use your camera widely then a spare set of batteries is advisable. Otherwise you run the risk of the camera running down at just the wrong moment.
Images are stored on xD picture cards. As ever it is worth buying a large xD card as a spare. Taking pictures with a four megapixel camera will soon fill up the card that is supplied with the camera. I would recommend a card of at least 128mb.
Conclusion
Overall the Olympus MJU 410 is a good camera, offering value for money. Its main attractions other than its style and design are the fact that it is weatherproof and the fact that it is a good all round digital camera.
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Olympus MJU 410 Review Olympus MJU 410 Specification Olympus MJU 410 Sample Images
