Olympus MJU 1060 Review

The Olympus MJU 1060 is a 10 megapixel camera with a 7x optical zoom lens. It is compact in size and stylish in looks.

The stand out feature is undoubtedly the longer then standard zoom lens. It is rare that such a small camera offers this much zoom. Aside from the zoom it is a clear step up form an entry level model with features such as a 3 inch LCD screen and image stabilisation.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
We start off with a fairly standard shot. As long as you are not looking to blow up your photos above 8 x 11 inches then sharpness, definition and overall quality should all be perfectly acceptable. This shot looks good in an 8 x 11 print. If you blow it up larger than that you start to notice areas where the photo is not pin sharp and that sun glare cuts down on the level of detail in the lighter areas.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This photo is average in terms of focusing. I can also see some jagged pixels in the sky area of the shot when the photo is blown up.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Two thirds of this photo is in sharp focus, but the angle the photo was taken at appears to have fooled the MJU 1060. The right hand third of the shot is not so sharp. That is a shame as when you compare this photo with others taken by smaller compacts you can see the advantage the longer zoom lens can give you. I can see a small amount of purple fringing in the shot as well.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
The MJU 1060 produces more even focusing in this picture. Sharpness is again about average. Overall I would give the camera 8 out of 10 for focusing.

Outdoor Portrait
This is a pleasant, natural looking portrait shot. With the subject being closer to the camera than for my previous tests the MJU 1060 has no problem focusing.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
As you can see by the strong shadow, the MJU 1060 produces quite a strong burst of flash light. This is good in so far as it lights the picture, but as well as shadow the light also reflects back off areas of the face.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
In this picture I have used natural window light. The MJU 1060 has outperformed many other cameras. There is less noise and more detail showing in this shot than I am used to seeing.

Colours
Colour is an area where I think digital cameras have improved over the last two years. It is now more difficult to spot photos taken by different brands. As with the majority of other brands Olympus Digital Cameras have subtler more natural looking colours. I liked the colours the MJU 1060 produced, especially for the scenic type shots.

Macro
The macro shot is very good for a small compact. It is sharp, the colours are right and there is plenty if detail showing.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
As with other test shots the MJU 1060 performs at about the same level as most of the pack. Noise shows up in darker areas almost as soon as you start to increase ISO.

Overall
I'm happy with the picture quality. There is nothing that really sets the camera apart from the masses, but there is nothing in my test shots that would stop me buying the camera.

Shutter delay is similar to picture quality with standard times being recorded in all tests. A single photo took 0.33 seconds and five took 10.53 seconds. With flash turned on times were 0.47 seconds for a single photo and 11.83 seconds for five.

It took 2.36 seconds to turn the camera on and take a picture.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The MJU 1060 will go into a larger pocket, but at 25mm wide it can be a squeeze. It has a sloping front and a high gloss finish. You can buy black, silver and blue versions.

93.7 x 56.4 x 25.1mm

128g

Lithium Ion. Olympus supplies a battery and charger as standard.

Olympus have included 48mb of storage in the MJU 1060. It is also compatible with xD and micro SD cards. I was able to take 20 pictures before the memory was full.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Very good. This camera has a good balance between features and ease of use.

Style - ease of use - length of zoom

The MJU 1060 does most things well enough. Perhaps focusing could be that bit sharper.

Although the Fuji Finepix F60fd does not offer the same length of lens it is a very good choice if you are looking for a small, compact digital camera.

The longer zoom in a smaller body is a big attraction. Aside from that I found very few points where I either strongly liked or disliked the Olympus MJU 1060. The quality of the photos it takes may not be the very best in class, but it takes a good snapshot and the length of the lens could make a big difference to your photos.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

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.

Olympus MJU 1060