The Olympus MJU 5000 is a stylish digital camera. It has 12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens. It will fit into larger pockets. It also scores well for ease of use.

The MJU 5000 has a touch of extra style compared to many digital cameras. There are also one or two extra features over more basic models such as image stabilisation.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
Pin sharp? No, but focusing is sharp enough in this type of shot, unless you are planning to take poster sized prints. Some definition is lost from the boats where they are caught by the glare of the sun. The bright light also gives the blue lines on the boats a purple tinge.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This is always a difficult photo for a compact digital camera owing to the distance of the scene. The MJU 5000 does o.k., but plenty of other cameras manage to produce a bit of extra sharpness. How much this matters to you depends of the size of prints you wish to make and just how demanding you are.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
You can see that the extra zoom a 5x lens can give you over the more basic 3x zoom lenses. This help to bring you in that bit closer. As I have seen in the first two photos the MJU 5000 produces quite bright images. Focusing and definition is better with the zoom fully extended.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
Overall I would give the MJU 5000 around 7.5 out of 10 for focusing. Here focusing slides as you move towards the right hand side of the picture. Although this camera is not perfect when it comes to producing crystal clear images this should not be much of a problem unless you are planning to really push up print size.

Outdoor Portrait
Colours and brightness work well in combination. With the subject close to the camera there are no issues with focusing.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
I am a bit disappointed with this shot. The light from the flash unit has produced too much pink in the skin tones across the centre of the face. The lighting is also a bit uneven. Areas away from the centre could do with some extra lighting.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
The MJU 5000 has handled the conditions very well. A lot of digital cameras, especially cheaper ones struggle when the light is anything less than perfect. This test suggests you should be able to take natural light portraits when there is sufficient window light.

Colours
Most of the leading digital camera brands now offer similar colour balance and depth. I found no problems with colour apart from the purple tinge showing in the first picture where the sun strikes the blue lines on the boats. This is a problem I have noticed with other Olympus digital cameras.

Macro
When using a digital compact camera like this one for close up shots all you can really ask for is a bright, clear photo. The MJU 5000 does exactly that.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
There is nothing much to report here. As you step up the ISO rating picture quality falls away as is true of all compact digital cameras. The MJU 5000 is roughly average when it comes to noise in lower light.

Overall
The MJU 5000 is mid range when it comes to picture quality. Pictures could be a shade sharper, but if you like the features and style of the camera the issues are not serious enough to put you off buying.

Shutter lag times without flash were about standard with 0.34 seconds for one photo and 10.13 seconds for five. Times with flash were a little better than standard at 0.53 seconds for one photo and 11.16 seconds for five.

To turn the MJU 5000 on and take the first shot took 2.58 seconds. This is a reasonable time.

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

Olympus has rounded one of the corners. This helps to distinguish the MJU 5000 from many other cameras. It will fit into a larger pocket. It is available in blue and black.

96.3 x 57.0 x 24.6mm

125g

Lithium Ion. A battery and charger are supplied by Olympus with the camera.

I was able to store 14 shots in the 36mb of memory Olympus has built into the MJU 5000. The camera is compatible with both xD and Micro SD cards.

Click here to save money on xD cards..

Very good. There is nothing that stands out as being difficult.

Style - ease of use

As with other cameras in this series the pictures could be a touch 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.

Overall I like the Olympus MJU 5000. While I cannot come up with a hatful of reasons why this camera is a must buy, it is a likeable enough point and shoot model.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	8
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	80
Verdict:	This is a fairly standard offering. I like the design and picture quality is good in most situations. You should not have too much trouble finding your way around. This is a point and shoot camera with one or two enhanced features such as the length of lens and size of LCD screen.
Review Date:	March 2009
Related Pages:	Olympus MJU 5000 Specification Olympus MJU 5000 Sample Images Olympus MJU 5000 Features

	GBP 179.99
	GBP 189.97
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Canon IXUS 990 IS	87
Fuji Finepix F60fd	85
Panasonic DMC ZX1	83
Panasonic DMC FX550	83
Nikon Coolpix S630	81
Fuji Finepix F200exr	81
Olympus MJU 7000	81
Olympus MJU 7010	80

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 5000