The Olympus MJU 9000 offers extra zoom power in a compact body. The lens has 10x zoom with wide angle capabilities. This is a 12 megapixel camera. Other features include image stabilisation, a 2.7 inch LCD screen, plus a few buzz features such as a beauty mode. The MJU 9000 has a metal body and is compatible with xD and Micro SD cards.

The big attraction is the length of the lens in such a compact body.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The bright sunlight washes out some of the detail from the shot. Most digital cameras can cope with glare from the sun better than the MJU 9000 does. Looking at the brickwork on the building focusing is another area where the MJU 9000 falls short of top class.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
The sharpness of this shot is inline with levels I am used to seeing for cameras with wide angle lenses. The MJU 9000 does not find it easy to show detail in the darker areas of the shot. On large prints you may notice some purple fringing creeping in.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
With the zoom fully extended the picture is sharp enough for snapshot sized prints. As you increase print size the picture starts to show signs of becoming softer. I like the brightness of the shot.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
Sharpness is only average at best in this shot. The brickwork is not pin sharp. Although you will probably get away with this with snapshot sized prints it will become an issue with larger sized prints.

Outdoor Portrait
There are no problems with this shot. Having moved closer in, the levels of sharpness show clear improvement. The colours have a natural look to them, while managing to give the shot some warmth.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
This is a fairly standard result. In a perfect world the flash would have added more light to the darker areas of the hair, but the picture works well enough.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
This is a good effort and an area where the MJU 9000 performs well against rival cameras. The level of definition in this shot is above average.

Colours
I have noticed that some shots tend to take on a purple tinge. This is most noticeable in either bright sunlight or under artificial lighting as used in my macro test shot. This is something I have noticed with Olympus digital cameras in this series.

Macro
This is a good effort for a close up shot taken with such a compact digital camera. The only down side is that the photo has a purple tinge.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Boost up the ISO setting and noise starts to kick in. This is especially true in darker areas of any photo.

Overall
If all you are after is a snapshot camera with a longer lens then the MJU 9000 will do a decent job. If you want to push print sizes up above snapshot size then you are likely to start to notice imperfections in your photos.

Shutter lag times are standard. A single shot took 0.33 seconds with five taking 10.35 seconds. With flash turned on the times were 0.45 seconds for a single shot and 17.48 seconds for five.

Start up time is on the slow side at 3.83 seconds.

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

This camera is on the large side to fit into a pocket comfortably. It has a metal body and is available in black and blue.

96 x 60 x 31mm

185g

Lithium Ion.

The 45mb of built in memory is enough to hold around 20 photos. The MJU 9000 is also compatible with xD and Micro SD memory cards.

Click here to save money on xD cards..

Very good. Olympus has not given the MJU 9000 all the bells and whistles that some cameras have. This helps to keep it relatively easy to use. Help text is also available.

Ease of use - smaller size for longer zoom

Purple tinge to some photos - photos could be a degree sharper

Personally I prefer the Panasonic Lumix TZ7. I felt the DMC TZ7 produces photos that have an edge over the MJU 9000, especially when it comes to sharpness.

Picture quality is not perfect, but the flaws only become noticeable if you are planning to make larger prints. The Olympus MJU 9000 is certainly a very handy size for a camera offering this much zoom.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	12 megapixels 10x 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:	7
Build Quality:	8
Total:	79
Verdict:	The big attraction is the length of lens in a compact body size. The MJU 9000 also has wide angle capabilities, a 2.7 inch LCD screen and image stabilisation. It is relatively easy to use and has a metal body.
Review Date:	September 2009
Related Pages:	Olympus MJU 9000 Specification Olympus MJU 9000 Sample Images Olympus MJU 9000 Features

	GBP 159.99
	GBP 229
	GBP 244.99
	GBP 251.99
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Fuji Finepix F70EXR	85
Canon Powershot SX120 IS	85
Panasonic DMC TZ7	85
Canon Powershot SX200 IS	85
Samsung WB500	84
Sony DSC H20	81
Fuji Finepix S1500	81
Olympus MJU 9000	79

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 9000