My first digital camera!!!!

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, I am no electronic guru. I am all about having things simple and easy to use. Recently, I got a gift card to Circuit City and I purchased a digital camera. I have never owned a digital camera before, and I really did some research here on epinions before I got one.

So, I redeemed my Circuit City gift card for the Olympus FE-100 Digital Camera. I had a $100 gift card, and the camera cost only $134. I thought I was getting a pretty good deal.

Features (some taken from Circuit City’s website):

Dimensions

Height 2.5 inches
Width 3.5 inches
Depth 1.5 inches
Weight 4.9 oz


This particular camera is a 4.1 megapixel camera. The zoom range is 2.8x optical, 4x digital, also has a Macro mode (but I really don’t know what that does).

The flash features are Auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in, off .

The LCD screen size is 1.5 inches. There is also a 12 second countdown feature. There is no viewfinder on this camera.

The memory in the camera itself is 28 MB. Of course, you may want to purchase a xD-Picture Card. I myself have not bought one, but it is available from Circuit City also. The camera itself comes with 28 MB of internal memory.

Direct to TV Yes

PictBridge-enabled Yes

Included software Olympus Master™ image editing software I find that this software is easy to use. It makes it really easy to crop, email, and order prints of your pictures. System requirements for the software are : Windows® 98SE/2000 Pro/Me/XP /Mac® OS X 10.2 and higher




There is a 12 month parts and labor warranty. This camera also came with 2 AA batteries, mine were Panasonic brand, but I bought some digital camera batteries. The Panasonic batteries lasted about 3 days. It also comes with a carrying strap that you put on yourself, but no camera case.

On some digital cameras, it is so hard to get to the pictures that you took. Not with this camera. On the right side of the screen, you will see two buttons, one that has a picture of a red camera on it, with a red LCD light, and one with a green play button with a green LCD light. When you want to take a picture, push the red camera button. When you want to look at your pictures, push the green button. Easy.

As for modes of taking pictures, they are located on a little wheel located on the right of the camera. When you turn the wheel, the screen will also tell you what mode you are in. The modes are:

Auto- uhhhh- I guess for just regular picture taking situations. I usually have it on this.
Portrait – for shooting portraits
Landscapes- for shooting landscapes
Night scene- for shooting illuminated scenes at night- that mode works too- more on that later.
Self portrait- for taking pics of yourself while holding the camera
Movie- for making movies – I have never used this- I feel like that is what I own a video camera for.



Flash options

If you have it set on auto- that means the flash will fire automatically in any light conditions.
Red eye reduction- does what it says, reduces red eye by firing pre flashes before the regular flash.

Fill in flash- flash fires regardless of light condition.

No flash- no flash fires at all.


When storing on internal memory:

When you store on internal memory, your camera will only be able to hold so many pictures:

SHQ 2272x1704 9 pics
HQ 2272x1704 29 pics ( I use this)
SQ 1 1600x1200 43 pics
SQ 2 640x480 179 pics

The lower the resolution you use, the lower the picture quality will be. I find that the HQ setting delivers a good quality picture, and it holds more than my APS film camera, which only holds 24 shots.



Ok, let’s get basic- How to take a picture:

Be sure you are in the camera mode- you will see a red LCD light if you are. Using the screen, get your subject in the screen, and depress the shutter button completely. (the shutter button is located on the right side). Done. You have taken a picture, congratulations.

How to view a picture:

Be sure you are in the playback mode- you will see a green LCD light if you are. Using the buttons on the right side, you will be able to scroll using the left and right keys through your pictures. Want to delete one? Just hit the red trash can icon located under the viewing screen. It will ask are you sure, yes or no, and just scroll to the appropriate answer using the up/down keys on the right, and then hit ok, which is located in the middle of your up/down left/right buttons. Ta- da!! Even my 4 year old can do that with a little assistance. Also, another note on the viewing pictures- you can view all your pictures as thumbnail images on the camera also.

Installing the software:

For me, I just stuck the cd in there and it loaded itself with little help. Be sure you have this done before you try to load any pics.

Getting the pics on your computer:

Connect the USB cable to your camera, located in a little covered compartment on the left side, then connect to the computer. The camera will come on by itself and then you will see a screen that says PC, print, or exit. Scroll to the appropriate choice and hit ok.

The software (again)

From here, you will be able to browse, email, delete, transfer, and edit your pictures. You may also order prints online, but I have yet to do that. The software does come with instructions, but I haven’t read them. I prefer the trial and error method. This software will break your pics down into a calendar, showing which shots you took on which days. I find this an easy way to find birthday, & special occasion pictures.

This software is really weird- for a while it worked fine, but later on it got to where it would not send pictures in emails anymore- it would either fail to do it or it would just send a blank email. It got to be annoying, I would have to copy them to another folder and then email them from there.

Final Thoughts:

Well, here are some positive things about having a digital camera. You know how you always seem to chop someone’s head off in one of your pictures? With a digital camera, you can just delete the picture if you do that. No wasted film on that picture. With a digital camera, you may also email pics to friends and relatives. Sure, you could order a picture cd with your regular film, but that costs about a dollar more at development. My development cost with my APS film was costing me at least $6.96 for 24 pictures. It can get quite expensive. With a digital camera, I can choose the shots I want to get printed, and not worry about the rest. I have found that all of the picture taking modes work well- even the night mode- I went outside at dark and took a picture of the yard, and it came out like it was daytime!!

The software is really the downfall of this camera, at first it was great and easy to work, and I never quite figured out why it kept acting crazy.

I like this camera because it is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, but yet all of the buttons are easy to touch and use. They are not so small that you hit every button when you are trying to use it. It is really simple and easy to use- I did not even really read the directions all the way through. I just played with it.

Well, like I said before, I am in no way a technical guru, and I tried really hard to explain about all the bells and whistles of this camera. I really like it a lot and recommend it to anyone that wants a simple, compact, and easy to use camera- that does not mind not having a viewfinder. It really does not bother me a bit. Also, this camera is a cute little fella- I think it is really stylish.

Oh, also when you register your camera with Olympus, you can sign up for monthly emails that have tips and such you can use with your camera- I find them really helpful.

Thanks for reading!!!