Tag Archives: Olympus

The Car Boot £3 Classic – The Olympus XA Review

I’d never been convinced that Car boots are always work outs great for camera hunters. Sure you’ll find late AF zoom compact for the same price as you’d pay on eBay  less postage  but IMHO til then true bargains are rare and balanced by someone trying to sell a Knackered Praktica for 50 quid. All that changed when I spotted this grubby number.

How much ? Three Quid  – I didn’t stop to haggle.

Continue reading The Car Boot £3 Classic – The Olympus XA Review

Step Class – The compact AF camera’s hidden secret (or How the mju won the compact war)

Think your mighty compact focuses seamless ?

Well think again ! Even high end models focus in a series of zones called focusing steps, Not that most manufacturers let you know. But in 1991, Olympus were only too keen to tell us with the μ[mju:] (aka mju-1 or Stylus) a camera that changed the face of the AF compact market. Continue reading Step Class – The compact AF camera’s hidden secret (or How the mju won the compact war)

Bridging the Gap ?- Olympus iS-1000 Review

Want a step up from a zoom compact but don’t want to commit to a SLR ? Well the Olympus  IS-1000  might be for you. Costing hundreds at launch this  1990  bridge camera now can be bought for a tenner or less. But how does it compare to other compacts and modern cameras ?

Continue reading Bridging the Gap ?- Olympus iS-1000 Review

Prestige and the Duds – The Olympus mju-I nearly reviewed

Oh dear ! I had a lot of hope when I started out to test this camera but 3 dud ones later I’m not sure.  The mju-I (aka mju,  µ[mju] or ∞stylus) was the camera that launched the mju series and would lead to the much sought after mju II (aka Stylus Epic) -one of those  prestige fixed focal length compacts that change hands for lots of Dosh. Some feel the much cheaper mju-I is just as good but as we’ll see things didn’t work out for me… Continue reading Prestige and the Duds – The Olympus mju-I nearly reviewed

7 Cult Classics To watch out for in January Auctions

With the festive period upon us, it is easy to forget that the Canny Photographer’s auction season is about to begin. Once the mince pies foils and empty port bottles head off for recycling, many folk decide now is the time to clear out stuff and the period up to Easter tends to feature a surplus of thing appearing in auctions or second hand sites while many buyers are actually of the game trying to pay off the festive overdraft Continue reading 7 Cult Classics To watch out for in January Auctions

Olympus PEN EE-2 Update – Fixed for Good ?

Earlier this year I got my hands on an Olympus PEN EE-2 half frame compact. I took an instant love to the camera and rushed out a 1 roll review

Papa's got a Brand new Half Frame bag
Olympus PEN EE-2 half-frame 35mm camera

But how is it bedding in and does it still deserve the raving I gave it. Continue reading Olympus PEN EE-2 Update – Fixed for Good ?

Olympus Supertrip 1 Roll Review – Poundland Challenge Camera No 15

The Olympus Supertrip sounds pretty ominous. Olympus continued to use the mighty Trip name on a range of P&S camera after the last Trip 35 rolled of the line and they often derided as being poor seconds. So can this fixed focus 35mm flash compact up to its super moniker ?

Olympus Supertrip
Olympus Supertrip 35mm Fixed-focus 80’s compact

Continue reading Olympus Supertrip 1 Roll Review – Poundland Challenge Camera No 15

Olympus PEN EE-2 : 1st Roll Review

You’ve probably gathered I’ve a bit of a soft spot for Olympus compacts and when I stumbled across this on eBay I took a punt on this Half-frame, fixed focus wonder. This is a quick review based on just one roll

Papa's got a Brand new Half Frame bag
Olympus PEN EE-2 half-frame 35mm camera

Continue reading Olympus PEN EE-2 : 1st Roll Review