Olympus FE-300 review

Image quality
Despite solid colour reproduction, the FE-300's pictures ultimately disappoint. At ISO 50 or ISO 100 sensitivity, pictures look reasonably sharp and crisp, though fine textures tend to look a touch smoothed down. At higher sensitivity levels, however, the camera's flaws really start to appear.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T20

1.3

1.3

0.4

Canon Digital IXUS 950 IS

1.7

1.2

0.5

Canon Digital IXUS 960 IS

2

1.3

0.5

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100

2.3

2.4

0.6

Olympus FE-300

3.6

2.3

0.9

 
Surprisingly high levels of noise appear at ISO 200, and at ISO 400, grain consumes nearly all fine details. At ISO 800, noise destroys details to the point where the camera's 12-megapixel pictures would look disappointing coming from an 8-megapixel camera. By the time you get up to ISO 1,600, all fine details disappear into blotchy smears.

For Web sites, emails, and smaller prints, the FE-300's photos should be fine in most cases. If you plan to blow up or crop down your pictures to any significant extent, though, you'll need to shoot in ISO 50 or ISO 100 to avoid a major drop in detail.

For a 12-megapixel camera, the FE-300's pictures simply don't live up to what they could be. While they are more expensive, compact 8-megapixel shooters like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 and Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS produce pictures that can be made into larger, nicer-looking prints than the FE-300.

Conclusion
The Olympus FE-300 impressed us as one of the smallest, least expensive 12-megapixel digital cameras out there. Unfortunately, its slow performance and poor image quality makes us reach for our older 8-megapixel stand-bys.

If you really want a 12-megapixel shooter, drop the extra £50 or so for a better model like the Canon Digital IXUS 960 IS or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100. If price, not resolution, is your hot button, consider instead a solid 8-megapixel camera like the Canon Digital IXUS 950 IS or the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T20. Their comparable picture quality and significantly faster performance represent better values, even if with their lower resolutions.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday