Olympus u [mju:] Digital 800 review

Performance
We have few complaints about the camera's speed relative to its class. It's ready to shoot within 2 seconds of powering on and takes about 1.7 seconds between shots. Add a flash to the mix, though, and you may have to wait up to 5 seconds to get the next shot. At its maximum resolution, the µ Digital 800 captured 3 images at a little more than 1.6 frames per second. Dropping the resolution slowed it to 1.3fps -- but the camera kept shooting and shooting and shooting.

The 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD, which uses a light-gathering method that Olympus dubs HyperCrystal, works quite well under almost all conditions and maintains brightness well in low light. There's no optical viewfinder, but we didn't miss it. However, the somewhat slow refresh rate in low light was a little distracting.

Autofocus performed better than expected in low light, given its lack of an AF illuminator. However, even using spot AF, we had some problems coaxing the camera into focusing on our subject and not the background.

Shooting speed
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Samsung Digimax V700

4.3

2.7

0.4

Olympus µ Digital 800

1.7

2

0.6

Canon Digital IXUS 700

1.5

1.4

0.6

Pentax Optio WP

3.5

3.6

0.9

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P200

1.6

2

0.9

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Typical continuous-shooting speed

Samsung Digimax V700

0.6

Olympus µ Digital 800

1.3

Canon Digital IXUS 700

1.7

Pentax Optio WP

0.8

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P200

1.1

Image quality
We were pleasantly surprised by some of our test shots and sorely disappointed in others. On the plus side, the Olympus µ Digital 800 delivered generally accurate, nicely saturated colours. Exposures were also relatively good, although using fill flash often left us with burned-out highlights and an odd, overprocessed look. In macro mode, the flash powered down nicely to avoid overexposure, however. Detail capture wasn't bad, but it could have been crisper.

At low ISO settings, the noise levels were more than acceptable, but when we used the Indoor scene mode, the camera's new Bright Capture Technology took over and pushed the ISO speed to 2,500 -- even when we used the flash -- resulting in horrible noise and a mottled image. While some other cameras employ the same sort of automatic ISO boost, we still don't like the lack of control.

Edited by Lori Grunin
Additional editing by Nick Hide