Seeing as the price of the Olympus Mju has shot up beyond most people’s budget and with this having the same f2.8 aperture…I wondered, is it just as good for a fraction of the price? I thought I would find out and I got this one for £4.99 not even 10% of the Mju’s current prices.
It was originally produced in 1986 and was the very first weatherproof camera. It was nicknamed “Nurepika” (wet flash) in Japan. You can read more about the history of waterproof cameras and this camera at Olympus’ own website.
For this “early” point and shoot, it also boasts a focus lock feature, though it is tricky to use. To activate it you have to press a button next to the viewfinder, which is a bit of an awkward location. The flash fires when the light available is not sufficient, there is no override. You can find more technical details here, and some example photos.
I tried an expired XP2 Super, which I have never used before. It was perfect for this outing as it could be developed in a C41 process. That meant I could get it developed and scanned at a local camera shop before I headed home.
Here are the results.
The first few shots seem to be overlapping, but then the camera sorts itself out. The flower shots are out of focus as I did not use the focus button correctly.
I do not like the results from the film. They are all quite dark and lack contrast. I decided to try another film to give it a chance as I could see that most of the shots were sharp.
The second film I tried was a Fujicolor 400 that I brought back from Japan. I went to Nostell Priory This time I actively tried to use the autofocus correctly. I found that pressing the extra button sometimes caused me to pull the camera to the side, so I was expecting some camera shake on the test film.
So, it doesn’t do well when pointed towards the sun, but otherwise, it seems ok. It is not my favourite camera, the focus lock button is slightly awkward. But, it is an absolute bargain if you can find a good one.
I actually sold mine straight away as I have quite a few point and shoots, I have no need for this one.
What an odd AF system!!
It really was. I think you would have to use this camera a lot for it to be intuitive.
I have this camera and I believe that the ‘auto focus’ button is actually a focus lock button. It’s only used when you wish your subject to be off centre in the frame. It’s the same as other auto focus cameras where you would half press the shutter button to lock on then recompose the scene to have your subject off centre. I assume they had to add an extra button to do this because the shutter button is sort of squishy and you would be unable to half press it.
You are right, no wonder I having some issues the second time using it. The first time I used it like that, then read an article that said I was wrong so used it as an autofocus not a lock. Still in an awkward place though 🙂 I will change the post accordingly.
And fixed, hope it is more accurate now and that will teach me to trust my instincts….and read the manual.
I was also confused at first as to whether I needed to press it for every shot or not. I had to look at the instruction booklet to figure it out. Happy shooting (although with the grotty weather we are having at the moment (here in London at least) if may be hard to get a decent shot 🙂