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Olympus FE-200

First Impressions Review

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Physical Tour

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Design / Layout
November 20, 2006 By James Murray
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Viewfinder
The Olympus FE-200 lacks a viewfinder so photographers will need to be a little more aware about battery life because they will have to rely on the battery-draining LCD monitor.  This isn’t a huge setback and we’re seeing more and more point-and-shoot camera manufacturers do away with the real-image optical viewfinder.  The major reason for this not being a detrimental reduction is primarily because of the framing inaccuracy and the small size of the viewfinders that make shooting a hassle.  If you’re a photographer that tends to overlook battery life it might be a wise idea to purchase an additional battery and just carry it in a back pocket when shooting for longer periods of time.
 
LCD Screen
The LCD screen on the Olympus FE-200 is located on the back of the camera body and measures 2.5 inches diagonally with a total pixel count of 153,600.  When shooting with the FE-200, the only visual indication that an image is ready to be photographed is when a small green dot appears in the upper left corner of the LCD.  When shooting in more complicated lighting it was often necessary to shoot two or three images before an accurate image could be captured due to the LCD.  This was due partially to the display not providing a preview of image quality adjustments like the white balance correction until capture had begun.  Solarization wasn’t a huge issue in most situations and the brightness control in the setup menu did help in making the otherwise lackluster screen appear more contrasty.
 
Flash
The flash is one of the few things that photographers using the Olympus FE-200 will be able to control.  This is something that is always nice to have as an adjustable option and especially in the case of the FE-200.  When shooting with the flash set to Auto, this camera tends to always engage the flash regardless of how strong the lighting is in the shooting situation.  In an overly bright classroom lit with fluorescent lighting the camera engaged the flash as well as when shooting outdoors at one in the afternoon with full sun.  The only times that the flash wasn’t engaged was when the camera was pointed directly at a light source.  The problem with this is that in addition to always being used in auto mode, the flash is also exceedingly aggressive in its brilliance and strength.  Subjects illuminated five away from this flash were cast in a deathly white glow that simultaneously destroyed any nuance in skin tone or three-dimensionality of subject.  The flattened results were far from flattering. 
 
Luckily this flash is user-controllable and besides image quality it is probably the most important feature a user can learn when shooting with this point-and-shoot camera.  The flash settings can be accessed by pressing the right arrow of the four-way control on the back of the camera body to the right of the LCD screen.  Pressing this control will activate a full-screen semi-transparent overlay in blue that displays four icons on the left side of the LCD.  The rest of the LCD will display textual descriptions of these flash icons and will provide information on when it would be appropriate to engage said flash parameter.  The flash settings provided with this camera allow for adjustments between auto, red-eye, fill in and no flash.  The fill in flash will engage the flash in every image no matter the lighting conditions. 
 
The flash for the FE-200 is horizontal in orientation and positioned above and off-axis from the lens of the camera.   This location will complicate any attempt to accomplish an evenly illuminated composition since a strong shadow is normally cast from right to left across subjects when the flash was turned on.  The flash working range is 0.7 to 8.2 feet in wide-angle and 2.0 to 5.6 feet in telephoto.  It’s advised to position subjects at the longer side of this range however since 2 feet in wide angle is like being lit by a helicopter during a police chase.

Zoom Lens
The zoom lens on the Olympus FE-200 is an Olympus 5x optical zoom lens with maximum apertures of f/3.3 in wide and f/4.8 in telephoto.  Other cameras available in this price range can be found to sport a maximum aperture of f/2.8 that can definitely come in handy when shooting in lower light conditions. The zoom lens extends out from the body of the camera when power is engaged. When not in use, the lens will be protected with an automatic lens cover than snaps cleanly over the lens surface.  The lens has a length of 4.6 - 23mm (28 - 140mm equivalency in 35 mm photography) with 9 lenses in 7 groups.  The zoom length is controlled through a zoom ring that surrounds the shutter button on the top of the camera body.  The camera moved smoothly and with relative quickness through the entire zoom range. This camera does not accept conversion lenses of any kind.
 
With a focal lens length of 28mm at its widest, photographers should find that the camera is able to handle larger group portraits.  The FE-200 needs image stabilization with the total optical zoom level of 5x and while digital image stabilization is better than nothing it still isn’t as effective as the optical image stabilization found with Panasonic cameras, for example.  The digital image stabilization definitely helped out with slight camera shake but blurred images did still occasionally slip through even with this feature engaged.  One-handed shooting is especially problematic because of the 5x optical zoom and the utter lack of grip in addition to the bulk and overall build of the camera. 
 

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Olympus FE-200
First Impressions Review
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Previous: Page 2

Physical Tour

Previous: Page 4

Design / Layout