Color (3.64)
All cameras reproduce colors differently, such as blue skies, green foliage, and skin tones. We test color accuracy by photographing an industry standard GretagMacbeth ColorChecker test chart and comparing the colors the camera reproduces with the known colors of the test chart. The ColorChecker consists of 24 color tiles, each showing a different color from around the color spectrum. The image below shows how accurate the Olympus FE-300’s colors are. The outside squares show the colors the FE-300 reproduces, the inside squares show the actual colors of the ColorChecker corrected for luminance, and the inner rectangles show the actual colors of the ColorChecker under a perfectly even exposure. We manually white balance cameras to get the white balance as accurate as possible, but the FE-300 lacks a Manual white balance setting, so we switched it over to the tungsten preset (which is more accurate under tungsten lights than the Auto setting).
Comparing the outer squares with the inner squares, you can see in the image that almost all the color tiles stray greatly from their actual colors. Notice how the blues turn purple and the yellows turn green. Also, many of the colors are undersaturated, meaning your photos will not only have inaccurate colors, but may look quite dull. The graph below shows color accuracy in a more quantitative way. The locations of the ColorChecker’s known colors are shown as squares on the color spectrum, and the colors the FE-300 reproduces are shown as circles. The lines connecting the squares and circles show the amount of color error for each color tile.
The graph reaffirms the amount of color error seen in the image above. Many of the colors are shifted dramatically — especially yellows, greens, and blues. This will turn blue skies purple, green trees blue, and may make skin tones look very pale. The FE-300 doesn’t improve upon the poor color accuracy of its predecessor, the FE-250.
Resolution (7.16)
Megapixels are everything in the marketing of digital cameras, and manufacturers keep cramming more pixels onto their camera sensors. With 12 megapixels, the FE-300, along with the Stylus 1200, is a new landmark for Olympus. We put its resolution to the test by photographing an industry standard resolution test chart at varied focal lengths and exposure settings. We run our photos through Imatest, which evaluates resolution in terms of line widths per picture height (lw/ph), which represent the number of equally-spaced, alternating black and white lines that can fit across the picture frame before becoming blurred.
Click on the chart above to view the full resolution version
The FE-300 proves to be sharpest at ISO 50, f/4.1, and a focal length of 17mm. The camera resolves 1753 lw/ph horizontally with 1.1 percent oversharpening, and 1898 lw/ph vertically with 1.9 percent oversharpening. These are solid resolution scores, and show that the camera can produce sharp images without significant oversharpening. This means photos will be bereft of ugly image artifacts. Unfortunately, the great resolution only applies to the centers of the photos, which get blurry at the edges. Be aware of this if you plan to crop your photos or print them large.
Still Life Sequences
Click to view the high-resolution image
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Still Life Scene
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ISO 50
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ISO 50
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ISO 100
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ISO 100
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ISO 200
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ISO 200
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ISO 400
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ISO 400
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ISO 800
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ISO 800
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ISO 1600
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ISO 1600
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Noise – Manual ISO (5.15)
Digital camera photos are subject to ugly grainy or splotchy “noise” that can obscure fine image detail. Noise is an unavoidable product of a camera’s electronics, and is generally more apparent at higher ISO sensitivities. We test image noise by photographing our test chart under bright, even studio lights at all ISO speeds a camera offers at full resolution. We run the photos through Imatest, which measures noise by the percentage of image detail it drowns out (see graph below).
The FE-300 keeps noise very low at ISO 50 and 100, but the noise becomes much more apparent at higher ISO speeds. At ISO 1600 the camera automatically smoothes over the noise, making it slightly less ugly, but also smearing lots of image detail. The noise itself is very ugly, consisting of small multi-colored splotches that make high ISO images resemble city streets covered in trod-upon chewing gum. The ISO 50 setting is great, so keep it on this whenever you’re shooting in bright light. You won’t want to print large prints of any photos taken at ISO speeds above 200.
Noise – Auto ISO (2.17)
We also evaluate image noise with cameras set to Auto ISO, which is what many people looking to buy this camera will set it to. Under the same bright studio lights described above, the FE-300 shot at ISO 125 and kept noise reasonably low. The camera seems to know its lower ISO speeds are better and automatically adjusts, which is great news for shooters who like to keep it simple.
White Balance (5.36)
As we mentioned in the color section above, accurate white balance is essential in providing accurate color reproduction. The FE-300 has no Manual white balance, so users must rely on the Auto setting or menu of presets. We test white balance accuracy by photographing the ColorChecker test chart under four types of light: flash, fluorescent, outdoor shade, and tungsten. We test the Auto setting and the presets under each light source. The FE-300 could not focus on the chart in the dark, and thus could not provide accurate results using the flash.
Auto (6.22)
With white balance set to Auto, the FE-300 is very accurate in outdoor shade, mediocre under fluorescent light, and very poor under tungsten light. It should be fine leaving the camera on Auto white balance when shooting outdoors, but beware of ugly color casts when shooting inside.
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Auto WB - Fluorescent Illumination
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Auto WB - Shade Illumination
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Auto WB - Tungsten Illumination
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Preset (4.49)
Using the white balance presets found in the white balance menu, the camera is adequately accurate under fluorescent light, where it has three options, but poor using outdoor cloudy or tungsten. The moral of this story is that it is much easier to leave this camera set to Auto white balance than to bother with the presets.
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Fluorescent 1 WB - Fluorescent Illumination
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Fluorescent 2 WB - Fluorescent Illumination
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Fluorescent 3 WB - Fluorescent Illumination
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Shade WB - Shade Illumination
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Tungsten WB - Tungsten Illumination
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Low Light (5.23)
We test camera performance in less-than-ideal conditions by photographing our test charts at low light levels of 60, 30, 15, and 5 lux. Sixty lux corresponds roughly to a room lit softly by two table lamps, 30 lux is about the brightness of a room lit by a single 40-watt bulb, 15 lux is as dim as a room lit only by a television screen, and 5 lux is very dim and tests the limits of camera sensors. All shots are taken at ISO 1600.
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Low Light Tests
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60 Lux
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30 Lux
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15 Lux
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5 Lux
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The FE-300 can’t quite expose properly at 5 lux, showing the camera has a limit in low light. At 15 lux and above color accuracy isn’t much worse than in bright light, but that isn’t saying much. You can see in the images above how muted the colors look. At ISO 1600 the images look very “soft” because of the smoothing the camera has applied. It’s almost enough to make some photos look out of focus.
We also test camera performance in long exposures, but only at ISO 400 so we can evenly compare different cameras. The FE-300 cannot take an exposure longer than 0.5 seconds at ISO 400 (and only 4 seconds otherwise). This is not a camera to buy if you’re dying to capture some star trails at night.
Dynamic Range (5.73)
Dynamic range is an important image quality factor that tells how many shades of gray a camera can discern. In practice, this means a camera with good dynamic range will be able to show detail in both the bright highlights as well as the dark shadows in the same photo. This is particularly important for scenes of high contrast, such as weddings or outdoor landscapes in bright sunlight. We test dynamic range by photographing a backlit Stouffer test chart at each ISO speed a camera offers. The Stouffer chart consists of a long row of rectangles, each a slightly darker shade of gray, varying from brightest white to darkest black. The more rectangles the camera can discern, the better its dynamic range.
The FE-300 has excellent dynamic range at ISO 50, but falls off at higher ISO speeds. Dynamic range is closely related to noise levels, so as we mentioned in the noise section above, keep this camera at low ISO speeds whenever possible. It may be the difference between capturing a magnificent thunderhead on the horizon and rendering the cloud a big blown-out blob of white.
Speed/Timing – All speed tests were conducted using an Olympus 256 MB xD-Picture Card, with the camera set to SHQ, unless otherwise noted.
Startup to First Shot (7.6)
The FE-300 takes 2.4 seconds to turn on and fire a shot.
Shot-to-Shot (0.0)
The 12-megapixel FE-300 has no official Burst mode at full resolution, most likely due to the extremely long time it takes to process one photo. The camera does, however, include 3-frame sequential shooting in Auction or Smile Shot scene modes, which reduces resolution.
Shutter-to-Shot (9.0)
The camera has no measurable lag when the shutter is held halfway down and prefocused, and has a lag of 0.5 seconds when not prefocused.
Processing (1.6)
The FE-300 takes a sloth-like 4.2 seconds to process one 4.5 MB SHQ photo shot at ISO 50.
Video Performance (3.42)
Bright Indoor Light – 3000 lux
We shoot footage of our color charts under bright studio lights set to 3000 lux. Under these bright tungsten lights, the FE-300 has extreme color error but low noise.
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Low Light – 30 lux
We also record footage in low light, with the studio lights dimmed to 30 lux. In low indoor light the color accuracy is just as poor, and the noise is a bit higher. Still, the performance isn’t as poor as other cameras we have tested.
Resolution
We record footage of our resolution test chart to see how well the camera’s resolution is in Movie mode. Video resolution is much more strongly affected by processing and compression than still resolution is. In Movie mode, the FE-300 resolves 255 lw/ph horizontally with 18.6 percent undersharpening, and 328 lw/ph vertically with 1 percent undersharpening. This is solid resolution for a digital camera’s Movie mode, and you can see the lack of image artifacts in the crops below.
Outdoor Motion
We take cameras outside to capture footage of moving cars and pedestrians on the street. The FE-300’s video looks good overall, with nice color and contrast, showing the huge difference in color accuracy between indoor light and outdoor light. The video is by no means flawless however, with some apparent moiré, bleeding highlights, and jerkiness to objects moving out of the frame.
