I've owned a 3MP Olympus for years and really like it so I went with Olympus again. These 7MP pictures aren't as clear as my older camera, especially indoors. I did want a smaller, lighter camera and I did get that. I do like the size and I definitely wanted one that took AA batteries so it will work for me since I just am a very amateur photographer but for those who take it more seriously I would go with something else.

and if you want image quality, don't buy this camera. I have a six year old Olympus C-2100 ultra zoom 2.1 MP camera, and the reason I have never upgraded is because the image quality is simply sensational on that camera. So I bought another Olympus thinking that the state of the art would have improved even more. However, my six year old camera simply blows away this one when it comes to image quality. Yes, it's big and clunky compared to this one, and this camera is easier to use, but at the end of the day what difference does that make if the pictures aren't as good?

Specifically, the edges are too "soft", particularly indoors with the relatively weak flash. Also very grainy in low-light situations.

I was simply astounded when I compared the 400KB jpeg files from my old camera to the 2.5MB pictures from this one. There is really no comparison. Everything from color correction, color fidelity, sharpness, graininess: simply EVERYTHING is better on the old images.

So next time I'm looking for a compact camera, I'll do more homework first. I think it's back to the store with this one, which I have dubbed the "disc camera" (remember those?) of digital cameras.

Slick camera. Very good picture quality, many options, small and light weight, very nice software that comes with the camera. Battery life is somewhat average, so stock up on some rechargeable AA's.

I purchased this camera as a backup to my Olympus Ultra zoom (which I Love) for a vacation in Disney. I read the reviews but never noticed anyone complain about the lag time between focusing and actually taking the picture. It is SLOW! If you have a toddler and need to snap a quick picture, keep looking at other cameras. I missed more fantastic shots because of this lag time. I did further investigating when I got home thinking maybe it was my choice in batteries and found that out of 87 cameras reviewed it was the 2nd slowest.

The picture quality is fine. It is easy to use and extremely small but it eats batteries. I can go a full day in Disney with my ultra zoon and I had to change my FE-210 batteries twice to keep up with my other camera.

My recommendation is to save your money and get a better Olympus!

I bought this to replace a dead Canon Powershot A70 3.2 mega P's.

And guess what .. the old Canon has better quality photos. Clearer, sharper, plain better. I got this at a bargain price .. I'll give it to my wife and do some serious looking and review reading. I didn't want more mega P's I've never printed larger than 8 by 10 and 3.2 megas dealt with that OK.

This past week I've gone through two brand new Sony cameras and returned them within days, very disappointed. I am FINALLY pleased with this camera! The only drawback so far is no sound for the movie - which is just ridiculous. Why would anyone want to shoot a silent movie, Olympus? However, the picture quality is very good, and the automated settings seem to be wonderful.

Buyer beware - this camera requires an OLYMPUS xd card for special features such as Panorama and Art Work. Any other kind of card will certainly work, but just not for the said features. And although this camera is awesome, I too wonder why the picture quality isn't AS good as my old, chunky 3.2mp Sony. They lost quality for megapixels - BIG BUMMER!

Some people have complained about the image quality but i think its good for the money i paid. PLease dont compare this camera with others like Olympus Ultra zoom, they are in different categories.

CONS: The bad thing on this camera NO AUDIO IN VIDEO MODE.
PROS:-VERY EASY TO USE
-Low price
-It can be carry in a pants pocket

Even with lights turned on in the house AND flash..the photos come out dark and very "noisy" or pixelated...even while shooting on the highest quality. I thought I could trust a brand like Olympus but I'm sooo unhappy with this camera. I hate it; I suggest you save your money and get something else.

This camera is very simple and easy to use.I would have liked to have a built in Microphone in the camera since you can take short movies with it.
The camera is light weight and small easy to take along wherever you go.

The companion image editing software is disappointing, feature-wise, and has already crashed my (WinXP) system once.

The camera itself seems to have buggy firmware as well, though I haven't fully invested the time to learn every nuance of its operations, so in fact it may just have a crummy user interface (as opposed to bugs).

This camera is great. I have had it for over a year now and it still works as awesome as day one. I am about to purchase a second camera for another family member, and we will be buying this camera again. Its easy to use and works well with the computer. The software is great too. There is a help guide within the camera so if you're wondering about anything, its easy to figure out. It's also priced well, and works as good as an expensive camera.

Definitely not recommended.
Main problem: It's simply too slow to be of any use - the delay betwen pressing the shutter button and the camera actually taking the shot makes this camera next to useless. We took this to Six Flags and I took shots of the dolphin show which were useless as the camera cannot operate fast enough even in bright sunlight. I have replaced this with a Fuji z5 which is better in every respect.
(..and don't get me started on the pointlessness of 'feature' that allows you to shoot movies without sound...)

This camera is awful. The shutter is extremely slow and for a 7+ MP camera, the picture quality leaves a lot to be desired.

I've had a 3MP camera for 3 years so when I spotted this at a local best buy and saw the features on it, I figured that the quality would be better. It is! But what they had in common was no audio with the video! The memory card would get errors and freeze on me. I charged a new set of batteries and put it into the cam just to hear it beep and say that it's low and would turn off. Then after repeatedly turning it back on, it'll show that the battery is fully charged. It does that often. It's ridiculous, frustrating and the purchase isn't worth it. The lag on this camera is appalling. It'll take minutes to process a picture and by that time you're ready to scream like a madman in public.
If you're reading this, hit your back browser to another item.

I bought this camera specifically because it was deep-discounted. I needed an outdoor camera to record my travels to Hawaii's Volcano Park and Kaumana Caves. I didn't want to risk damaging my HP's.

Color photos are quite good, on a par with Hewlett-Packard's best. Videos can be shot, but sans sound. Silent movies in the 21st century? Come on, Olympus.

The chief complaint I have is the non-intuitive nature of this camera. I only slogged through the set-up because of past experiences with other cameras. This unit will frustrate a raw beginner, be forewarned. Also, this camera uses xD H/M cards, not the more common and cheaper sD's.

Software is intuitive and adequate. The FE-210 works well with other manufacturer's wares, too.

I was quite surprised at the weak flash unit. Dark exterior shots are a waste of time. The only good point is that red-eye is minimal. I returned my unit to the factory, only to be told that the flash was within specs.

There was one other problem, a chronic "low battery" warning. The factory informed me this was typical. The work-around was re-insertion of the two AA cells, then switch ON. Be careful with battery insertion, as the battery case cover can work loose easily. This design problem is typical of most manufacturers, in fact.

So in summary:

1) Color shots are satisfying.
2) Night shots are hit-and-miss, due to weak flash.
3) Set-up can be frustrating; don't make this your first dig cam.
4) After-purchase factory support is good.
5) Videos are high-quality but dead silent.

This is my second digital camara, same brand, same model both of them for gifts. This is amazing quality and excelent price. The only concern is that it doesn't have the way to do short videos with sound.
Regards

I have gone thru several digital cameras in the past few years. I had a $400 Nikon camera which decided to break on me 1 month after the 1 yr warranty. I had a Sony Cybershot (forgot which one) which lasted at least 2 yrs. But the new ones are not even close to the quality of the old ones. A Canon Powershot A530 - which got great reviews... but has a CONSTANT battery low blinking.. That only lasted 5 months. Lastly, a DXG (Kyocera) CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP $50 dig camera. Waste of money, stay away from it!! That thing is a joke! Anyhow, none of them lasted long for what I paid. I bought the Olympus this time, because regardless of the quality of the pictures, I wanted something that will LAST longer than 1 or 2 yrs this time. So far, so good. It's been 6-8 mos since I purchased it.

The quality of the pictures are not exceptional. But they take good enough pictures. I used to have to have a great camera for when I sold on ebay, but these are just general pictures I take now. Thank God for Jasc Paint Shop Pro.. at least with that, I can fix a lot of them. I will say though, it is a better quality camera for motion pictures. Most others I had before I would have to take numerous pictures if I didn't have a steady hand or whatever.

One thing I especially don't like about this camera. I've had a bunch of cheap AA batteries laying around that I wanted to use up. They don't even work. If you want this camera to last longer than one use, I highly suggest getting the Engergizer Lithium batteries. I miss the fact with my old cameras, you could just pop out the big battery and put it in the charger. They always had a much stronger charge time.

Overall, this camera is easy to use. Point and shoot, you can get done easily without any knowledge. Even if you want to use the other options, it's set up very easy to change the way it takes pictures. Overall, it's about a 3 out of 5 due for the fact it has only so-so quality pictures. Btw people.. those you not knowledgeable about megapixels.. You really don't even need a 7mp camera! You really only need a 3 or 4 sized one. 7mp will allow you to print a poster. and I'm sure most of you won't be doing that.

Bottom line. Do a lot of research prior to spending your money on a digital camera! As you can see, I have gone thru A LOT of them, and spent A LOT of money. And I'm getting no where fast. My most reliable camera for the past 5 yrs is a regular film camera I bought USED on ebay for $100 - Minolta QTsi. What a GREAT camera and absolute best quality pictures you can ever get!!

The Olympus FE-210 digital camera is an inexpensive 7.1 mega pixel camera and that is it. Though the quality of pictures is great (to be expected for a 7.1 mega pixel), there isn't much of an option for various resolution settings. For example, the lowest setting is 640 x 480 and then it jumps to 1920 x 1080 leaving out 3 other standard settings. Shutter speed and or reaction speed is slow leaving time for instability. It does have a built in stabilizer but even then, the reaction time is slow. The Olympus FE-210 takes 2 AA batteries which is a nice feature as compared to a custom battery but the camera sucks too much power so you'll need to buy quite a few if you're going to take a lot of pics for the day. The biggest gripe, no sound when recording a movie. A 7.1 mega pixel camera that doesn't record sound? Quote taken directly from their "Advanced manual": Recording movies Recording moving images. Sound is not recorded (end quote). And that does not mean that if you record non-moving images it will. Save your money until a 7.1 mega pixel camera is cheaper or just stick with a solid 5 mega pixel camera with better features.

This item is perfect for the beginner. Its pretty freakin great pictures. Have a good one.

For such a small package this is a versatile, easy to use camera. The image stabilization really helps since one can easily move when snapping. The extra zoom feature enables good closeups and images are easy to transfer to the PC. Seems to use battery power economically too.

I had owned two Olympus digital cameras and both were very nice in features and picture quality, but both died prematurely due to overly complex and silly mechanical features. So I decided to never buy an Olympus again. But I gave in for a gift because of the feature set, specs, and price (and it didn't have the mechanical feature). My niece opened it and Dead on Arrival! So she hands it to me: DEAD!

The stupid written manual is w/o the basics, like identifying each button and LED. The CD disc has the same problems. So maybe a DOA instrument is a fluke, but a cheap, worthless manual is an IQ test: if you buy an Olympus device then the company is assuming that you are from the shallow end of the gene pool!

You'll be very disappointed like me if you get your movies back from your children's music program, only to discover the camera didn't have sound. I suppose I should've noticed, but it was sold with comparable models which did record sound, and some quite well. There's a reason things are cheap.
Picture quality is OK but it really eats batteries - very obvious difference from other Olympus & Nikon cameras of similar type.

I gave this camera as a gift this past Christmas. I had a chance to use it and I give it a big thumbs up. Now, keep in mind this is a point and shoot style camera and if you're looking for 'pro' features and quality, go look at a Canon or Nikon SLR. I do reccomend this for a first time buyer on a budget and wants easy straight forward controls. It has high resolution for the price range, enough optical zoom to work with and a unique help screen that gives you tips and hints on how to take better photos in different situations.

This little camera is tough to beat since not many other manufacturers offer simlar features in this price range. The next closest one I would consider would be the Nikon L15 simply for it's size. I own Canon cameras myself but they don't offer one quite this small unless you spend $250 or more.

It does offer many automatic settings which will adjust settings to most typical shooting situations. I did notice that the flash can either overpower and washout photos if you're too close or be underpowered if you try to zoom on a subject in low light settings. There isn't much you can do but I suggest that you try to use the flast on subjects atleast 5-6 feet from the camera and no more than 8-10 feet. There's not much you can do to compensate for the lighting other than to have actual light on your subject. But for just over 100 some odd bucks, this is a camera worth looking at.

I bought this because it was cheap and it had good reviews on CNET. I am generally satisifed. The only problems I have are the slow shutter speed and the quality of zoomed-in images.

To all the people who are whining about no sound recording, 1. do some research and check out the specs on CNET, and 2. PAY MORE MONEY IF YOU WANT MORE FEATURES!

Unless you have brand new Duracell or Energizer batteries in there, it will likely say "Empty Battery" and shut down. Since rechargeable batteries have slightly lower voltage, you will not get very far with it, or be continually charging batteries. Testing out the batteries with a tester and have the dial rate them Good and/or green is not good enough for this little pest. It may be a defective sensor, but I have a feeling this new camera will be in a landfill before the week is out.

Back to 35mm. It have served me well for 25 years.

Its a good camera. Set it on its highest setting for pictures though. Pictures on lower settings look like poo. Blurry poo at that. Ans it takes like 4 seconds from the time you push the button on top to the time the camera actually decides to take the picture. Kids and Animals don't have the patience wait for a flash. This is still a good camera though. Do buy a camera case! I let mine flop around in my purse and sure enough somehow a scratch appeared on the lens. $80 to repair! yuck thats almost what it cost. I learned my lesson a bought a case.

This is a very good camera with all the features you need, and easy to use and giving you a superior quality.

I bought this at a local Staples for $89.99 just after Christmas - sorry Amazon! I use it primarily for shooting photos that will end up on the web, and it has performed very well. I've owned other Olympus cameras, so I had plenty of spare xD cards and after a little familiarization, I get along great with the camera. I like it well enough that I'm going to pick another up to give as a gift. (I was in that same Staples earlier today; the camera was selling for $109.99 on closeout. Amazon wins this round...)

A bit of advice: Don't get it wet and don't take it out if it's too cold. Learn the features before you need them! And take along LOTS of spare batteries. Like all of my Olympus cameras, this eats batteries. I always carry 4 spare AA's in the camera case.

I've hauled mine around in my motorcycle's saddlebags in a soft case and used it during stops with no problem at all. I've had it out for long periods in temps down to 40 degrees with no problem and have used it outdoors well below freezing, but I carried it from inside and didn't let it cool down much before I was back inside.

Shutter is slow (note price of camera!) but long range action shots work pretty well. If you have to have speed, buy up. I bought this primarily to have a camera that would fit in my pocket and take decent pictures.

If you want a decent little camera for not much money, you simply can't beat this for bang for the buck. It's everything I expected and more.

Bought and returned FE-210 today...after 2 sets of tested good NiMH batteries kicked up "Battery empty" error messages. A quick Google search showed problem is ubiquitous. This will be my last Olympus.

This camera, while inexpensive is not worth buying, here's why. Basically, having owned several digicams before, this camera is slow. Aperture is not large enough and the flash blows out peoples faces. IF you need a camera for taking still shots outside, I guess this will be OK

This camera was brought to replace a Sony 3.1 mega-pixel. This camera is horrible and has the nerve to display a "movie recorder" as one of it's "features" but has NO SOUND! What a waste of money. Get something better.

This camera has a "battery empty" problem. It doesn't matter how many new batteries you buy, it will continue giving the same message. I bought the camera because of the brand, but this is the last Olympus camera I will ever buy.

I bought the FE-210 locally because it was on sale for only $69, and I thought it would be handy as a backup camera. Couldn't lose on a 7.1 megapixel model for that price, right? WRONG. It's been a big disappointment, even considering the low price. Yes, it's convenient and easy to use. But the image quality is unbelievably poor, and the shutter lag is just awful. I'd never recommend this model, not even to a beginner. For $25-$50 more, you can find something much better. Keep looking ...

My first foray into digital photography, and it's great. Takes some getting used to not having a miniscule viewfinder to squint into, but great. Looking forward to the summer, travel and lots of pics to download. Great buy.

I got this as a part of a rewards program, so I didn't know exactly what I was getting before it came, but I was hoping to have a cute birthday present for my almost 14 year old. When I read the reviews, I got nervous. So I popped it out and took it around with me a couple days, including an evening at a Sonics game that the hubby won tix for.

I didn't run out of battery power, so I am thinking consumption is on the high average of most digital equipment. The lag time is what it is for most dig cameras, you can't spend a hundred bucks and think you will get something that speedy. It was as slow as my 3 year old 5mp that I love, and yep I have to anticipate the shot for it.

Really the critical thing is the prints, and yes they are soft. That is because a 1gb card can hold 500 somthing on "normal" on a 7mp camera!!! The compression rate is extreme!!! I set it to fine, and when looking at the photos, print size is about 8x10, give or take, but looking at pixel size it is incredibly artifacted.

So if you want something that gives you phenomenal enlargements, well nope, but even tho my daughter shows signs of wanting to follow in my photographic footsteps, this is the camera she can take all around with her, goof around with her friends, and come to me if she wants something more artistic.

People who are severely disappointed with it, well the best quality and features cost more than a hundred bucks.

I'm not someone who can afford a pricier camera but I love to take good pictures when I can. Mostly, I take pictures of my family, pets, vacations, and some random nature shots. I previously had Fuji cameras and were very happy with them. When it was time to move from my 4 megapixels Fuji to something with more mega pixels, I decided to go with this camera for the price and because it could use the same memory cards as the Fuji.
Without a doubt, the regular pictures that I took with this Olympus were wonderful. They were crisp and clear, even after cropping. The only thing is that some times the pictures were a little dull but I would simply darken the contrast with the software and the colors would turn truer and more vivid. I loved the clean, larger, close up videos as well (although I wished it had sound).
However, I still used my Fuji for closeups. The super macro mode on this camera gave me blurry pictures, the regular macro was too grainy. I was absolutely frustrated with the camera up to this point.
What I found out though is that if you play around with the camera long enough, you will get what you want. I finally realized with super macro mode, you had to focus first and indoors, you needed extra light. Also, use the image stabilization when using super macro. The pictures were amazing! Once I figured the camera out, I went crazy taking pictures every where I went and having so much fun with it.
Many people after seeing my pictures have asked what type of camera I used and are shocked when I tell them, they were expecting something more expensive. Obviously, if I had a couple hundred dollars to spend on a better camera, I would. But this camera definitely gave me more than enough for the price.

As many others have said, this model and several other Olympus cameras have a problem that renders it unusable. I had the typical "Battery Empty" problem. I contacted Olympus service, downloaded an "update" , then the camera quit entirely. The next step is send it in. With no warranty it is not worth any repair charge. Customer service left a lot to be desired as well. With plenty of other choices this camera/brand is not recommended.