PROS: 8.1 megapixel, 5x optical zoom, neat editing features on the camera, good flash recovery
CONS: sleek (can slip out of big fingers), battery has to be charged OUTSIDE of unit

My girlfriend saw this at Best Buy and fell in love with it, which is good because she spent full blow retail on it ($250).
It takes XD memory, so we had to buy a new chip because all my other devices use SD.
So far the pictures I have been taking are excellent. It has a browse feature that lets you scan through "typical" shots (portrait, landscape, night, through glass, fireworks, and a couple others and combonations).
The action shots are good with no blurring and the colors are very vibrant, the image stabilization helps.
You can get a camera with similar qualitites for a couple bucks less, but the name and style is why you are paying a little more for this one.

I too, paid full blown retail at BB. I knew the price would drop soon, but I wanted the camera at the time. No regrets.

BTW, this camera DOES take SD memory, the Micro kind. I returned the weird Olympus memory once I found out the camera takes a MicroSD chip. I bought a 2GIG for 15 dollars. The nice thing about the MicroSD is that you do not need to tote your camera to an internet cafe to DL pictures when you are on vacation.

Just slap the chip (with the supplied adapter)into a Kingston Data Traveler Reader (20 dollars, and it is a stand alone 2GIG thumb as well!). No need for any software. Just use Windows. Microsoft has a cool free (and small)utility called Power Toys Image Resizer that installs on any PC with XP. Just right click on any image (or hold shift key and click for a series) and "Bob's Your Uncle", all your pix are resized to email to friends or blogs.

I love the camera and the extra optical zoom available. The Super Macro mode is incredible for a compact camera. Extremely close and sharp images that can be made even much closer digitally on a computer. You can zoom in a shot after it is taken on the camera to see just how well the image holds up. Amazing. Note:Beware of camera shake for macro work. The image stabilizer does not help much here.

The camera is advertised a "splash proof". This may be so for the controls, but the battery compartment has no rubber seals. Still, it was a consideration for me purchasing this camera. I vacation in Thailand where it can be wet at times. Olympus does makes a water proof/shock proof (resistant, really) camera for much more money with out all the 840's features.

The controls are intuitive for anyone in the digital age. I have not even cracked the manual open yet. I expect to read it sometime to explore all the features. But so far I have been able to access so much just on my own with the easy to navigate menu. I have not yet bothered to load the software on my PC yet. So far all my needs are being met by Windows. I'll get around to it eventually. The point I am trying to make is that you can pretty much charge the battery, take some pictures, DL them to your PC,and email them with out having to read the manual or mess with Olympus software. I like that. The camera syncs right up with windows using the supplied USB cord.

The Olympus charger takes 5 hours which is dismal. But not to worry,do a search here on Amazon and you can find DIRT cheap spare batteries and 1 hour quick chargers (even with a cigarette lighter adapter).

I highly recommend the type of soft case I bought. A Lowepro Rezo 20 soft case with a pocket for spare battery. It has a snap and Velcro belt loop that can be attached to any back pack strap or fanny pack as well as your belt. Very handy and inexpensive. Make sure you get the newer, improved model with the extra security of a snap as well as Velcro on the belt loop.

For the money I believe you may find a better camera image wise, but only if you intend to make huge prints. And the other cameras don't come in cool blue either! Nor do they have the combination of the Super Macro mode, 5X optical zoom, and splash resistance.

Coming out right about now, is Olympus's other Stylus cameras with 7X optical zoom. More money, slightly bigger and heavier. But worth a look.

Even though I paid about 30 dollars too much I am very happy with this camera and expect to be for some time.

This is my first review on Amazon. i hope you found it helpful.

This is not only a REALLY cute, sleek designed camera, but it also offers WONDERFUL picture quality and great features. I am so glad I waited to purchase this until after I further researched. I receive many compliments on the appearance, and I love the fact that it is so small and compact. It fits in my purse and it is ready to take pictures at any time. Big LCD screen is very nice to review your snapshots. This camera is very simple to use, with the exception that I have not figured out how to use the feature which allows you to take 3 or 4 pictures instantly to capture the best motion shot. This feature would be great during sporting events so that you don't miss that 'special' shot (the perfect hit during a baseball game). Otherwise, I would HIGHLY recommend it.

After much debate as to which Olympus digital camera to replace my old one with, I selected the Olympus Stylus 840. I am happy with it, in that it has enough options to satisfy the "advanced" amateur photographer in me, a great zoom capability, and it's also Super easy to use. I haven't gone through the instruction manual completely, but I have gone through everything by using the camera's "on screen menu" method. I find it's menu far simpler to navigate than with my previous Olympus (which was ironically a much lesser quality camera overall.) Additionally I love it's tiny, compact size, and it's stylish black color, which was my first choice and had the added bonus of being a few dollars less in cost than the other 3 available colors. Picture quality (the biggest deal of all) will have to remain to be seen; I have only played around with it at home so far, but it's going to Bermuda with me in 3 days! :) One thing that might be helpful to know is that this comes as a brand new boxed set, so everything you need is included in the price, even though the website only pictures the camera alone, and out of it's box. You ARE getting the very same product you'd see on the Olympus website, or if you went to an electronics store and paid full price for the whole boxed camera outfit. (I felt I was taking a risk with this purchase, and that this information wasn't made clear by Amazon, so I hope that helps if anyone else wonders about the same question.)

I have been a long time fan of Olympus cameras,both film and digital. When it came time to up date my carry along point and shoot I naturally checked out Olympus's line up. Now, I am not brand loyal to the point of excluding all other manufactuer's products. It is very hard to buy a truly "bad" camera today. Most of it comes down to how user friendly a model is to you. Olympus cameras have traditionaly been smaller,lighter, and built with excellent optics. I have not been disappointed with my past purchases and I am not now either. The screen is big and bright, the zoom range,(somewhere around 35-180 mm in 35mm terms) is just about where 95 percent of my photo work is done. The resolution is outstanding and prints up to 11x14 on my Epson printer are great. I couldn't ask for more in a compact, easy to carry, great looking camera.

I would like to buy the Olympus 840 8.1 digital camera. Can someone tell me what all comes in the box with the camera. Answer soon please!
Thanks....kathy

I recently purchased the Pink Stylus and it has so far met my standards! A year ago I bought a Sony Cybershot DW55 and I thought it was going to be the perfect camera. After taking numerous pictures and it quickly becoming my enemy, I purchased an Olympus. My Sony Cybershot, 7 megapixels, took AWFUL pictures. I was disgusted to find that every picture I took came out blurry. I tried everything possible to take a clear picture, I never had any luck!
The Stylus has been a lifesaver! With the image stabilization and the bigger lens to zoom, my pictures have turned out the best yet! I recommend this camera to anyone. I use the zoom feature ALOT and with the Sony Cybershot, all pictures with the zoom feature were awful! If you are looking for a digital camera, easy to use, tons of options of indoor, outdoor, portrait, sports, nighttime, for picture taking, this would be the perfect purchase!

As an amateur at picture taking, I was delighted to find how easy it was to use this camera's advanced features. Usually I find it too frustrating to use a digital camera's special effects and modes, but this model made navigating and understanding how to use the 'scene modes' or other setting changes very easy with the camera providing a brief description as to when to use what feature. Last night I was able to take very high quality pictures in many unusual conditions: outside by firelight, pictures of documents, pictures with strongly backlit subjects. Thanks Olympus!

The order came quickly. The camera is sturdy, yet good looking. Lots of cool features and takes incredibly sharp photos. My only complaint is that sometimes it takes a couple of seconds to advance to the next picture on some outdoor shots. Other than that, it was a great buy for the price.

Ever since I bought my IR300 Olympus camera, I have been a fan. As an amateur photographer, this camera is a vast improvement from my "old" camera ( which I still use). Better pictures, better quality, larger LCD and better focus. Not bulky and fits in any small pocket.

A good value for around $200.00. The 5 optical zooms allow for image stabilization and not just digital correction after the fact. There are plenty of manual, as well as automatic, settings that give you many picture options, including getting the colors that you want. It is small, light and portable but like any zoom camera, optical or digital, don't drop it.

I purchased the Olympus Stylus 840 for my wife's birthday in anticipation of an upcoming vacation. It is a replacement of a Cannon Powershot that was purchased in 2002. While still functional and taking better than adequate pictures, the Powershot was getting long in the tooth.

Before purchasing it, I consulted with the husband of one of my colleagues who happens to be a professional photographer. When I detailed what I wanted: small form factor, high quality lens, optical zoom, and quick image capture and recovery, he immediately pointed me toward Olympus.

Since giving the camera to my wife, the camera has made a trip out to Seattle. It's size proves to be one of it's greatest strengths as it easily fits into one's pants pockets or into my wife's handbag. This was something that neither of us liked to do with our old camera. Because of this, I think we are far more likely to take the camera with us and will be far more likely to take pictures (as evidenced by the 70 some shots that we took during a few day trip to the Pacific Northwest).

Image quality is considerably higher than our previous camera. The camera's image capture speed is fast and even when using the flash, recovery between shots is quick. The stabilization features are a nice touch. My only complaint is that the charger doesn't have a built in wall plug, instead relying on a cord.

I should put in the disclaimer that I am a big fan of Olympus products and hold a fairly heavy bias towards them before I write this review. My experiences with Olympus cameras has always been very good except for one FE170 that I gave away (it was a piece of garbage).

I just purchased this little Olympus after much research because I needed a compact "snapper" that I could easily take to parties/ social events etc. where a larger camera (I have an Olympus SP550UZ that I love) would be too cumbersome. Having said that, I still need it to take very nice photographs as I am not willing to sacrifice image quality for compactness. I already owned a Panasonic Lumix TZ3 that was supposed to serve this purpose but to be completely honest I wasn't entirely happy with that camera. It is a little larger and heavier than what I needed and photos weren't up to scratch a lot of the time. They always seem a bit washed out/ pale and colors seemed sub-optimal/ inaccurate.

I was tossing up between this MJU840 and the new FE340 but the fact that the 840 has optical image stabilization as opposed to the digital only IS on the 340 eventually swayed my decision in favor of the MJU840.

So far I am just thrilled with this camera. The photos are- in true Olympus tradition- brilliant. Very sharp and in focus with brilliant and vividly accurate colors. It is so simple to use that you will almost certainly not need to consult the manual and it looks fantastic although the LCD is highly prone to finger print smudging. It is so small and compact that you can put it in a pocket and just forget it is there until you come across some moment that you simply have to capture. Then, it powers up and is ready to go almost instantly.

Excellent quality images and ultimate compactness and portability make this compact snapper from Olympus a big winner. Five stars.

I had a hard time justifying buying this camera because I already own a couple of very nice cameras. However, I often find myself wishing I had a camera that was compact enough to carry with me where a full blown camera and bag was just not practical or outright difficult. When the impulse side of me won out, I went to the store and started comparing small compact cameras. I wanted as much zoom and quality in as small of a package as I could get. The sales person and I ended up on the floor with several cameras out of the boxes comparing the different features. The Olympus Stylus 840 won out for several reasons but the surprise was when I got it home and got to play with it for a few days. Photography was my father's hobby and he spent many years trying to teach me the ins and outs of f-stops, shutter speeds, etc. I understand the concepts but was never any good in practice. When it came to shooting a real event (not just playing with the camera), I always went back to the automatic mode.

The Stylus 840 has the Automatic mode, which is great, but it also has a set of Scene modes for shooting in different settings. This is nothing new, but my experience has always been that getting to those modes (without some preplanning) was difficult and I seldom, if ever, used them. The Stylus has made them very easy and quick to get to. No digging. The Guide mode guides the user to make decisions about the settings. This is kind of a cross between having the camera do all the work and the user knowing what they are doing. Then there is the option of changing the exposure by pressing one button and choosing from the previews the best exposure to use. I LOVE this camera. The picture quality is great, it has a very quick response to pressing the shutter button (a big problem with my older camera), and it is so easy to use the extra features.

By the way, about the memory card. I was annoyed that it did not use a SD card because that is the card most of my toys use. There is now an adaptor that is included with the camera that will allow the use of the SD Micro card. Great... except you can use the Panorama feature ONLY with the Olympus xD card.

Olympus Stylus 840 8.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom (Pink)

I have been looking for a camera like this for a good while and have done research on top of research before I settled on the Olympus Stylus 840. I read all sorts of reviews and this camera had a 100% satisfaction in all aspects. And well it should. It takes great pictures, is so very easy to use and is just a great compact little camera. I have had 2 good Kodak cameras during my search for the perfect camera and this camera far out performs both of the Kodaks I have had, and one of them was 12 megapixels, but this Olympus with 8 megapixels takes better photos. The Kodak AA battery life is not good but the Olympus LI-42B battery lasts a long time and are rechargeable on the charger that comes with the camera. I bought an extra battery to change out when one runs down but you will find they last a good long time. I also like the Olympus XD picture cards and it will hold all the photos you will need on a long outing. I bought the 1GB card which is more than sufficient. This camera has a lot of nice features that you will like and enjoy and you will be amazed at the photos you will be taking. You can set this camera to take photos in different sizes and I like to use the 640x480 size as they are great for emailing. Also you get an instruction manual which is rare today, but truly I have scarcely used it as the camera is user friendly. The 5X optical zoom is quite sufficient as much higher than that and you can't hold a camera still to take a sharp photo without a tri-pod. This camera is small and has all the features you will want. The only thing I would like to see on it is a view finder you can hold up to your eye and look through as well as the monitor screen. But in all honesty I have had no trouble using the screen even in bright sunlight. Oh yea, wait till you take a Super Macro picture of something close up. They turn out great. Trust me, this is a great little camera. I have tried to describe this camera accurately and hope you found this review helpful.

This camera is lacking 2 very important (to my opinion) features.
1. After taking a picture, you can resize/adjust it, but can NOT save it on your camera. The only way to do it is PC.
2. You can not set up a camera to have the date the picture was taken in the corner of the image.

I purchased this camera for my wife based on my own happiness with a larger Olympus camera. I now find myself using it as much as she does. Very compact and the pictures are great. I don't go in for all the fancy stuff, just wanted a camera that was easy to use and would take better than average pictures. There are a lot of extra features to this camera and maybe someday my wife or I will try them out, but for now we have just what we want. I highly recommend this camera.

I've always known that Olympus makes great cameras, and the Stylus 840 continues that trend. I bought this after a friend of mine got one for himself, and he showed me the photos. Nevermind the nice features this camera contains like different exposures, sceneries, and 5x optical zoom. What got my attention was the photos shot with Super Macro. I was amazed at the quality of the pictures, and I was instantly hooked. I've had the camera for several weeks, and it's been an outstanding performer.

My only complaints are 1) the LCD screen easily picks up fingerprints and smudges - a simple cleaning takes care of that, 2) the battery after a full charge doesn't last very long when you use the camera to shoot videos, something I do from time to time - it's no surprise since that's when the camera is doing most of its work when the LCD is constantly on, and 3) panorama mode absolutely requires an Olympus memory chip - no doubt that was an intentional design by Olympus - fortunately, I got a 1GB Olympus chip for $23, so it wasn't a wallet drain at all.

Overall, this camera is a keeper, and I've already bought a carrying case so I can wear it on my belt. You can't go wrong with this camera.

I've been looking at the audio on several of the olympus cameras.. including the Stylus 840, 1020, and the waterproof stylus 850 SW (which I own).

All the three models I tested above have weird thumping noises randomly popping up on the audio of the video. I can understand that a waterproof camera has a muffled audio, but don't get the thumping. Sounds like maybe something inside the camera is moving? I called Olympus tech support but he said he hasn't heard of that issue before on the 850 SW. So maybe all 3 models I tested just happened to have the noise??

The Olympus FE 340 that I tested didn't have the thumping audio noises.. so I'll probably get that.. in addition to the 850 SW so I have one indoor and one outdoor camera. But would have preferred to have one camera that does everything: waterproof, and good video/audio quality.

i have a huge Sony DSCH1, which i love, but needed a smaller camera which i could carry around all the time. Just point and shoot, with good clarity and easy to use. especially when you ask someone else to take a pic for you.
It worked right out of the box after charging the battery and slipping in the memory card. i got it for a total of 204$ which included expedited overnight shipping.
I have'nt used all its features yet. But its extremely clear and crisp, good white balance in the auto mode. It's light and exactly what i wanted. Perfect for a first camera if you are not too particular about a lot of manual modes and settings. The image stabilization was good.

Olympus has done it again. Great camera. Bought it as a present for my mom. It was easy enough for her to figure out and use.

Have had this camera for about a month now, and really like it! Although i have a Canon with 10 megapixels, i wanted a reasonably priced camera i could carry in my purse that had image stabilization since my other one does not. It actually takes pictures as good as the Canon. The 5xzoom is great, and fixing any shadowed pics or redeye (which does not always occur anyway) is a snap in the camera. In low light, as many other point and shoots, there is some graininess, though. I submitted some pictures from it already, and the portrait shot did not even need redeye reduction. The pictures really look better on the computer and printed than on the website here. Have also had several enlarged to 8x10 and a couple cropped and enlarged to 5x7 with no loss of image quality. The only thing i would change is the cord for the charger which is kind of awkward. Would definitely recommend this camera for a friend!

This camera is great! It takes nice quality video, very good pictures all in a very small package that even looks good. The quality of sound (as others have mentioned) for video is minimal so obviously if you are recording something other than the family vacation you should go to a true video camera. Its very easy to use as well, reading the book was hardly necessary for me. One thing to watch out for is the optional muvee software you can buy after putting the included software on your computer. Think you can edit a "movie" with the "muvee" software? Wrong. All it does is string pictures and sound together for slide shows and it costs 29.95 (I'll consider that money wasted). Olympus has really done a great job with this camera and I think it is a great pocket video/picture taker that I am very happy I bought.

I bought this one for my wife. 5 stars I give here is a measure of her happiness :)
What I noticed and don't like is when you set video recording to highest setting (VGA @ 30 fps) it can record only 10 secs.
Other than that, my wife is happy. Have a good day :)

I recently bought the Olympus Stylus before a trip to Europe. I needed to replace an old SONY camera that had issues holding a battery charge (it took AA rechargeables, which was a nice feature). It was time for an upgrade anyway, so I did a lot of research, wanting to have a balance of price and features. What's great about this camera is its optical zoom (5x). It's also great that there are many features (including a panoramic feature-- it takes a bit to get used to).
Some negatives:
1) The battery life runs out pretty quickly (didn't last more than 3 days). This depends partially on the features that you use (it seemed to run out faster when I took panoramic shots or used the menu to adjust the brightness of the shot), but I would advise buying a second battery or have an electricity converter if traveling abroad. One battery, charged once, will not be sufficient. The camera is probably average in terms of battery life, but I had higher expectations.
2) Sometimes the camera takes blurry shots when indoors, if you're trying not to use the flash (there's a menu that adjusts the brightness- super cool!). This is the only time I was really frustrated with the camera, as a flash sometimes washes out the photo subject. There may be a way to fix the issue, but as the camera is new, I've not yet discovered it.

Overall, I would recommend this camera. It takes great fast-motion action pictures, has brilliant colors in outdoor lighting, and provided for a great way to preserve memories of my trip. Love the 5x zoom. Love the video feature (has sound, which my old camera did not). Love the multitude of features and possible settings.

I was highly disappointed in the photo quality of my new Olympus Stylus 840. It takes the worst, grainiest pictures I've ever seen! I have no idea what camera the people below are reviewing.