calling olympus stylus epic or mjuII users

[Sean]

I now have a little stylus epic or as they call them down under MJUII. I'll be doing general street photography with it during lunch breaks, so am just wondering if there are any quirks with this cam I need to know about. I have it loaded with Agfa APX400 at the moment,and will probably dev that in rodinal. Thanks!

 

[Jeremy]

You can get very center-weighted metering and set the camera to no flash, but if you close the camera it will go back to default. For the metering push both buttons at the same time (flash & self-timer) and to get to no flash just keep going through with the flash button. There is also a night time setting where the camera will do very long exposure. They are great little cameras, but I'm looking for a little more control with an Olympus XA if I can find one.

 

[Sean]

Thanks Jeremy, I didn't know about the spot meter setting. Am I able to lock a meter reading while holding the button halfway down?

 

[Jeremy]

Thanks Jeremy, I didn't know about the spot meter setting. Am I able to lock a meter reading while holding the button halfway down?

Sorry, meant to add that, yes you can lock focus doing that too.

 

[Sean]

cool, I wonder how center-weighted it is, maybe the diameter of the crosshairs in the view finder? Any lastly i know the flash settings go back to default after an exposure, and you're saying this happens to the meter setting as well? Thanks

 

[Jeremy]

cool, I wonder how center-weighted it is, maybe the diameter of the crosshairs in the view finder? Any lastly i know the flash settings go back to default after an exposure, and you're saying this happens to the meter setting as well? Thanks

Yes, once you close the camera everything reverts back to the default. You can tell that you did the metering change correctly (pressed both buttons at the same time) because there will be a rectangle will a dot in the middle showing in the upper left (? I believe) of the LCD on the back.

 

[djklmnop]

Just in case you need to rate your film at a lower speed:

Dead Link Removed

If there are no DX markings on your film, then the camera will default to ISO 100.

I shoot 400 film at ISO 250 using this camera.

 

[gchpaco]

I have a Stylus Epic. It has a very good lens, is good about batteries, has a very good exposure meter from what I've been able to see, is very compact, and has virtually no control whatsoever, which drives me absolutely up the wall when it decides that it really really ought to do f/2.8 for some picture.

If you can live with that caveat, it's a great camera.

 

[janvanhove]

From what I understand from the results i've got with my Epic (I shoot mostly Fujifilm Press 1600 ASA film with it...) it that the exposure program favors wider apertures... Now, the smallest appertire is f11 and highest speed 1/1000s I beleive, so in bright light It might be a problem, but I use it mostly indoors in available light... (I actually got acceptable pictures by candlelight with this little thing !

All in all an amazing camera !
The quirk I've had problems with (well, my wife actually...) is the pre-focus, which is very important to cut down on the time between depressing the shutter and the shot being taken...

Enjoy !

PJ

 

[Jordan]

It's a great little camera. I often don't mind the lack of control, but I really wish that the camera would "remember" the flash and meter settings after closing the lid... The tendency of the camera to choose the fastest possible shutter speed (i.e. wide apertures) can also be annoying but worked around. The lens is fantastic. I love it as a travel camera for trips where I can't justify bringing the Nikon SLR or Koni Omega.

 

[harveyje]

I have my Epic in the car all the time for any kind of shot. I do landscapes and, particularly shots of the grandkids with it. Even when I am using other formats and film I will frequently take some with the little one. I usually load it with kodak consumer 400 iso print film. I also try to remember to turn off the flash when unnecessary. I have used some iso 100 slide film to check accuracy of meter and focus and found no problem. For the price I think it is the best bargain around. I hope I remember to get a spare before they are no longer in production.

 

[GeneW]

Nice little camera -- I've carried mine around with me for a couple of years. The problems have already been noted -- it doesn't retain its settings once its turned off and you can't always control what it chooses to focus on. Because of the latter, I've switched over to a compact Olympus 35RC so I can focus manually.

Gene

 

[Mike H]

As mentioned earlier, the Epic is programmed to favor wider apertures, so that while you may get 1/60 at f/8 on a Yashica T4, the Epic will lean towards 1/125 at f/5.6. Some people who use ASA 100 film with this camera come to the conclusion, incorrectly, that the focus is off or the lens isn't sharp. But with faster film (Fuji 800 is almost as good as their 400), it produces great results.