the dumb thing wants to shoot wide open all the time, in which case the results are mediocre. however, if you can get the lens to stop down a bit, the lens is quite spectacular for it's price.
all in all, it's still the best bang for buck p&s cams around...
I wish mine still worked (nasty run in with some water ) but the lens is great (for a P&S) and the viewfinder is bright and clear. I've shot slides through it and had no problems with exposure.
All in all, a great little P&S and I'd highly recommend it if you don't need a zoom.
It only supports common ISOs (100, 200, 400, 800, etc. - it might support 50; I'd have to check to be sure), so if you want to use obscure ISOs you might get odd results. (It shouldn't matter much on negative film.)
I got mine as a refurbed camera off eBay directly from Olympus USA for a great price and reasonable shipping charges. The camera had a minor scratch but is otherwise perfect, and I got a box and manuals.
I'm pretty sure they recently stop producing the stylus epic.
I say the camera wanting to use the widest aperture possible for each picture is a good thing. It favors fast shutterspeeds, and shows confidence in it's AF system. Damn good bokeh for a p&s. Even when it fires the flash, it wants to shoot at a wide aperture.
This camera is legendary. Keeping in mind that it is just a simple P&S beastie, you'd be amazed at the pictures it takes - IF - you've ever used a lesser P&S. The lens is quite nice and under certain conditions produces images you can't distinguish from a nice SLR-shot image. There are situations where an SLR is the better tool, no doubt, and the Epic won't fare well in those situations. Put ASA 400 film in it and forget it. The thing will take damn nice photos.