Olympus Mju II eBay bargain still going strong

[batterytypehah!]

So much love for the Olys but I've had mixed luck. One beat-up Infinity II for $6 that seems to work fine (test roll is still at the drugstore), a dead Infinity Mini that was only $1, and now a half-dead Stylus Zoom for $2. It advances the film to no. 1, the LCD works, and it extends the lens and flash, but no reaction to any of the buttons (zoom rocker, shutter, flash and timer).

Ah well. It came with a good 3V battery so I guess I still come out even.

 

[Darkhorse]

For next to nothing I just got a newish Olympus Stylus Epic zoom 170 deluxe that still has a VF Technology sticker, and the all weather sticker on, plus a remote(!) that's still new in its own box.

Thanks to you guys I know that this is a good camera, but now I'm going to have to try it out.

Question: what makes it good? Do I need to activate the spotmeter function to get a decent picture? What mode do you guys usually have yours in? How do you get around that tiime stolen with the half-press for focus?

At the moment it feels a bit clunky having to wait for the lens to come out, and for the lag and pillowy feel of the shutter. (spoiled by the crisp and clear shutter clicks of say, a canonet)

Thanks in advance for any input from the experienced ones here 🙂 !

I think when we speak of the Stylus or Stylus Epic on this board, we speak pretty much solely of the fixed 35mm lens model. A fixed lens on old film point and shoots like this are vastly superior in quality and sharpness to zoom lenses. I'm not sure of the capabilities of the 170, but I hope you have fun with it.

Also, The spotmeter helps with backlit shots, but usually I just point and shoot.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Thanks for enlightening me. Now, who is this "we" you refer to? 🙄

 

[Darkhorse]

Sorry for the Royal "We". But if you check past threads on the subject, this is the specific camera typically referred to.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Sorry for answering the actual question in the OP...

My £6 ebay camera is still going strong. Has anyone else had any good successes recently in garage sales and fleabay etc? just curious.

Besides, two of the three cameras I mentioned are fixed FL. So what's got you on my case like this?

 

[Darkhorse]

I was mainly responding to HLing's post.

Relax.

 

[bobby_novatron]

Every time a flame war erupts, a kitten cries. 🙁

BTW, I love my Olympus Mju-II (Stylus Epic) ... it's so small I can carry it everywhere with me.

And that little F2.8 lens is amazing. Here's a shot I took a while back:

Unfortunately I didn't score as good a deal as others here, I ended up paying $30 on fleaBay for mine. But I've never regretted it.

 

[Darkhorse]

Didn't intend to make this a flame war, so I'm sorry if any of my posts got misconstrued. Here's another shot of my cat taken with a Stylus Epic.

 

[batterytypehah!]

There's not much to misconstrue. You're basically telling a fellow member who posted an on-topic question to go away and leave "us" alone. Not my idea of a friendly community.

 

[celluloidprop]

I'd be happy to grab one of the zooms if I ran across a nice one. For daylight use, I can't say that I'd care about the aperture on the long end.

 

[John Bragg]

Im contemplating adding a Mju I to my collection. they seem to go cheaper than the Mju II. I would just like to own a nice example.

 

[Darkhorse]

There's not much to misconstrue. You're basically telling a fellow member who posted an on-topic question to go away and leave "us" alone. Not my idea of a friendly community.

I'd hate to dwell on this but, again, that honestly wasn't my intention and I'm sorry if you're offended. I've edited the post to make the context clearer.

 

[HLing]

I think when we speak of the Stylus or Stylus Epic on this board, we speak pretty much solely of the fixed 35mm lens model. A fixed lens on old film point and shoots like this are vastly superior in quality and sharpness to zoom lenses. I'm not sure of the capabilities of the 170, but I hope you have fun with it.

Also, The spotmeter helps with backlit shots, but usually I just point and shoot.

Thanks for clarifying. After I posted I noticed that on mine, though it says Stylus epic, it does NOT say mju. That should have been the first clue.

 

[btgc]

A fixed lens on old film point and shoots like this are vastly superior in quality and sharpness to zoom lenses.

Well, it depends on cameras we are comparing. Some zoom compacts are quite good, mainly differing by speed on long end.

 

[racoll]

I paid $100 for a Contax TVS with filters and a hood which was quite a score. It is probably the best zoom (28-56) p&s you can buy.

I strongly agree! I just bought a TVS a few weeks ago and it has become one of my absolute favorite cameras, p&s or otherwise. As to the question of Stylus zooms, there are some good ones. The Stylus Zoom 170 mentioned earlier is a nice camera with a pretty nice lens. Even better in my opinion though is the Stylus Wide 28-100 which is both wide and very sharp!

 

[John Bragg]

Results from the £6 Mju-II.

 

[John Bragg]

And my latest addition. A near mint condition Mju-I / Stylus Infinity.

/

 

[Fjordphotos]

Is the Oly Mju II possibly the smallest film point and shoot camera?

 

[Ade-oh]

I don't know, but they are great. I'm on my third now, with the last two bought for pennies from Ebay. A killer lens in a very small package.

 

[Greyscale]

Is the Oly Mju II possibly the smallest film point and shoot camera?

Both the Rollei 35 and the Minox 35 are smaller, so it depends upon your definition of "point and shoot". The Stylus may be the smallest auto-focus camera with an integrated flash, though.