Olympus Stylus 3.5 vs. Epic 2.8

[Harlee]

I presently have two 3.5 Stylus cameras, one of which I carry with me when I travel into Russia because they are so compact, but I'm reading some good things about the Epic 2.8. Is there really that much difference between the two except for one F stop? Both of my 3.5s take really great pictures with beautiful colors and are very sharp. I find the 3.5 model quite often at Good Will for about $2.50.

 

[daniel~]

Nope, not that much difference, in my opinion, but the two cameras do look & feel different. Some people even prefer the old Stylus/Mju.

BTW, I wish there were such goodwill price in my country...
At $2.5 for a working camera, I'll be happy with whatever performance!

 

[btgc]

Lens of original Mju/Stylus is triplet, while on Mju][/Stylus Epic - 4 elements in 4 groups. I don't have f3.5 model so can't say much more. Probably like with a lot of other cameras ergonomics play bigger role than number of elements. I used Mju][ several years as my first and only camera and loved it a lot.

When Mju were my only camera I believed it is finest P&S, so wrong I were. Nothing bad with Mju, simply this days one can get decent P&S with quite similar specs. Problem (if we can call it problem at all) is to identify needs and find matching camera. From some viewpoint Mju series is awful - you can't override ISO manually like on any early P&S also having 35/2.8 or 3.5 lens. So it really depends on what one expects from camera.

 

[Harlee]

When traveling, I generally carry one manual SLR, often times a Zenit, Praktica or a manual Minolta, i.e., MC SRT II with a Minolta F1.2 58MM lens. But along with that I try to also carry a small P&S for quick shots, or if I want someone to take a shot of me and they know nothing about cameras - the world is full of them!!! I also sometimes carry a Minolta X700 with the 1.2 Minolta lens. I like manual cameras, but they are generally heavy because of their metal construction, most of the time.

On top of that, I must admit I also carry my faithful Fuji S700 digital cause I generally travel with a team and it's easier to download a bunch of digitals rather than scan a 100 or so pictures. Thus far, my Olympus Stylus and XA have filled the bill for lightweight and "concealable" 35MM cameras, as well as a little larger Canon ML or at times even a Canonet 28.

 

[dazedgonebye]

Drop 400 iso film in them and shoot all day. Both will be stopped down and you'll never see the difference.
I suspect you might see sharper images from the Epic at the larger apertures, but have no idea how much difference.

 

[Harlee]

I generally shy away from 400 in my XA here in Florida, because the sun is usually so bright the needle wants to peak out at 1/500 much/most of the time. In E. Europe/Russia, it's not that much of a problem. I'm really not sure what the top shutter speed is on the 3.5 Stylus - I would imagine it's around 1/500 as well, but I believe it'll handle 400 without any problem. I have an XA2 coming and I think the top shutter speed is 1/750, which should work out with 400 OK.

 

[Meleica]

yes the 2.8 is 4 elements, one being aspherical, while the 3.5 is a triplet. see my epic article


Dan

 

[Harlee]

Great website. I learned a lot about the Epic which I didn't know previously. Wish I could find some specs on the 3.5 Stylus, such as shutter speed, F Stops, etc. Thanks a lot for the info.

 

[raid]

I recall a review of the EPIC in which it was found out that it is most of the time wide open and that it never ever uses small apertures as long as it can use larger apertures.

 

[btgc]

I recall a review of the EPIC in which it was found out that it is most of the time wide open and that it never ever uses small apertures as long as it can use larger apertures.

Maybe not so drastical, though trend to open aperture was what I liked indoors in days of Mju/Epic. Hey, it produces pictures without being sharp up to infinity, what a great camera 🙂

 

[btgc]

Meleica, I think I have seen your pic with kid in pumpkins years ago on PN. I share your enthusiasm towards Mju/Epic.

Today I took look on chart depicting program mode created by someone other and - probably you have noted this - Yashi T4/T5 is marked as having max aperture f2.8
Sure it's simple mistake though someone could doubt whole chart. I don'y have T-series so I'm out 🙂