Olympus unveils trendy new baby Mju
Olympus stakes a big claim to the style and lifestyle accessory sector of the digicam market with the introduction of the Mju Mini Digital.
The new Mju Mini
Photokina, the biennial trade show that is the photo industry's largest commercial event, takes place as in Cologne, Germany as usual and Olympus appears set to steal a sizeable chunk of the show limelight with its new Mju mini Digital range.
Simplified and stylised
21 months ago Olympus successfully migrated its highly successful capsule concept camera to the digital domain with the launch of the Mju Digital. With the new 'mini' Mju, Olympus' in-house design team has stylised the Mju concept even further, simplifying the camera's design in some ways and improving aspects in other areas.
Futuristic retro blend
While the camera is definitely futuristic, it deftly blends in a retro design feature in the form of a steel-finished cylindrical setting knob.
Olympus has achieved an interesting blend of modern and pseudo retro design
From a technical standpoint, gone is the optical viewfinder and the trademark sliding lens cover panel that doubled as an on/off switch, now replaced with a snappy flush circular lens cover that disappears inside the camera. The optical zooming range has been reduced to 2x (35-70 equivalent) and the maximum aperture has darkened by one third of a stop to f/3.5. This has allowed Olympus to reduce the depth required to house the lens and also minimise the extension of the lens. With less travel, the camera powers up and down very swiftly.
Bigger display
There are some more obvious improvements – the graphical user interface has been revamped, 4 megapixels is now standard and the colour LCD monitor display is a very impressive 44% larger in area than the original Mju Digital, dominating the back of the camera. It also sports a wide angle of view and can be used in direct sunlight.
You get the usual selection of scene modes and effects like sepia toning, but one effect that is rather novel is a simulated circular fish eye mode. Movie recording in Motion JPEG mode accompanied by sound recording, which can also be voice-only in .WAV format.
Weatherproof
Continuing the Mju Digital tradition, the Mju Mini body is of mainly metal construction and benefits from IPX4-standard splash-proof sealing.
The daring in-house style of the Mju Mini got the thumbs up from most of those attending the press launch in Frankfurt on Wednesday. And you get a choice of anodised finish colours as well, something Olympus has been late to cotton on to compared to some of its competitors.
Mju Minis will be available in a range of anodised colours
One thing is for sure, the Mju Mini Digital will attract a lot of attention when it goes on sale next month for around £249. The existing Mju Digital range will continue alongside the new Mju Mini.
Related story:
Olympus Mju Mini Digital official news release and specifications table
More photos of the new Mini Mju launch from Photographyblog.
