Olympus Stylus 840 Review

Here is another Olympus camera that I tried out recently. The Olympus Stylus 840 is an ultracompact-type camera that measures 97mm x 23mm x 56mm. It weighs around 130 grams. The camera is a little too big for my liking. However, other people who aren't too picky about camera size wouldn't complain as the size is just slightly bigger than average. The camera isn't too heavy so I have no complaints about it. The body is quite durable and it is fingerprint-resistant. It does not get scratched easily too.

The 840 is capable of taking pictures of up to 8 megapixels. The picture resolution is quite average when compared to other cameras. However, I am satisfied with the camera's pictures. The pictures are colorful. The objects in the pictures are well defined. Pictures are bright. When pictures are taken at night, there is very little or no image noise. The long flash range allows the camera to take pictures of farther objects at night.

Videos are recorded by this camera in the AVI format. If you have read my previous digital camera reviews, you would know that I am not a big fan of AVI recording digital cameras. Files will always be big and there won't be a big noticeable difference in quality. True enough, videos recorded by this camera are big. If you are not careful, the camera's memory will be filled up quickly by videos. The quality of the video is just like any other good camera. There is no lagging or boxing in the videos.

When it comes to zooming, the 840 is capable of 5x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom. Here is where I am happy with this camera. This is 2x more than the average optical zooming value of cameras nowadays. You can zoom objects that are far away. People who use their cameras for more than just basic picture taking would be happy with this. The zoom motion is fluid and quite noiseless. The zoom controls are not too sensitive but responsive enough to zoom when the controls are lightly tapped.