Olympus Mju i

Specs / Camera Info

The Olympus μ [mju]-1 is a basic small point-and-shoot 35mm film camera made almost entirely from plastic. It was the type of consumer-level camera that almost everyone owned back in the 1990s. Olympus sold 5 million of this particular model Olympus Mju-1 so there must be a lot of them still out there somewhere, or at least there was a one-time. Being fully automatic all the user need do is load the film, find the subject in the viewfinder and press the shutter button. The camera takes care of everything. The autofocus has 100 fixed points from which it sets itself. It works very well.

The price of all models of old Olympus Mju 35mm film cameras has skyrocketed in recent years. The Olympus μ [mju]-1 was first made by Olympus in Japan in 1991. It was called the Infinity Stylus in North America. The Mju-1 defaults to “flash-on” when you slide the clamshell across to switch the camera on. I don’t like this feature at all. However, you soon get into the habit of pressing the button on the top left of the camera, twice, to switch the flash off. There’s nothing worse than accidentally firing the flash in someone’s face when they weren’t expecting it. If you use these cameras regularly there’s a chance you’ll remember that if there is an orange light showing in the viewfinder it means the flash is going to fire, and if you don’t want that happening you should switch it off.

One of the main reasons this camera is liked so much is because of its size. It is very small. It is in fact so small that it will fit with ease inside your jeans or coat pocket. Have I also mentioned how light it is? Well it is very light, actually lighter than your iPhone which makes it the perfect to take with your everyday as you will most likely forget that you are carrying it you.

But that's not only it. On top of being super portable it's also water-resistant. That means you won't have to be scared to take it out and shoot in the rain or next to the pool/on the beach during summer.

These are very impressive things for such a small point and shoot but what truly makes the Mju exceptional is his lens. It packs a incredibly sharp and punchy Olympus 35mm (not too wide and not too narrow) 4 elements lens that opens up all the way up to f3.5 which means you'll be able to take beautiful portraits with a nice blur and won't have to be scared to shoot flash-less when the light conditions get darker.

The Mju also has a incredibly fast multi-beam autofocus system that can focus to an impressively small distance . The light-meter is also amazing, -some say it has the best light meter in any point and shoot cameras- wherever you point your lens the Mju seems to get it right. And, if in doubt, you can always use the spot metering function (by pressing both the flash and self-timer buttons at the same time)

This camera is perfect for someone that wants a really great point-and-shoot to carry everywhere, everyday, and who doesn’t want to think about anything except pressing the shutter release button and getting beautiful, aesthetic film pictures.

Type: Point & Shoot
Manufacturer: Olympus

Camera

Focal Length: 35mm (three elements / three groups)
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter Speed Range: 1/500 - 1/15
Exposure Mode: auto
Metering: centre weighed
Focus: auto
Flash: included
Self-Timer Delay: yes
Film Advance: auto
Date Imprint Function: no
Battery: 1x CR123A

Price Breakdown

$500: Camera
+ bag and free film dev / scan

$50: Refurbishing fee
includes internals / externals completely cleaned, corrosion and/or rust removed, lens and viewfinder removed of any spots or marks

$50: Three months warranty