Olympus FE-320 Camera Review: The Perfect Gift For Mom

The Olympus FE-320 Camera is a feature rich, easy to use camera which takes very good pictures – The perfect gift for my mom.

My mother’s birthday was last October but I’m writing this article/review on the gift I bought for her only now as I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t just justifying my purchase. I bought her an Olympus FE-320 Camera and she’s been using it for more than a month now. If you and I look at its specs/highlights:

8.0 Megapixel
3x Optical Zoom
2.7 inch LCD Display
Digital Image Stabilization
Face Detection
Can Record Videos with Sound
Proprietary Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery
Weighs only 96g
Expandable Memory through Olympus xD-Picture Card

Now mind you I only bought this for $150 USD (7,500 Pesos in our country).

So Why is This the Perfect Gift for Mom?

I have 4 reasons for you:

1. It’s easy to use.

Let me repeat that again – It’s easy to use.

 

My mom just turns it on, sets it at “Auto” mode (providing it’s not set), targets the subject using the large 2.7-inch LCD display at the back of the camera and then presses the shutter button. Voila! A picture is taken! It’s that easy!

 

2. Its features are easy to learn.

It has a ton of features and shooting modes. Just to name a few of the shooting modes besides “auto” are, Candlelight, Auction, Cuisine, Sport, Night Scene, Portrait, Behind Glass, Sunset, Night Portrait, and many others. All of which can be accessible via the Scene Select. Each shooting mode has a description so you can easily understand what each one is for.

 

3. The 2.7 Inch LCD Screen

She may deny it now but my mom never liked taking pictures back in the day. Besides the hassle of developing the film, she had to look at a tiny hole to be able to take pictures. She had glasses as well so it was extra hard for her to peek in the small glass hole.

 

So a large LCD screen to be able to see your subjects before taking a shot was a very welcome idea. More than that, she would be able to see and review easily the pictures she had taken. She no longer had to put on her reading glasses.

 

4. The Battery

Who would have thought a proprietary battery and charger would be for my mom (or for yours)?

 

Imagine this, if the camera your mother has, have the normal rechargeable AA or AAA batteries, she would just charge them once, put them inside the camera and expect that these batteries never run out if they are not used. Well that was what my mother would have done. Come to think of it, that’s what she does!

She would never expect that these rechargeable batteries hold a charge only after some time. They are even most likely to run out of charge if they are put inside the camera. Worst case would be is that the batteries would stay there for a long time until it even leaks. If you tell them that they should not put the batteries inside the camera if they are not using it, or just buy from the store if they need one, they would think it was such a hassle and would think the camera as unreliable.

With the proprietary battery and charger included in the camera, your mom (and mine), can just charge it, put it inside the camera, and be confident that when they want to use it for later, they would be able to.

 

5. Picture Quality

The Olympus FE-320 camera’s output pictures are more than good enough for my scrutinizing mom. Period. Enough said.

Sample Pictures:

Just click on the pics to view it in a larger size. I’m sorry if there are no faces on the pictures. My mother only permitted those pictures without faces. And I found only two!

The Olympus FE-320 Camera was the perfect gift for my mom. I‘m pretty sure it would be for yours too.