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Overview
The Olympus mju III is an extremely small, fully automatic and water protected 35mm film camera with a wide zoom lens. As the mju II, it's designed around the film cartridge, small and lightweight. It has even an integrated flash. It's form, round and flatter to one end, makes it easy to slide it into a small pocket.
Features and Operation
Its main features are:
28-100mm F4.6-11.9 lens, 7 elements in 7 groups, autofocus with focus lock, min. focus 0,6m (0,8m at 100mm)
Wide aperture priority (2.8-11), electronic shutter, 4sec.-1/630 (1/410 at 100mm), flash ready and focus o.k. indication in the viewer window
Size 117×61.5×42.5, Weight 220 gr. without battery
50-3200 ISO, automatic DX coding, self-timer, automatic film advance and (re-)spooling, time/date stamp possibility with Quartzdate model
Seen from below. Battery compartment (one CR123 battery) at the edge, opens to the side, tripod socket. 
Lens extends enormously for the tele position. 
Original Case
The camera has 6 flash modes: auto-flash (default), red-eye reduction, off, fill-in flash, night scene flash and night scene red-eye reduction. If you slide the cover open, remember that it's default auto flash every time. Flash guide number ~21 (!) (m/ISO 100), which gives you up to 4,6 m at the wide end (F 4.6) and 1,8 m at the tele end (F 11.9).
There are very few ultra-compact zoom cameras which start at 28mm and have a nearly 4x zoom. In comparison to high class ultra compacts with 28mm lenses, you only lose one stop at the wide end, as they are mostly F 3.5. By losing one stop you gain an impressing zoom. Even if it's F 11.9 at the zoom end, it might be very helpful.
The mju III is a point and shoot zoom camera at it's best. It has good autofocus. Picture quality is not bad, but did not impress me. A tiny little camera which is even water protected.
Where to Find an Olympus mju II
Wiki
Olympus µ [mju:]-III 150
Known as the Olympus Stylus Epic 150 in the US, this was the penultimate 35mm compact camera from the very successful mju/Stylus/Epic series, and was introduced by Olympus in 2003. It was generally "champagne" in colour, but there may have been design differences in some territories. Some "DELUXE" examples of the mju III 150 included a remote control and featured a QD DATE function.
Specifications
- Lens: 37.5mm-150mm zoom with ED (extra dispersal) glass, f/5.1-13.3 (8 elements - some aspherical - in 7 groups).
- 10-point wide autofocus for correct focus even when subject is not centred.
- Closest focus: 0.6m
- "All weather" seals against rain splashes.
- Camera shake indicator warning, automatically increases shutter speed where possible.
- Auto-exposure system features 3-zone metering.
- Spot-metering and infinity focus available.
- Shutter speed range: 4 - 1/690s.
- Zooming "real image" finder with dioptre adjustment.
- Auto-flash with 6 programmed power settings and multiple modes (inc. red-eye reduction and slow-synch). Recharge in 0.5-5s.
- DX decoding (ISO 50-3200), auto-wind and power rewind.
- Self-timer: 12-second delay.
- Tripod socket.
- Sliding lens cover that doubles as power switch.
- Requires one 3V CR123A lithium battery.
- Dimensions: 117×61×43mm (not including protrusions).
- Weight: 225g (without battery).
Links
- Olympus mju III 150 user manual at Manualslib
- Mju-III 150 (archived) in Olympus Global History.
Post References and Attribution
This post was created with information kindly contributed by 135Compact
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