Olympus Mju cameras and low light levels

My local camera shot advised against purchasing the Olympus range of digital
cameras (mju 600/700/800) as these cameras defaullt to about a 2 megapixel
camera in low light levels producing a subsequent grainy image on
enlargement. The camera vendor also told me that there was no manual
override for this reduction in megapixels with low illumination.. The
camera is supposedly brilliant in normal light levels but quite inadequite
if night time photography is an interest.

In a recent message , Martin
Waddell wrote.

My local camera shot advised against purchasing the Olympus range of digital
cameras (mju 600/700/800) as these cameras defaullt to about a 2 megapixel
camera in low light levels producing a subsequent grainy image on
enlargement. The camera vendor also told me that there was no manual
override for this reduction in megapixels with low illumination.. The
camera is supposedly brilliant in normal light levels but quite inadequite
if night time photography is an interest.

Okay, I have a Stylus (mju) 800 and I think your camera-shop man is
about right. The camera is just fine for most of the P&S pictures I
take, including those taken with flash. But in poor light at ISOs of
greater than about 400 the noise begins to get serious. In the special
'available light' mode the ISO gets jacked-up to about 2500 and the
results are dreadful.

To be honest, if I were buying a new P&S camera today it wouldn't be the
Stylus 800, it would be something that offered more control.

Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:45:55 +0000, Nick Hopton
wrote:

In a recent message , Martin
Waddell wrote.

My local camera shot advised against purchasing the Olympus range of digital
cameras (mju 600/700/800) as these cameras defaullt to about a 2 megapixel
camera in low light levels producing a subsequent grainy image on
enlargement. The camera vendor also told me that there was no manual
override for this reduction in megapixels with low illumination.. The
camera is supposedly brilliant in normal light levels but quite inadequite
if night time photography is an interest.

Okay, I have a Stylus (mju) 800 and I think your camera-shop man is
about right. The camera is just fine for most of the P&S pictures I
take, including those taken with flash. But in poor light at ISOs of
greater than about 400 the noise begins to get serious. In the special
'available light' mode the ISO gets jacked-up to about 2500 and the
results are dreadful.

I'm confused.
The OP says he was told that the cameras switch to a 2MP mode, and you
say they switch to a high ISO, while saying the OP was told
correectly.
Which is it? 2MP or higher ISO?


To be honest, if I were buying a new P&S camera today it wouldn't be the
Stylus 800, it would be something that offered more control.

Regards,
Nick.

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:50:31 -0700, Bill Funk wrote:

Okay, I have a Stylus (mju) 800 and I think your camera-shop man is
about right. The camera is just fine for most of the P&S pictures I
take, including those taken with flash. But in poor light at ISOs of
greater than about 400 the noise begins to get serious. In the special
'available light' mode the ISO gets jacked-up to about 2500 and the
results are dreadful.

I'm confused.
The OP says he was told that the cameras switch to a 2MP mode, and you
say they switch to a high ISO, while saying the OP was told
correectly.
Which is it? 2MP or higher ISO?

Why the confusion? It sounds like my hunch was right. If there's
any switching to 2mp resolution, it probably *only* happens in the
user selectable 'available light' mode mentioned by NH. I imagine
that in all other modes, resolution does not automatically drop to
2mp, nor is it possible to up the ISO to "about 2500". And what's
odd about noise getting serious above 400? Remember pushing Tri-X
to speeds above ASA 1000? Then, as now, TANSTAAFL.

In a recent message , Bill
Funk wrote.

[...]
I'm confused.
The OP says he was told that the cameras switch to a 2MP mode, and you
say they switch to a high ISO, while saying the OP was told
correectly.
Which is it? 2MP or higher ISO?
[...]

The camera can be set to take 3264 x 2448 pictures. But if the ISO is
set to (or sets itself to) greater than ISO 800, the picture size is
automatically reduced to 2048 x 1536 *or less*. One has no control over
any aspect of this. My experience has been that when this happens the
resulting pictures, as well as being reduced in size, are also very
grainy. The Stylus 800 is not a good low-light camera in any mode of
operation.

To Martin, I'd say that there is a Fuji P&S that has been discussed here
that is supposed to be good at low levels of light. I've forgotten the
details, but I'm sure that someone here will be able to come up with the
model number.

Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:37:32 +0000, Nick Hopton
wrote:

In a recent message , Bill
Funk wrote.

[...]
I'm confused.
The OP says he was told that the cameras switch to a 2MP mode, and you
say they switch to a high ISO, while saying the OP was told
correectly.
Which is it? 2MP or higher ISO?
[...]

The camera can be set to take 3264 x 2448 pictures. But if the ISO is
set to (or sets itself to) greater than ISO 800, the picture size is
automatically reduced to 2048 x 1536 *or less*. One has no control over
any aspect of this. My experience has been that when this happens the
resulting pictures, as well as being reduced in size, are also very
grainy. The Stylus 800 is not a good low-light camera in any mode of
operation.

To Martin, I'd say that there is a Fuji P&S that has been discussed here
that is supposed to be good at low levels of light. I've forgotten the
details, but I'm sure that someone here will be able to come up with the
model number.

Regards,
Nick.

Thanks for the clarification.

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

In a recent message , ASAAR
wrote.

[...]
nor is it possible to up the ISO to "about 2500".
[...]

Actually, by some accounts it is. The manual doesn't explain what the
various modes do, in terms of exposure, ISO settings, aperture, et
cetera, but Steve's site says that when the Stylus 800 is used in
'blur-reduction' mode the ISO is pushed up to 2500. I've only ever tried
this mode shooting in low light and the results were truly execrable.

Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:21:14 +0000, Nick Hopton wrote:

:: I imagine that in all other modes, resolution does not automatically
:: drop to 2mp, nor is it possible to up the ISO to "about 2500".

[...]
nor is it possible to up the ISO to "about 2500".
[...]

Actually, by some accounts it is. The manual doesn't explain what the
various modes do, in terms of exposure, ISO settings, aperture, et
cetera, but Steve's site says that when the Stylus 800 is used in
'blur-reduction' mode the ISO is pushed up to 2500. I've only ever tried
this mode shooting in low light and the results were truly execrable.

If you re-read what I wrote you'll probably see that I did not say
that the Stylus 800 can't use very high ISOs such as 2500. I said
that I thought that it wasn't possible to get that ISO in any of the
modes other that what you originally called 'available light' mode,
which I assume is the same as the 'blur-reduction' mode. Or perhaps
these are two distinct modes that the Stylus 800 that are handled
similarly.

As for getting execrable results in blur-reduction mode, I'm sure
that they aren't close to ideal, but how does it compare with the
results you'd get if you used another mode using, say, ISO 400 or
800? Better, worse, or about the same? And is this with all low
light levels or just in extremely low light?

In a recent message , ASAAR
wrote.

[...]
If you re-read what I wrote you'll probably see that I did not say
that the Stylus 800 can't use very high ISOs such as 2500.

This is correct, sorry.

I said that I thought that it wasn't possible to get that ISO in any
of the modes other that what you originally called 'available light'
mode, which I assume is the same as the 'blur-reduction' mode. Or
perhaps these are two distinct modes that the Stylus 800 that are
handled similarly.

It has an 'available light' mode and a 'blur-reduction' mode. What these
modes (and all of the others) actually *do* is not explained in the
manual, so I honestly don't know if there is a difference between the
two.

As for getting execrable results in blur-reduction mode, I'm sure
that they aren't close to ideal, but how does it compare with the
results you'd get if you used another mode using, say, ISO 400 or
800? Better, worse, or about the same? And is this with all low
light levels or just in extremely low light?

With low-light the dreaded blur-reduction mode produces pictures that
are much, much noisier than those taken using ISOs of 400 or 800. The
trouble is that working hand-held in low-light with ISOs of 400 or 800
leads to slow 'shutter speeds' and the pictures come out blurry anyway.
I really don't think there is a work-round for this problem, good as the
camera is in decent light, its hand-held performance in low-light is
inherently poor.

Regards,
Nick.

--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:28:22 +0000, Nick Hopton wrote:

What these modes (and all of the others) actually *do* is
not explained in the manual, so I honestly don't know if
there is a difference between the two.

Most manuals offer little more than brief summaries of the
camera's settings. I don't know if it's that way to keep the
manuals small enough to avoid scaring away potential customers, but
given enough time and effort using the camera, most of it can be
figured out. I've found that manufacturer's tech. support rep's
(including Olympus') often aren't able to answer many simple
questions, so they too could benefit from better manuals.