Review: Olympus FE-170 digital camera

The FE-170’s otherwise boxy body has a slight curve, meaning there’s sufficient grip for one-handed operation (the grip also stores the two AAs needed for power).

Indeed, with its 6-megapixel resolution and proper covers for its video-out and USB ports, the FE-170 suggests good value for money from the off.

It includes the familiar 3x optical zoom, movie clips (without sound), macro close-ups down to 5cm, 10 hand-holding scene modes and, round the back, a larger-than-average 2.5in LCD screen (no optical viewfinder though).

Switch it on, and there’s a guide mode that explains the camera’s functions to beginners. Really, it’s only the plastic body that marks this as a budget model.

The camera is ready for the first shot in just a couple of seconds, the LCD screen blinking into life and the stubby lens barrel extending to maximum wide angle.

There’s no noticeable shutter delay when a shot is taken, although there is a two-second pause while an image is written to memory. The bright, clear and easy-to-navigate menu screens are identical to cameras further up the Olympus range.

Unfortunately, there’s no removable memory card supplied, although there’s a slot for an xD-Picture Card. Instead the photographer must rely on the internal memory, which allows for just two pictures at top resolution. Although scenes with high contrast confuse the camera’s metering, images have, on the whole, natural-looking colours and are reasonably sharp.

The FE-170 marks itself out as one of the more comprehensively featured low-cost cameras – but budget extra for a memory card and pair of rechargeable AAs.

This article is part of a group test of digital cameras costing £100 or less.
See also:
Acer CE-6430
Benq DC C540
Canon Powershot A430
Fujifilm Finepix A400
Pentax Optimo M10

A table of features can be read via our pdf download above.