Photographer Jim Tardio summed it up best:
“Most serious photographers like to carry a small pocket camera with them at all times. For those of us raised on 35mm film, the Olympus Stylus Epic (called the Mju-II outside the USA) is our camera of choice. For those of you who don't know what this camera is, it is an inexpensive point & shoot. It just happens to have a sharp-as-a-tack 35/2.8 lens permanently attached, a provision for spot metering (which I never use), and it fits in your pocket without leaving a bulge.”
above: Radio City Music Hall, NYC / Agfa Chrome 100RS and cross-processed the film in C-41 chemistry giving the image its unusual color cast.
The Stylus Epic has a great “night flash” feature that keeps the shutter open after the flash fires, which makes for some unusual night shots. Above: Winter night in NYC. Below: Pink Delicates “ham it up” on Hofbrau night.
The perfect camera to always have in your pocket! The Stylus Epic came in handy to document The Impossible Project press conference (above) this past March in NYC.
Above: Perfect as a “behind-the-scenes” camera during a photo shoot since the internal flash can be turned off. During my “Girls and Corpses” magazine shoot above, this “Crossed Processed” Stylus Epic shot was better than my 120 shot of the same subject.
Exteriors with the Olympus Stylus Epic are...epic!
Olympus Stylus Epic links
Jim Tardio Photography Olympus Stylus Epic page
Olympus Stylus Epic on Wikipedia
Olympus Stylus Epic review by Patrick Hudepohl (on Photo.net)
Olympus Stylus Epic on Antique & Classic Cameras
All images shot on the Olympus Stylus Epic
© 2010 Michael Raso
Analog in a digital age...I host The Film Photography Internet Radio Show
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e-mail me at FilmPhotographyPodcast@gmail.com
I also have and love this camera... there are a few downsides to it though, having got several films back it is very tricky to get the focus spot on. The other gripe i have is that you cannot change the film speed as it is all auto. I bought just this morning in a charity shop an Olympus XA2 for £5. A slightly older version of the stylus just as small but with manual iso setting. Looking forward to testing it out. Keep up the good work of keeping the enthusiasm for film alive. Steve
ReplyDeleteIt's a real street camera, nice!
ReplyDeleteI'm searching one of these...
It's stealthy, and no one will point a finger at you saying "oh no! a photographer :D".