Olympus [mju:] 1060 review

Another trendy compact from Olympus, with a good range of features included on board

The Olympus [mju:] 1060 is available in a range of fashionable colours; we reviewed a unit decked out in a rather lovely peacock green. Olympus has positioned this camera, like many others in its [mju:] range, as a trendy compact for younger users, and indeed it boasts some features aimed specifically at this demographic. This camera can, however, reach a wider audience thanks to some of its other functionality, and it’s this all-round appeal we’ll take a look at first.

Ten megapixels is fast becoming the imaging standard for regular mid-range compacts and the [mju:] 1060 is right on the mark. A 7x optical zoom is a marked improvement on the 5x touted by other models of similar price. A Mode dial combined with push-button control system allows more advanced users to achieve greater manual control over their images without too much fiddling, while the reasonably clear hardware and software interfaces make this a relatively easy camera for new users or even digital photography beginners to pick up. The shell and operating system aren’t without their faults, though. The Mode dial is placed vertically on the back of the camera, between the zoom’s rocker pad and the Menu and Playback buttons. If you’re not slim and svelte of finger, have long nails or are simply fumbling in cold or dark conditions, you’ve got a good chance of accidentally hitting the Menu button or adjusting the zoom while you’re using the Mode dial. And you’ll use this a lot, because there’s some great functionality hidden beneath it, although it’s couched in a fairly ugly grey and yellow, boxy-looking interface. Get used to looking at it however, and you’ll find a handy guide to the basics of the camera and some neat photography tricks for beginners under the Guide section. Elsewhere on the Mode dial, the camera icon menu provides a handy rule-of-thirds grid to help with shot composition along with easily accessible manual controls, iAuto delivers some well-optimised auto settings and video recording can be accessed. There’s also a Favourites folder, Playback control and, of course, scene modes. These are amply represented and cover all of the usual bases – Landscape, Portrait, Night and so on. There are the usual esoteric variants too, like Behind Glass, and several quasi-Macro modes (in addition to a regular Macro and Super Macro accessed by the d-pad). The camera also sports two ‘Shoot and Select’ modes – one with flash and one without – that allow you to snap a shot and instantly check it, with an easily used shortcut to either keep or delete the photo. A Pre-Video mode allows you to take short bursts of video with a three-second lead-in. But the function we like best of all those secreted beneath the scene modes section is the Available Light setting. Our test shots with this camera were mainly taken on a sunny afternoon in early spring, which means strong, pale and extremely directional light illuminating a mix of dull neutral tones and the occasional bright pop of colour. When getting bright beams of light into the shot in a standard scene mode or with auto settings, there’s a distinct tendency to bleach the light and darken mid and low tones while oversaturating any bright colours. It’s a common problem with amateur photography in general, not digital cameras in particular, and the [mju:] 1060 shouldn’t be faulted for it. Happily, this little gem fixes the problem – as you can see from our test shots, Available Light transforms average snaps into bright, balanced photos without the need for you to adjust manual settings. It’s a set-and-forget secret to tonally correct shots.

Finally, we come to those features that are aimed at this camera’s ideal market. Olympus likes to promote this range to trendy young things in their late teens and early twenties. Well, it’s got an alarm clock. Other than this rather arbitrary accessory, there’s little about the 1060 that marks it as anything but a quality compact for those who desire one.