Olympus Mju 1060

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By Leonard Goh
Aug 18, 2008

In this season of offerings, we've noticed two growing trends among manufacturers: Touchscreen-enabled or ultra-high resolution point-and-shoots. But Olympus latest darling in its Mju family, the Mju 1060 has neither despite being the successor to the flagship Mju 1010. It has only slight upgrades such as scene recognition and a larger display. So does this new shooter have what it takes to pit itself against other more sophisticated compacts?

Upside

We're glad that the 10-megapixel Mju 1060 has the same 7x optical zoom range that we've seen on the Mju 1010. This provides more reach and we think it will go down well with travellers who want a camera that can capture normal street scenes as well as be able to zoom in to faraway subjects.

The Mju 1060 is available in several hues and we think this pink version will go down well with the ladies.
(click for larger image)

Although it may not have optical image stabilizer (IS), the Olympus has mechanical (sensor-shift) IS and this is coupled with high ISO sensitivity for sharper shots. The Japanese firm calls this combination Dual IS. However, we hope that there would be an option to switch off the high ISO sensitivity because it can add quite a bit of noise in some pictures.

There is an intelligent Auto (iAuto) function that can detect different scenes and automatically optimize the settings for the shot. This is pretty similar to Panasonic's iA feature in its Lumix camera lineup. While it's nothing to shout about, we're glad that Olympus is including it to make snapping shots simpler.

The 2.7-inch LCD seen on the Mju 1010 has now been upgraded to 3 inches on the Mju 1060. This is useful for viewing pictures with a group of friends, as well as for framing shots.

While it may not be a new feature, the Olympus in-camera panorama mode is by far one of the most accurate and intuitive versions we've tested. The Mju 1060 has the same function, too, but it has some restrictions which we will touch on later.

In the bundle, the company has included a micro-SD card adapter. If you have a spare card lying around, you can plug it into the adapter and slot it into the xD-Picture Card slot. This gives additional flexibility for consumers when it comes to choosing which memory format to use.

As with most conventional compact units these days, the Mju 1060 comes with face detection and an array of user-selectable scene modes.

Downside

Olympus has kept the resolution for the Mju 1060 at 10 megapixels, which is the same as the Mju 1010. While we've always been adamant that high-res sensors don't equate to better image quality, having some extra few pixels will be handy when you need to make big prints or when cropping the picture.

The lack of a wide-angle lens is going to be frustrating for shutterbugs who want to take wider scenery or landscape shots. While manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic had listened to consumers and implemented wide-angle optics to their shooters, Olympus seemed to have left that out for this camera.

The panoramic mode will only work with xD-Picture Cards. Should you choose to use the micro-SD adapter, you won't be able to snap panoramic shots as it is proprietary to Olympus' choice of media. We find this restriction unnecessary because it defeats the purpose of giving consumers more choice. Hopefully the next iteration of this model will resolve this issue.

Bottomline

For those who are looking for a point-and-shoot with long zoom range, the Mju 1060 will fit the bill. But if you are a current owner of the Mju 1010, the larger display and scene recognition may not be convincing enough to warrant an upgrade.

The Mju 1060 will be available in Asia from end August, but pricing is yet to be confirmed.