The Olympus μ [mju:]-III 150 is a 35mm

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

 compact camera

Point and shoot camera

A point-and-shoot camera, also called a compact camera, is a still camera designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic systems for setting the exposure options, and have flash units built in....

.

Features

It has an extra-low dispersion lens which zooms from 37.5 to 150 mm, and an 11 point autofocus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

 system. The camera is almost entirely automatic, but it does allow spot metering, 6 flash modes and infinity focus

Infinity focus

In optics and photography, infinity focus is the state where a lens or other optical system forms an image of an object an infinite distance away. This corresponds to the point of focus for parallel rays. The image is formed at the focal point of the lens....

. It has an infra red sensor to allow it to be used with a proprietary remote control

Remote control

A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...

. It also has a self timer. The manufacturer claims an all weather design, and this is written on top of the camera, by this they mean it is splashproof. It is still vulnerable to damage from direct sunlight and extremes of temperature (below -10 and above 40 degrees Celsius). It has a sliding lens cover, which acts as an on/off switch. It also blocks the viewfinder when closed, so the viewfinder can only be used when the camera is on and the flash charged, meaning the battery is being drained. It accepts film speed

Film speed

Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system....

s between ISO 50 and 3200 using DX coding

DX encoding

DX encoding is an ANSI and I3A standard, originally introduced by Kodak in March 1983, for marking 135 and APS photographic film and film cartridges...

. Non DX-Coded-film is set at ISO 100. It uses one lithium

Lithium battery

Lithium batteries are disposable batteries that have lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode. Depending on the design and chemical compounds used, lithium cells can produce voltages from 1.5 V to about 3.7 V, over twice the voltage of an ordinary zinc–carbon battery or alkaline battery...

 battery

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

 size 123A.

Exposure Modes

It has the following Exposure Modes:

• Auto Exposure - Automatically sets the correct exposure.
• Spot Metering - For use when taking pictures when the subject is in front of a high-contrast environment.
• Infinity Focus - The camera sets the working distance at infinity

Special Features

It has the following special features:

• Self-Timer - After setting the timer the indicator lights for 10 seconds then flashes for 2. After this the shutter will release.
• Camera Shake Indicator - When the green and orange lamps blink, this means that the camera is shaking, and the picture may blur. When the lamps stop blinking the camera is held steady and is ready to take a picture.
• Remote Control - Simply press the button on the remote, the indicator starts blinking and the shutter fires after 3 seconds.

Flash Modes

It has the following flash modes:

• Auto Flash - low-light, backlight and fluorescent light.
• Red-Eye Reduction - This mode uses a series of low power pre-flashes rather than a separate bulb.
• Flash Off - This will cause the camera to automatically use a slower shutter speed necessitating the use of a tripod or similar
• Fill-in flash - Provides just the right amount of additional light shadow or fluorescent light.
• Night Scene Flash - This also uses a slow shutter speed and is incompatible with spot-metering mode
• Red-Eye Reduction Night Scene Flash

Flash distances

The manufacturer claims the following flash effective distances:

• At ISO 100:
  • Wide Angle: 0.6 to 4.6 metres (2.0 to 15.1 ft)
  • Telephoto
    Telephoto lens
    In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a telephoto group that extends the light path to create a long-focus...
    
    : 0.8 to 1.8 metres (2.6 to 5.9 ft)

• At ISO 200:
  • Wide Angle: 0.6 to 6.5 metres (2.0 to 21.3 ft)
  • Telephoto: 0.8 to 2.5 metres (2.6 to 8.2 ft)

• At ISO 400:
  • Wide Angle: 0.6 to 9.2 metres (2.0 to 30.2 ft)
  • Telephoto: 0.8 to 3.6 metres (2.6 to 11.8 ft)

Date Function

There is also a quartz date model (QD). This allows the user to imprint any of the following in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph:

• Nothing
• yy-mm-dd
• mm-dd-yy
• dd-mm-yy
• dd hh:mm