Olympus FE-110 Design

Olympus FE-110 Design

The Olympus FE-110 is very small and compact, with very pocket-friendly dimensions of only 3.4 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches (87 x 62 x 38 millimeters). The camera's all-plastic body keeps its weight down as well, at only 6.8 ounces (194 grams) with battery and memory card. Although the camera is quite small, it fits the hand well, and the vertical sculpted ridge on the front panel provides something for your finger to grip. The FE-110 comes with a wrist strap, but I'd also recommend keeping it in a soft case during travel.

The Olympus FE-110's front panel contains the 2.8x zoom lens, built-in flash, and the self-timer lamp that counts down the 12-second delay before the shutter fires. An automatic, shutter-like lens cover pops open when the camera is powered on, allowing the lens to extend forward. A thin, molded ridge extends vertically down the handgrip side of the camera, providing a small finger grip.

The right side of the FE-110 features only the wrist strap eyelet.

The opposite side of the Olympus FE-110 is quite smooth, and features the connector compartment. Beneath the compartment's rubbery protective flap are the Video Out, USB, and DC In connector jacks.

The top of the Olympus FE-110 is also fairly smooth, featuring only the Shutter and Power buttons.

The few remaining external controls are located on the Olympus FE-110's rear panel, along with the 1.5-inch, TFT color LCD monitor. In the top right corner is the rocker button zoom control, with the camera's Mode dial just below (protruding from the right slightly). Next to the right side of the LCD monitor are the Record and Playback buttons, with a multi-functional four-way rocker button in the lower right corner. In the center of the rocker button is the OK button. Directly below the LCD monitor are the Erase, Menu, and Flash buttons.

The Olympus FE-110 has a reasonably flat bottom panel, which holds the combined battery and xD Picture Card compartment. A plastic threaded tripod mount is in the center of the camera, and too close to the battery compartment door to permit quick battery changes while mounted on a tripod.

Olympus FE-110 External Controls

Power Button: Recessed into the Olympus FE-110's top panel, this button turns the camera on and off. When turned on, the camera extends the lens into its operating position.

Shutter Button : Right and forward of the Power button, this shiny button sets the Olympus FE-110's exposure when halfway depressed. Fully depressing the button triggers the shutter to open.

Zoom Rocker Button : In the top right corner of the rear panel, this small rocker button controls the optical and digital zoom in Shooting mode. In Playback mode, this button controls the Olympus FE-110's digital enlargement of captured images (up to 2x), and also accesses the index display mode.

Mode Dial: Below the Zoom buttons, this dial selects the exposure mode. Choices are Program Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Self Portrait, and Movie.

Shooting Mode Button: Right of the Olympus FE-110's LCD monitor, this button puts the camera back into Shooting mode from Playback mode.

Playback Mode Button : Below the Shooting mode button, this button switches to Playback mode.

Four-Way Multicontroller : In the lower right corner of the rear panel, each of the four arrows on this rocker button points in a different direction (up, down, left, right). In any mode, the arrow keys navigate through the Olympus FE-110's menu options.

In Record mode, the Up arrow activates Exposure compensation from -2.0 to +2.0 exposure values (EV) in one-third-step increments (once the up arrow is pressed, you use both the up and down arrows to adjust the EV compensation), the Left arrow controls the Self-Timer, and the Right arrow button activates the Macro shooting mode. The Down arrow resets camera settings.

In Playback mode, the Right and Left arrows scroll through captured images. When an image has been enlarged with the zoom control, all four arrows navigate within the view.

OK Button (see image above): In the center of the multicontroller rocker button, this button serves as the "OK" button to confirm menu selections.

Delete Button : Below the lower left corner of the LCD monitor, this button erases the image currently displayed on the LCD.

Menu Button: To the right of the Delete button, this button displays the settings menu in any camera mode. It also dismisses the menu display.

Flash Button: Just right of the Menu button, this button brings up a menu to select from four flash modes.