Olympus Stylus Epic

I was cleaning out my basement when I came across my old Olympic Stylus. This was one of my first favorite cameras. I hadn't seen it in years and thought I had thrown it out or sold it. In short, I thought that it was lost to me forever. Well, there it was, with a dead battery and a 24 exposure roll of Fujicolor Superia 200 in it. The first thing I wanted to do, of course was finish up this old roll of film. I put a new battery in the camera and it started right up.

The Stylus Epic was introduced in 1997 as part of Olympus' popular Stylus line of 35mm cameras. Olympus made some terrific, clever 35mm compact cameras. The stylus cameras from this era had gorgeous, artistic lines and a funky sliding clamshell cover. I've already told you about my Trip 35. Other Stylus models had zoom lenses, but the Epic has a fast and sharp fixed Olympus 35mm f2.8 lens. Not only is it a great lens, but the lack of a zoom mechanism allows the camera to keep it's pocket size. The shape of the body is very attractive and helps you easily slip it into a pocket, but I prefer the leather belt pouch. The plastic body is covered in a nice, creamy gold paint. The shutter button is gold colored. The camera turns on by putting open the clamshell cover and turns off by closing it. The back door has a window to let you know what kind of film you have loaded. The viewfinder is surprisingly clear. When closed, the shell protects everything in the front of the camera, the lens, the viewfinder, and the light and focus sensors.

The camera is very simple. It has a smart multi-point auto focus The controls in the back include buttons for flash modes and a self-timer. It has "quartzdate", which allows the camera to imprint the date on the film, which would show up on one of the lower corners of your prints. This was a thing in the nineties. You don't want to use it.

It has a "panorama" switch, which causes two plastic leaves to block out the top and bottom sections of the film. Film is rewound by pressing a little button with a tip of a pen. And that's all the camera does. No crazy modes, just a simple little pleasant point and shoot which looks really nice.

So, I was shooting a roll of film that was at least ten years out of date and probably more, so I didn't have a clue as to how the pictures would come out. I thought that it would be interesting to surprise myself. The washed out colors of the expired film gave the photos a wonderful vintage look which I love.