The model
Olympus mju II
Olympus · Announced February 1997, on sale in Japan from 26 March 1997
Sold as the Stylus Epic in America, and the camera that made a sharp 35mm prime something you put in a coat pocket without thinking about it.
- Format
- 35mm film
- Made by
- Olympus
What it was
Olympus announced it in February 1997 at 36,000 yen, with a remote control, a case and a strap in the box. It was the second generation of a line that had already sold in numbers most cameras never approach — the mju series passed twenty million units by 2001 — and the second generation is the one people mean.
What Olympus did was put a fast-for-its-class 35mm f/2.8 prime, four elements in four groups including an aspherical lens, behind a clamshell that doubled as the lens cap and the power switch, and then made the whole thing splash-proof to a stated standard rather than a vague claim. Nothing about that was revolutionary on its own. Put together in a body 108 millimetres wide it produced a camera you carried because there was no reason not to, and that is the entire argument for it.
A Limited edition in a black metallic finish was announced on 12 February 1998 and went on sale in late April. Olympus made 65,000, 5,000 of them for Japan, to mark the mju series passing ten million units. Prices for the ordinary ones have climbed a long way since they were cheap, and what one fetches now depends a good deal on who is looking.
What it is good for
Carrying without deciding to. That is the whole case for it and it is a strong one: 108 by 59 by 37 millimetres, 135 grams without the cell by the English manual, and a cover that protects the lens, so it lives in a coat pocket rather than a bag. A fast-enough prime that is actually with you beats a better camera at home.
Available light, within reason. f/2.8 and a programmed shutter down to four seconds covers more than people expect, and the night-scene mode slow-syncs the flash rather than blasting the foreground flat.
Weather you would not take a nicer camera out in. Splash-proof to a stated standard, JIS protection class 4.
Where it falls short: no manual ISO, no exposure compensation, no aperture control, and settings that reset every time the cover closes. Olympus lists subjects behind glass among those the autofocus struggles with. And exposure is fully programmed, from f/2.8 at 4 s to f/11 at 1/1000, so you cannot choose a shutter speed or an aperture.
Troubleshooting
The lens is stuck out and the display shows E
The fault people panic about, and the first thing to try is a fresh CR123A. Olympus's own troubleshooting lists an exhausted or cold battery among the reasons the camera will not work, and it costs nothing to rule out. In the manual, a blinking E on its own means the film is loaded wrongly.
If a known-good cell does not fix it, there is a small black plastic retainer under the metal gear plate that can displace and let the gears freewheel. Owners have reseated it and got the camera back; others never resolved it. If you open one, treat the flash capacitor with respect: it holds enough charge to hurt.
The lens does not come out when I open the cover
It is not supposed to yet. 35mmc's review notes that the lens moves to focus only once the shutter release is pressed fully. Nothing is wrong.
The flash keeps turning itself back on
By design, and it catches everyone. Every flash and mode setting resets when you close the clamshell. If you want the flash off, you set it off after opening the cover, every time. Olympus's manual notes it on its flash-mode pages.
There is no film-speed setting anywhere
Correct. There is no manual ISO and no override. The camera takes its speed from the DX code on the cartridge, across ISO 50 to 3200 by Olympus's figures. Non-DX film shoots at 100.
The frames overlap, or it skips one
Owners' forums point to three causes, in order of how easy they are. Dirty shutter-button contacts. The infrared film-position sensors in the chamber blocked by dust or debris — clean the chamber. Then genuine transport wear, which is a technician. Rule out the first two before you assume the third.
Streaks or coloured bands down one edge
Owners describe sticky, perished foam around the small window on the back, and one traced a leak to a film door that no longer closed tightly at the bottom. The window seal can be replaced at home; one repairer on the same forum uses felt instead of foam.
It will not focus through a window
Olympus's manual lists subjects behind glass, and glossy or reflective surfaces, among those the autofocus finds difficult. Its advice is to focus on something at the same distance in spot mode, then recompose. By design, not a fault.
The panorama mode did not make it wider
It masks off the top and bottom of the frame. It has never done anything else. Not every mju II has the lever: Olympus's Japanese release lists panorama, the English Stylus Epic manual does not.
What goes wrong, and what fixes it
Start with the cell
Olympus's troubleshooting lists an exhausted or cold battery among the reasons the camera will not work. Rule it out before anybody opens anything.
The mju II runs on a single CR123A 3 V lithium cell. That type is still made and sold widely, so there is no substitute or adapter to find; fit a new one rather than trusting whatever was left inside. Test with a fresh cell before judging any mju II, including one you are about to buy.
The lens stays extended
After a fresh cell, the mechanical cause is a small black plastic retainer under the metal gear plate that displaces and lets the gears freewheel. The symptoms described are a lens that may or may not protrude, a spinning spool and an E or 0 in the display. Reseating it is documented with photographs and some owners have done it. Others have not got theirs back. The same guide warns that the flash capacitor can hold up to 300 V.
The flash will not fire or will not recharge
Check the mode first: in flash-off it will not fire, and Olympus notes it may not fire in auto with high-speed film. Then the cell. Beyond that it is a technician's job.
The battery door breaks
A plastic part. Cameras By Max, a UK repairer, calls it a common issue, usually after the camera has been damaged, and says its large stock of mju II parts makes the repair easy.
Light seals
Foam around the small window on the back perishes and turns sticky, and a film door that no longer shuts tightly can leak. Both are described by owners. The window seal is a home job.
Who repairs these
Independent repairers. Cameras By Max in the UK is one that lists the model and holds parts.
Two claims that do not survive checking
It does not have a Zeiss lens. Olympus's own release describes a four-element, four-group design with an aspherical element, made by Olympus. The claim turns up in published reviews, Field Mag's among them, and is wrong.
And it is not waterproof. Olympus rated it splash-proof to JIS protection class 4, and the English manual calls it weatherproof, says it is not designed for underwater use and tells you not to submerge it.
Every one of these we list has been through the checks on this page first, and what we found is written on the listing.
Written once and kept up to date. It applies to every example of this model, not only to the one in the photograph. The facts were last checked on 23 September 2026, against the maker’s own published figures where they exist; where sources disagree, the page says so.
More like this: 35mm film cameras, or every model we have written up.
Specification
Lens — 35mm f/2.8, 4 elements in 4 groups, including an aspherical lens
Shutter and aperture — programmed automatic exposure, f/2.8 at 4 s to f/11 at 1/1000, EV 1–17
Film speed — DX only, ISO 50–3200. No manual setting of any kind. Non-DX film is read as ISO 100
Focus — active multi-beam autofocus, three points, 414 steps, 0.35 m to infinity
Viewfinder — real-image type, 0.45x magnification. Coverage not given in the manual's specifications
Flash — built in. Six modes: auto, red-eye auto, fill, off, night scene with slow sync to 4 s, red-eye night scene. Range 0.35–4.1 m at ISO 100, to 8.2 m at ISO 400. Recycle about 0.2–3.5 s with a new battery
Metering — two-zone, switchable to spot: press the flash-mode and self-timer buttons together. Spot sets focus and exposure at the centre mark. It cancels when the lens barrier is closed
Weather sealing — splash-proof, stated to JIS protection class 4 (IEC 529, numeral 4, in the English manual). Not for use underwater
Power — one CR123A 3 V lithium cell. About 20 rolls of 24 exposures with flash on half the shots, by Olympus's test
Weight — 135 g without battery per the English manual; Olympus's Japanese release gives 140 g
Dimensions — 108 x 59 x 37 mm. Several sites give 35 mm depth; the maker's own figure is 37
Announced — February 1997, 36,000 yen with remote, case and strap
Here now
None here at the moment. They come through a few times a year, and this page stays up so you can find it when one does.