The Olympus Mju was released in 1991 and I happen to have one with me.

Even though I’ve never been a fan of the soapy, curvy camera designs that dominated the 1990s, which is where this Olympus Mju comes from. In fact, I much prefer the boxy lines of its predecessor, the Olympus XA.

Furthermore, this particular Olympus Mju is a limited edition: it features a shiny, mirror-like finish that strikes me as a bit kinky. I really can’t see myself comfortable walking around the streets shooting with this clamshell pocket mirror.

Olympus made 50 000 of these limited edition cameras. I wonder how special they really are, since it feels like a pretty large production run to me.

Then again, a quick check on eBay revealed these things are fetching almost double the price of the standard black versions. Some clean examples are hitting well over $400 USD. Maybe they are really special.

I know. From what you’d read so far I’m really not that passionate about this Olympus Mju. So why do I have one and how come I’m even documenting it here in Measuring Light, wasting my time writing about it.

Let’s say it’s not really about the camera, but the story about how it got here that’s worth celebrating.

The real value to me

My father was a prominent doctor in Macau. After getting his medical degree in Lisbon, he completed his postgraduate studies in the USA, specializing in the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy.

In the late 70s, he introduced endoscopy to Macau. He was a pioneer. Because of his work and the constant need to update his skills, he was always traveling across the Asia-Pacific region to attend medical conventions, sometimes as an invited speaker.

I remember he would return home with stuff from medical suppliers: calendars, diaries, notebooks, pens, highlighters… It was cool.

But one day, instead of the usual stuff, he brought home this shiny, mirror-finish Olympus Mju.

It turned out he won it in a contest.

A while back at home, he had shared a rather bizarre case with us: a kid who accidentally swallowed a toothbrush. The kid ended up in the hospital and my dad had to remove the toothbrush from his upper digestive tract.

There was a photo he took with the endoscopy macro camera – from Olympus – and it was really weird. This photo in social media now would turn viral in no time.

Well, later on there was this endoscopy photo contest and my dad decided to submit this photo just for fun. Surprisingly – or maybe not! – he won a special prize. And this shiny Olympus Mju was the trophy.

I still vaguely remember him showing us a certificate issued from the organizers. I recall it had an Olympus logo on it. Looking back, it makes sense to me now: Olympus is a supplier of medical endoscopy equipment. They were probably sponsoring the event, or something like that.

After that

My dad was the only one who would occasionally use this Olympus Mju. He took it to a family trip in 1998 when we travelled to Italy. That was the last time I recall seeing it in action. Then digital arrived and the camera was put away in a cupboard, completely forgotten for all these years.

When I recently unearthed it, the original soft leather case was completely covered in mold. It had done its job, absorbing the hardcore Macau humidity and protecting the camera inside. The body was dusty, but in fairly good shape. A quick wipe with an alcohol pad and it got to a near-mint finish.

I can’t say much about how it shoots. I’ve never used it. This point-and-shoot never grew on me, neither back then nor now. At this stage of my life, as I’m re-discovering film, I’m not interested in point-and-shoots as I explained here recently.

But I know there’s a hype surrounding the Olympus Mju among film aficionados. Either this one or the second generation, which is simply called Mju II. These cameras have a solid number of admirers who swear by the quality of the 35mm f/3.5 lens.

Because of this, I’m going to load up a roll of the cheapest Fujicolor 200 to give this soapy, shiny, kinky camera a spin. I want to see what it actually feels like to shoot with, check the results and see if the hype is justified.

I’ll be sharing the photos here somewhere down the line.