Olympus Stylus 1030SW 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Wide Angle Zoom (Silver) by Olympus
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Digital camera reviews of Olympus Stylus 1030SW 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Wide Angle Zoom (Silver)
Digital camera Review: Good for watersports, not great on land.
Summary: 2 Stars
I spend a lot of time on and in the water and I bought this camera to stick in my pocket and go. It is very good for that. For general purpose use though it is poor-to-mediocre in comparison to other point and shoot digitals at this price that I looked at. I usually shoot slide film/ SLR, but I figured for the price this camera would probably take acceptable pictures.
The good: the macro mode works very well and is fun to use. The underwater thing is as cool as it sounds. The camera is well built and rugged and easy to carry around. The battery life is outstanding. All in all it should be a great outdoors person's pocket camera
The bad. The biggest problem (and it is a huge one) is the horrible program mode system. The lack of an aperture or shutter priority setting is a major, major issue in light of the bizarre pre-sets on this camera.
For starters, the camera sets the aperture wide open, no matter what you're actually trying to take a picture of. I shot about 150 pictures in "Landscape" and "Portrait & Landscape" modes last week and every time the camera set the aperture to the max allowed by the zoomed lens, usually f/3.5. Even if you point it at a fluorescent light or bright water (so there are no low-light issues) it does not stop down. This is stupid. It means that the only thing in focus in most of the "landscape" photos was a tree-branch in the foreground or some guy's hat. There is no manual override. Apparently it is a fixed aperture camera. The only way is to zoom to the max which only has a max aperture of up to 5.6 or so. Of course this means that the wide angle feature is useless for landscapes.
Even if you manage to get an appropriate f-stop, the camera has a problem picking appropriate ISO and shutter speeds, especially in low light. It seems to prioritize for low ISO, meaning that it also slows the shutter speed down, resulting in blurry and noisy photos. A speed of 1/40s with ISO 80 is pretty useless in terms of getting good handheld pictures vs speed of 1/250 and ISO 200, for example. Using the LED seems to fix this in the Macro mode but in other modes the camera insists on reducing shutter speed and opening up the lens inappropriately. You can set the ISO manually but the modes are fiddly and it's easy to forget if you switch back and forth a lot.
Finally my autofocus simply refuses to focus on anything more than about 70' away. Even if I confirm spot-focus before shooting on a distant object it will be blurry in the final picture, while random closer objects are in focus.
It is possible that there is something wrong with the camera I have as I can't imagine anyone designed it this way (right?). However I went to a local camera store and tried their two display models and had the same issues. It's going back.
Digital camera Review: Great Camera
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a perfect camera if you want one that you can beat around a bit and not worry about it getting broken or ruined.
We use this all the time when hiking, bike riding or hanging out in the pool. It is waterproof so I am able to take shots I could not get before since I can be in the water and not have to worry about splashing (or when taking pictures at the side of the pool.)
The image quality is pretty good for a point and shoot and cannot complain about prints I have had made. Up to 8 x 10 work well for the most part.
Digital camera Review: Great Camera
Summary: 4 Stars
For a point and shoot, this camera is great. I highly reccommend this as far as point and shoots go and a Canon SLR Digital if you are looking for zoom and the highest quality digital pics.
PROS:
- Practically indestructable (I throw in my back pocket all the time, take it fishing, have used it under water and have had zero problems). I haven't tried freezing it, but I have dropped it a time or two).
- No lens telescopes out, so I can get pictures when people aren't expecting it, so it makes for funny off-guard pics.
- Very Clear Pictures
- I like the sunset function. I'll try going back and posting a photo I took with it in this function.
- Have had multiple compliments on the Stainless Finish
CONS:
- Short delay in pushing down on button and the camera taking the pic, but probably no worse than any other camera in this price range
- Zooming capability is not there, but again, its a point-and-shoot so I was looking for more durability and small size to carry around with me.
- I need to discover how to save battery life. It runs out quickly.
- Does not use standard memory cards. You have to buy the Olympus ones.
OVERALL: Great buy for the price, my friend has the model with fewer megapixels and convinced me to purchase this one for the waterproof aspect and I am glad I did. We both like ours a lot.
Digital camera Review: Great Camera
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this camera just before a trip to Iceland. It handled the temperature extremes from being at the top of a cold windy mountain to being dunked in geothermal pools up to 104 degrees. The shaky hand feature is wonderful for taking shots from a moving car!!!! I would highly recommend this for any traveler. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of a bigger SLR professional camera, this met all my needs of taking good pictures in many different situations, and is also very durable!Digital camera Review: Great Camera
Summary: 4 Stars
I love my new camera. I am not, by any means, a professional but it does everything I wanted it to do. I carry it with me all the time because it is so small and lightweight. I took it kayaking and got some great photos and did not have to worry about it getting wet. I also took it to an amusement park and on all the water rides. I live in a wooded area with a lot of wildlife. I have been able to get some awesome photos of the deer through windows from inside the house so as not to scare them. Yes it does have one issue, you have to be careful not to put fingers in front of the shutter, but that's easy to learn. I am very happy with my purchase.