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April 2, 2007 Tough New Camera From Olympus . . . just rinse, dry and use . . . New from Olympus is the 7.1 Megapixel 3X zoom Stylus 770 SW (www.olympus.com, $379.99), designed for the active lifestyle. The camera is shock proof dropped from five feet, waterproof to a depth of 33 feet, crush proof to a weight of 220 pounds, freeze proof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit and is also sealed against dust, dirt and sand. An automatic retracting shutter protects the lens when not in use.
Internal memory holds up to 75 pictures at VGA resolution, four at maximum resolution and 28 in the 16:9 aspect ratio. The Stylus 770 SW can use xD-Picture Cards, available up to 2GB, for removable memory. The pocket-sized camera measures 3.5 x 2.25 x .75 inches and weighs 6 ounces. It has a solid feel in its brushed stainless steel case, and optional color suede, leather or neoprene carrying cases can add further protection. Ten buttons and multi-layered menu selections control the camera functions. Control buttons are for power, shutter, wide and telephoto zoom. The Mode button cycles between point-and-shoot, digital image stabilization or scene selection shooting. A four-way cursor button that can also be used for maneuvering the menus permits quick setting of exposure compensation, flash control, portrait and self-timer. Other buttons include playback/favorites, print select and menu. Hold the menu button for three seconds to turn on the LED light on the camera front, and you have a handy way to light up a scene, highlight shadowed areas underwater or to find your car keys. The digital image stabilization mode decreases motion blur by boosting sensitivity and increasing shutter speed.
The multi-layered main menu displays seven items, including a Reset selection to quickly restore all the factory default settings. Very convenient if you’re lost after selecting several control items. A Demo selection quickly reviews the main features of the camera, and an Image Quality selection provides 10 different settings that vary the amount of compression and picture resolution (including three video resolutions). The Camera Menu selection provides eight camera function control settings, including white balance, ISO, drive, exposure method. There’s no manual control for shutter speed, aperture or focus. The Setup selection provides 23 items to set, such as time, video output (NTSC or PAL), format, menu theme and others. The camera also has a built-in manometer; after calibration, it displays and records altitude or depth from 33 feet under water to 16,400 feet altitude. The 2.5 inch LCD screen automatically adjusts for dark scenes or bright sunlight. There’s no viewfinder, so you’ll need the LCD display to frame shots. This is difficult in bright sunlight for two reasons: the screen isn’t bright enough to outshine the sun, and the protective LCD cover reflects your own image, like a mirror, confusing the LCD image. The Scene position of the mode button allows setting for 24 different typical scenes, each showing a thumbnail picture and a brief description. For example, Landscape shows a lake/mountain/forest thumbnail and "For shooting landscapes. Vivid reproduction of blues and greens." Or Candle displays a candlelight thumbnail and "For shooting under candlelight. Warm colors are reproduced." Other scenes include Indoor, Self-portrait, Available Light, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Sport, Museum, Cuisine (really!), Behind Glass, Documents, Shoot And Select (from a series of several exposures), four Underwater scenarios, Beach and Snow, Movie or Auction. Auction takes three differently exposed pictures sized for online auction submission. To shoot a movie clip, you must cycle through Scene Selections for Movie, so it’s not as convenient as some cameras. Movie mode has three resolutions, but you need to go to a separate menu for this setting. Movie clips are shot in Quicktime format and limited in length only by the amount of memory available. Zoom cannot be varied during video recording. Help for using the camera comes from a 77-page printed manual. Included with the camera is the Olympus Master 2 software for PC or Mac computer. This software lets you download photos from the camera into your computer, categorize and display them as thumbnails by folder, pre-categorized albums or date, then select photos from the display for further editing or web/e-mail. You can also run a quick slide show from the pictures displayed. Editing includes crop/resize, brightness/contrast, color adjustment, red-eye removal, sharpness adjustment, the ability to add text and more. Panorama pictures can be created by stitching together single photos however the original photos need to be captured using the camera’s panorama function and saved on an Olympus xD picture card. The software is a bit complex and requires some learning, but online help offers guidance. Picture
quality from the Stylus 770 SW was good, with colors modestly saturated
and quite accurate. The sharpness of most pictures we took seemed to be a little
soft, though quite acceptable. Overall, we liked the satisfactory quality photos
and the solid feel of the camera. Best of all was not having to worry about the
camera no matter where we took it, such as to a lacrosse game in the pouring
rain. Or knowing that if we got the camera covered with sand and/or salt water
at the beach, we could just rinse it off in clear fresh water - that easy. Great
camera for vacations and all active events. |
