- 23
- Apr
Tag : 3 6x, 1030sw 10, silver, camera with, 1mp digital, angle zoom
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 Company : Olympus List Price : $399.99 Amazon Price : Too low to display Used Price : Average customer review :  |
Features
- 10-megapixel image sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 18 x 24-inch prints
- 3.6x optical wide-angle zoom; Face Detection
- 2.7-inch HyperCrystal II LCD
- Waterproof to 33 feet; shockproof to 6.6 feet
- Stores images on xD Picture Cards (not included)
Product Description
10.1-megapixel effective recording * 2-11/16″ color LCD with 5-level brightness adjustment * 3.6X optical zoom (5X digital/18X total zoom) * wide-angle lens for landscapes and large group shots * 35mm equivalent lens focal length: 28-102mm * top JPEG resolution: 3648 x 2736 * digital image stabilization *
Customer reviews
Great little camera that takes VGA 30fps videos for more than 10sec! 
After 5 years with a 5MP Olympus Camedia C-50 with the underwater housing, I decided it was time to upgrade. We only used the underwater housing to protect the camera from the elements when we went sailing. We used it a couple of times to go snorkeling, but it wasn’t worth the bulkiness of the housing.
So, that being said, I went looking for another camera that was waterproof–we could take it on the boat or for the occasional swim without buying an underwater housing. The options were limited with the Pentax and the Olympus. I went for the Olympus because we were happy with the old camera and still have a few xd cards. I went for the 1030sw since it is the latest and greatest. So far I am glad with my choice.
In the box: The camera, USB cable (not the same camera connection as the old one), audio/video cable, microSD converter (put the microSD card in to fit into the xd space), Olympus Master Software, battery, and wall plug-in charger (no more cord–although the manual says in some areas a cord is still used). No xd-card is included.
I took the camera right out of the box and started playing. I took videos of my dog and plenty of pictures of him, too. I loved it! It is strange to me not to have an eye viewfinder, but I am getting used to it. It is super easy to use and I had so much fun dropping it in a bowl of water to test it out and having it work! I’ve ruined a camera before because it got wet, so this was the coolest feature!
I bought the camera even though I knew it only took VGA video at 30fps for 10sec, which was a disappointment, but I figured I could live with it. Well, after registering the camera a couple of days ago, I got an email this morning saying that an update to the firmware was available that would allow longer video at 30fps! Yea! I upgraded the firmware (through the provided software) and tried it out and it didn’t work. Then I re-read the email–an M+ or H xd card is required. The older (or cheaper) M xd cards don’t allow for the longer videos at 30fps. So, I ran out and bought a 2GB M+ xd card and sure enough, I can take VGA videos at 30fps for as long as the card can hold. That does away with that negative!
Let’s get down to the pros and cons:
Pros:
*small & lightweight,
*takes nice pictures,
*easy to change settings (a quick click on the “ok” button and you can change settings,
*lots of available features on the camera itself (it even has a selection that will “guide” you for certain things),
*nice big LCD
Cons:
*the xd card–just about every other camera out there uses an SD card and computers don’t have built-in xd reading capability,
*it doesn’t have a remote to take group photos–the c-50 did and I loved it because I didn’t have to set the timer and run into the picture–I’m going to miss that,
*it is easy to get your finger in front of the lens–I will have to learn to keep my fingers off to the side.
It doesn’t have all the features of an SLR, but hey, it isn’t an SLR! For a point and shoot, it does enough for me. I have the SLR for the “big” projects and this is for the times when I don’t want something bulky and want to take pictures. I can’t wait to take it on the boat or snorkeling!
I highly recommend this camera for someone looking for a sturdy camera that is waterproof (not just all weather) and easy to carry around. Go for the M+ xd card for the video capability (I went for the 2GB). I would also recommend protective covering for the LCD (I’m thinking about the silicone cover, too). An extra battery is always nice, too, but it doesn’t seem necessary so far–I’ve been playing with it for 3 days running around taking videos and pictures and it still shows a full battery even though I don’t think I even charged the battery all the way when I first got it because I was so excited to play with the camera.
Good for watersports, not great on land. 
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 modes. The lack of an aperture or shutter priority setting is a major, major issue in light of the bizarre pre-sets on this camera. The camera sets the aperture as close to wide open as possible, 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 90% of the time the camera set the aperture to f 3.5. This is mind-boggingly stupid. It means that the only thing in focus in most of the photos was a tree-branch in the foreground or some guy’s hat. There is no manual override.
I’ve tried to force it to shoot stopped down but it steadfastly refuses to. Only by taking some shots in bright noon-day sun on the water did I get a reasonable depth of field in Landscape mode. Even if the camera chooses and appropriate f-stop, it tends to increase the ISO instead of increasing the shutter speed to compensate for low light. This is particularly annoying in the Macro mode. A speed of 1/4s with ISO 2000 is pretty useless in terms of getting good handheld underwater macro pictures vs speed of 1/250 and ISO 200, for example. Using the LED mode 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. It regularly sets the speed to 1/40 and cranks the ISO to 800 or above when in landscape mode. The resulting pictures are blurry and noisy. If I manually set the ISO to 200-ish the camera compensates by increasing shutter speed to 1/250-ish and I get a 100% better picture which is what it should be doing in the first place.
It is possible that there is something wrong with the camera I have as I can’t imagine anyone designed it this way (right?). I plan to go to the store and check out a few more. If they are all like this I’m going to have to give serious consideration to returning it and taking a chance on a Pentax.
Other issues: highlights blow out easily, pictures are noisy in anything other than optimum conditions and the video is not good, only 10 seconds can be taken at 30fps, which is worse than my cell phone.
Great little camera
I bought this camera for an upcoming trip to Costa Rica for 3 months. I wanted something lightweight and rugged - and this fit the bill. I normally use a Canon Powershot S2 IS - this is my first camera outside of the Cannon family, and I’ve had quite a few dating back to the Canon AE-1 SLR. I was sold by the Olympus 1030SW because of its underwater capabilities, and it’s “crushproof”-ness. My Canon Elf traveled around in my pocket to all the college clubs and parties, and eventually the LCD screen broke. Since that, I have been more aware of how neglectful I can be of my electronics, so I was willing to pay the $$ to have a camera that is practically indestructible. I have yet to test the underwater capabilities.
I looked at the 790SW model, but was interested in greater underwater depth capability, and after checking them both out at my local retailer, I liked the feel of the 1030 - it just seemed to be more heavy duty.
I have been very impressed with the pictures I’ve taken so far. For a point and shoot, I really like the range of options I have. The macro function performs nicely, in both low and high lighting conditions. The “natural light” mode is by far my favorite, I personally dislike photos that look whitewashed by a flash when it’s hardly necessary to the photo. On auto the pictures look good - your average point and shoot. The shutter speed is much better than my Cannon S2, and so far the battery life has been great as well. Many of the features I haven’t had a chance to use in the month I’ve had the camera, but if I have any issues I’ll be sure to update this review!
I’m giving it 4 stars because of the price. You pay a premium at this point because it was just released and for all the “shockproof/waterproof/etc” capabilities. If that’s what you are looking for, then it’s great. If you are looking for excellent quality photos, and don’t care much about where the camera goes and what conditions it works in, then I’d shop around for a more affordable option.
I’ll update this post CR with results from the trip…
Olympus 1030SW
Wow, I’m glad I waited. This is a fantastic camera. Easy to use, many features, easy to carry. Too bad it didn’t come with a camera case, though.
Lovin’ It 
Bought this a little over a week ago, just after testing my underwater housing for my Canon S30 and finding it was leaking. We were leaving for five days of snorkeling in Cozumel and I wanted to be able to take underwater pictures. The Stylus 1030SW really fit the bill. Got a 2GB Olympus card and spare battery. The card was more than enough capacity and I was really pleased with how many shots I could take on a single battery charge. Over the 5 days I took over 800 photos and one battery usually lasted most of the day, even though I had the camera on most of the time I was in the water. I’m sure I surface dove to 15 and 20 ft a number of times, so, the 1030 was a better solution for me than the 850 would have been. I also really like the wider angle (effective 28mm). Camera worked great underwater and for other vacation shots. I usually turned the flash off underwater since shots taken with it would have lots of spots from reflection off all the little bubbles and stuff in the water, but, got some real nice fish & coral photos anyway. It can be tough to see the LCD in real bright conditions, and, the black is just paint (one time when getting out I got trown by a wave and slammed the camera into the coral bottom scratching the paint but otherwise the camera was uneffected). I’m very impressed with the quality of the photos this little camera is giving me, the range of adjustments, and, after a fairly short learning curve, the ability to adjust the settings pretty easily. I also got the floating strap which does keep this heavy little beast from going to the bottom if you happen to lose hold of it. I’m very pleased with this camera so far and looking forward to using it a lot, particularly taking it along biking, hiking, camping and other active outdoor uses.
