Olympus Stylus 1030SW Digital Camera
(3 out of 5)
A camera that can literally take a beating, though its image quality disappoints.
Review date: Jul 8, 2008
How one rates the Olympus Stylus 1030SW depends on how you view it. If you view it as an ultra-compact camera, it's average, at best. However, your typical ultra-compact can't take nearly the beating that the 1030SW can. It can be dropped, dunked in water, stepped on, and frozen, without missing a beat. If you need a camera that can handle those sort of things, then you'll have to be willing to accept the 1030SW's tradeoffs -- namely, mediocre image quality.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|
- Good exposure and color
- Ultra-rugged, "everything-proof" body
- Wide-angle, 28 - 102 mm lens
- Snappy performance
- Large, sharp 2.7" LCD display with good low light visibility
- Tons of scene modes
Handy Shadow Adjustment and Perfect Shot Preview features
- In-camera help system and unique Guide menu
- LED illuminator can be used to brighten your subject
- Fancy panorama shooting mode
- Supports both xD and microSD cards
| - Soft images with heavy noise reduction and substantial blurring around the edges of the frame
- Redeye a problem
- Lens is on the "slow" side
- No manual controls
- Poor white balance performance in the studio
- Slow full resolution continuous shooting mode
- No optical viewfinder
- Plastic tripod mount -- can't swap memory cards while using a tripod
- Very little built-in memory
- Manual leaves much to be desired
|
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