Customer Reviews

Olympus Stylus 1030SW 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Wide Angle Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(46)

 

 

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.

I, after much research, purchased this camera about a week ago. Since then I have shot about 100 pictures both indoors and out, on cloudy and sunny days. I have also shot quite a few macro photos on both manual and automatic settings. I have experimented with some the scene modes. I have not tested the movie mode and have not dropped it, frozen it or submerged it yet (however I am going snorkeling in the Bahamas next month). The build design is definitely rugged and the fit and finish is excellent. This is the best built point and shoot I have ever handled. The LCD is big and bright and the buttons and menus are well designed and laid out. Flash seems consistent with other point and shoots in this category (so-so).

Photo Quality: For the most part I am pleased with the photos, especially those taken close up using all three of the macro modes. Outdoor pictures in sunlight were sharp and clear. Cloudy day photos lacked a little sharpness that I felt I got more of with my Canon 870 however I also think that I need to experiment with the spot metering focus mode versus the ESP metering mode. I know my Canon had 9 point AiAf focusing which seemed to make more objects in the photo in focus. I don't think this camera has the same type of focusing system. I haven't really tried the face recognition feature that much but it did work when I tried it in the store prior to purchasing. The color reproduction seems accurate to me and the photos I took outdoors on a sunny day seemed to really pop. Indoor photos seemed overly noisy however this has been consistent with other point and shoots that I have owned (Canon S500 and 870).

Value: The price of this camera is admittedly high however it does offer features that other point and shoots in this category don't. The crush, freeze and water resistant features are compelling. I typically have very high expectations for items that I purchase and initially was a little disappointed with this camera. However as I use it more and take more pictures with it I am becoming increasingly satisfied. It's not a digital SLR and it doesn't have a lot of manual controls, viewfinder, light-up-the-night-sky flash, etc. It is a very well built, extremely rugged and water proof (to 33ft) 10MP digital camera with a decent LCD, zoom and software that takes good point and shoot quality photos.

This camera is NOT a replacement for a good DSLR. If you aren't expecting that, you won't be disappointed by this Point and Shoot (P&S) camera.

This camera offers strong features for a "take it anywhere" camera - water PROOF (to 30 feet) drop proof (to 6 feet) and dust proof. After a month of dragging it everywhere, I think the claims are real. I've gotten it soaked, dropped it, and been in wind-blown dirt without any damage or crud appearing on my shots.

The camera also offers numerous metering modes for shooting. The auto exposure is current with today's best P&S technology. Once you learn the menu system, you can get a good shot almost anywhere, and the default setting works well almost anywhere.

Yes, it is 10MP. No, it won't rival shots from a Canon 40D (unless you have really cheap glass on it). But you will get shots that don't fall apart into blurriness when you crop them or blow them up a bit, the colors will be good, and you'll have it with you, in your pocket, not home in the camera bag.

Downsides? Sure, there are a few, and they will probably vary by personal taste. Mine include:
1. There is NO finder window, you MUST use the view screen to frame your shot. It's awkward for those of us accustomed to a view finder. But I've learned... (and I'm over 50, so you probably can too ;))
2. The menus are not complex, but there are a lot of options. There are settings that work for "instant" shots. But for more challenging situations there are great options - especially useful is the "portrait flash" options that let you highlight a face while not losing the background. It actually works as advertised.
3. The lens is limited in aperture. This type of camera does not let you stop down to f/11 for that "perfect" depth of field shot. You are shooting around f/5 and changing the exposure time as you select different settings. What it sees is what you get.
4. It's small. I have several great shots -- that feature my finger over the left 1/3 of the lens.
5. it has the usual metering delay of P&S - so you can't take a TRULY instant shot - but there IS a feature called SHOOT&SELECT - which takes about 8 shots in "motor drive" mode - you then pick one or more that you want to keep. (you must do it NOW - before going on to the next shot, and it does take a moment for them to save.) But for action shots of kids, its fun and works well.

SUMMARY: For a camera you can throw in your kayak, drop off your bike, keep in your jacket pocket, and let your kids take pictures from the monkey bars without worrying about, this is the perfect fit.

I bought the green Olympus Stylus 1030SW after losing a 770SW that I had for 6 months. Yes, its crush proof, ice proof, heat proof, drop proof and water proof but not loss proof!

It seems Olympus have fixed all the bits I did not like about the previous model. The fidgety controls and menu system are now much easier to use. The spec has been significantly upgraded with the widescreen lense (not so wide that you notice a huge different but nice all the same), 3.6x zoom and much better video capabilities as well as the ability to take 10MP shots. There is a huge array of scene modes for every possible need with a helpful multi multi-devided screen view for trying out different ISO settings.

From 3 days of playing with it I really like what I see, its very rugged although i would have liked a viewfinder for those moments in the wilderness where the battery is dying or sun is shining on the LCD. The green model is much nicer in reality then it looks online (British Racing Green is the color-name in the UK FYI). It comes with a helpful MASD connector so if you have a microSD card lying about, it will fit the xD style adaptor and fit in the camera. So far it hasnt slowed the camera down at all. I cant wait to get it out kayaking or skiing some day to really put it to the test.

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.

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.

I recently bought this camera mainly because I was sick and tired of accidentally breaking more fragile point and shoots. As many reviews state, this camera is a tank but (IMHO) very well designed and visually appealing. The photos are good but not great for a camera in this price range. However, the way I look at it, you are paying for the durability and underwater capabilities over picture quality.

The shooting options and settings are varied and flexible and the "scene" and "guide" modes are a great addition for newbies who either don't know how or don't wish to bother with manually changing the ISO, white balance etc. Also, this camera produces nice video both in and out of the water as well.

Overall I am pleased with my purchase EXCEPT for the following facts which I feel that I need to point out and which really disappoint me about Olympus:

1) When taking video in VGA mode at 30fps you are limited to only 10 seconds of recording time!! Well, that is unless you purchase one of Olympus's new xD Type M+ cards. In that case you can record up to the limit of the card but there is still a catch; the new xD Type M+ cards only go up to 2gb. This limits you to only 18 minutes of record time. Plus, even though this camera accepts 8gb microSDHC cards (with the included adapter), Olympus has decided that you can only record at that setting for longer than 10 seconds on their own, proprietary card. Also, even when shooting at lesser settings, Olympus caps your videos at 29 minutes REGARDLESS of the storage capacity of the medium. On top of all this is the fact that the documentation on the camera, though "technically" accurate, is very misleading on this point. Nowhere in the documentation does Olympus ever state 29 minutes is the maximum recording time. If you look at page 54 of the manual, it shows a 1GB card maxing out at 29 minutes, but doesn't show the limits of a 2GB or higher card...this leaves the average consumer to think that larger cards could record longer of course.

2) Another feature that is disabled unless you are using one of Olympus's proprietary cards is the panoramic function. This is disabled when using a micro SD card for storage. Why would Olympus do this? IMO both of the above situations are just Olympus's way of pressuring the consumer to buy their memory cards. Overall this wouldn't be that big of issue (well, besides the whole shadyness of the tactic) but Olympus's cards are too small and too slow when compared with the newer generation of microSDHC cards that currently can hold up to 8gb and move data at up to 6mb per second. Plus, why not allow standard SDHC cards which can hold up to 32gb and can be MUCH faster? Heck, I wouldn't necessarily mind buying and using an xD card but Olympus really needs to up their storage capacity and speed in order to compete with SDHC and MicroSDHC instead of attempting to hold the consumer hostage by means of petty, unnecessary function limits.

I bought an Olympus 1030 SW in May, and first used it 6/28/08, with 75 photos taken on it total. I last used it 8/28/08 when snorkeling in Lake Tahoe (fresh water, depth of 5 ft). On 9/5/08 when I tried to use it again, it started, beeped 4 times, then shut down. Charger says the battery is fully charged, and the "View" mode works (where the camera also indicates a fully-charged battery), but cannot otherwise take photos or videos. Was shocked to see that Olympus warrantee excludes damage caused by water, shock, or "abuse" to a supposedly waterproof, shockproof and crushproof camera. After the horror stories I see posted on the Internet regarding Olympus "No Service" and charging people to fix their defective/leaking cameras, I'm considering contesting the credit card charge I bought it with.
Be warned! You may get lucky and get a "Good" Olympus 1030 SW, but their quality control appears to be letting some defective, non-waterproof units get into the retail stores. I would NOT trust this camera on a "Once-in-a-lifetime" trip !

I'm a soldier over in Afghanistan and I have to say that this is the perfect camera for this enviroment. The camera's durability, especially it's toughness and ability to keep out dust or in my case sand is perfect. I also really like it's setting that allows you to take pictures when your moving and have the picture come out clear. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone.

Bought this product about one week before a ten day vacation in the British Virgin Islands. Tested the camera beforehand. Have shot exclusively in Digital SLR for last four years. Wanted a waterproof camera for snorkeling and the beach. The 10 megapixels was a plus. Minimal shutter-lag was also a plus.

Here was the big downside . . . the LCD quit working after four days. We took the camera in the water each day. Never exceeded the fine print of only one hour in the water at a time. Nor did we exceed the depth recommendations. However, the lcd quit after taking it to a pool for about one hour on the 3rd day of the trip.

Tried to contact tech support at Olympus, which promptly sent an automated reply that I would hear within 48 hours. Over one week later, I received a disappointing email that stated I could send the camera back and may be responsible for the expense.

The camera shot great pictures . . . when it worked. A brand new camera as well as a new product for Olympus should not be so unreliable. Perhaps your purchase will not react the same way . . . but buyer beware. Buy at your own risk!