Customer Reviews

Olympus Stylus 770SW 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Royal Blue)

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I have an Olympus 770 SW (NOT the 720 SW), for sure...and I like it. I have had five digital cameras before, and this one is terrific. Considering that it's a sub-compact pocket camera, image quality is fine (not equal to that of a digital SLR, but I don't want to carry around a big box like a DSLR). Shadow detail is especially impressive. Operation is smooth and intuitive. The screen is fine, even outdoors. Shutter lag, a big concern of mine as I like to photograph my kids at sports, is minimal and can be zero if you prefocus. The number of custom scene settings is impressive. I bought it because of the waterproofing and shockproofing, and because of prior good experience with Olympus over the years, but I'm just as happy with the pictures it takes under normal circumstances too.

A few gripes that stop me from giving the camera 5 stars:

1. The battery cannot be recharged when it's in the camera. For a total of $80 or so, you can get an external power source and a cable, and together they let the camera run a long time without draining the battery, but they don't charge the battery. Battery life is fine for a day of normal shooting, but if you use the camera actively, every single night you pretty much have to unlock the case, take out the battery and charge it, then remember to put the battery back in the next day. Each charge takes 5 hours. I'm going to take the same $80 and instead buy two extra batteries to be comfortable--One in the camera, one reserve along with me, and another charging at home. Even so, it will take some planning and thinking to keep batteries ready all the time on a vacation. It would have been much nicer to have a holster or a charging socket on the case.

2. The case is actually smaller than it needs to be. It could be significantly bigger and still fit in my shirt pocket, which is my standard size requirement. As it is, the advanced engineering is impressive to pack all the features in a tiny box, but the camera is more expensive than need be, the lens is smaller than it should be (depending on zoom position, the lens is between f/3.5 to f/5.0, which is pretty weak), it's harder to hold the camera than need be, and if the case were bigger, there would be room for a nice little charging socket too.

3. There is indeed a background, almost mechanical noise introduced when filming videos. It probably can be filtered out, as it's very constant and very low pitched, but it's mildly annoying.

4. Time between shots is too long--it takes several seconds to save each shot at full resolution.

5. You can use the internal memory only if there's no memory card in the slot. Given the slow transfer speed to the card, it sure would be nice to be able to save a dozen or so shots very quickly to the internal memory and then transfer them to the memory when you have time.

For all that, though, I'm really looking forward to using this camera on a forthcoming sea kayaking and snorkeling trip this summer. With one camera, I'll be able to take snapshots above and below water, also modest videos underwater (there's a special scene selection to do just that)!

Salt water spray has claimed two of my previous cameras so when I read about this camera and the Pentax Option W30 I decided one of the two would be a very valuable investment. The next question was deciding which one to buy.

The Pentax is a superior camera. Colors are more saturated, and it has lower noise higher up the ISO range. Also, the Pentax produces videos that are 30FPS (the Olymmpus only goes up to 15FPS) which is a huge advantage. Also, the Pentax uses SD cards, which are available at higher density and faster speed.

The Olympus, on the other hand, is much more bulletproof.

First of all, it will survive down to 30' whereas the Pentax is limited to 10. I wanted a camera that could survive light snorkeling. I routinely breath-hold dive to 12'-15' and I'd hate to have a camera on me that I would worry about. With the Olympus I just do whatever I want.

Second, the Olympus is crush proof. I can slap the thing in my backpocket and sit on it and not break it (I weigh about 190#). I can get on my boat, throw the thing on the deck with the rest of my gear, and watch it bounce around unharmed. The Pentax is just not that strong.

In the end, since I already have a camera that takes brilliant, vivid pictures with great resolution and also takes great video (a Canon SD550) I decided rugged was more important than marginally better optical rendition. I figured the Olympus would take acceptably good pictures and I went with the Olympus.

I'm not disappointed, but I'm not thrilled.

The camera is every bit as waterproof and bulletproof as is claimed. I've slapped it around, thrown it, had it around the boat, seawater, sun, kids, and it's just fine. I can take this camera with me on the boat, take it with me swimming and snorkeling, and it will work when I'll want it. A camera is only useful when you have it and I'm not afraid to have the Olympus with me at all times in any environment.

Having said that, the picture quality stinks, I suspect as a result of the lens design dictated by the water resistant qualities of the camera. In bright sunlight, with the ISO set to 100 (and even up to 200 it's not bad) there is no significant noise. On the other hand, the colors appear washed out and dull compared to similar pictures taken with the Canon. Its resolving power is also inferior to the Canon and there's no question but that I'll continue to use my Canon in environments that are friendly to it (like, no salt water spray risk). On the other hand, since I can't take my Canon everywhere, I love having this camera; I recently went to see America's cup practices in Valencia and I'm happy to say I have a couple of shots of Alinghi that will make decent poster prints. They'd look better taken with my Canon but....right, I would not have taken my Canon in that environment, so...

Focusing delay is very short, as is shutter delay. If you prefocus, the shutter delay is non-existent. Without prefocus, it's less than a second: not bad. On the other hand, shot to shot delay is annoyingly long, a couple seconds at full resolution.

Image compression is average. In the best quality mode you can still see some compression artifacts but the average person will not notice. If you do know what to look for, you'll find it annoying but not a deal-breaker.

I bought a 2Gb H Xd card, and it's pretty fast but not as good as high speed SD. Also, it's nowhere near the density that SD has reached, but 2Gb will go a pretty long way.

In short: buy this camera to take it in places where other cameras fear to go. Don't buy this camera if all you want is great pictures for the backyard or the trip to Disneyland.

Ah, almost forgot. Buy a large styrofoam float and attach it to the lanyard. If you lose the camera over the side of your boat, it's nice to be able to go back and pick it up.

This camera deserves 5 stars if you need a camera that easily fits in your pocket or purse and is ready to use whenever that picture or movie moment arrives, even under water. Considering the varied picture taking situations, action, and lighting conditions, the performance was beyond my expectations. The only significant limitation is seeing the display in bright sunlight or under water, even when the screen is set at its brightest. However, aiming was intuitive enough that I never missed a shot and I was able to change modes even under water (but I did practice switching between underwater wide 2 and movie ahead of time). One feature that would be an improvement would be the ability to zoom while taking a movie.

I received this camera just a couple days before leaving on a cruise so I didn't have any time to practice with it. Be careful not to have your finger in front of the lens, especially under water where you may not be watching the screen. Also be aware that when you zoom in for movies that the image movement is also magnified. The wide angle underwater movies are much better than at full optical zoom (digital zoom is off). After a couple days the controls were easy to use to change modes and review pictures and movies.

I used 1 gig cards and the highest resolution which provided about 240 pictures or about 40 minutes of movies. Switching back and forth was easy. Movie recording will continue until the card is full or the battery runs out, not just short clips. My clips were too short until I was comfortable that I would not quickly fill up the memory card or run out of battery. Under water pictures were superb with a natural shift in color toward green. I recharged the battery every other night. The battery was able to take about 100 pictures and 15 minutes of movie between recharges. I recommend a spare battery as it did indicate it was getting low a couple times and ran out once.

The camera was also used in daylight, inside, with and without flash, even night shots (the auto setting was better than Night Scene for harbor lights at night. The camera was steadied on the railing).

I purchased a lanyard with metal clasp at Sports Authority for a dollar which provides a very secure leash. With the lanyard around my neck I could tuck the camera in my shirt pocket. I was always ready for the next picture opportunity without worrying about dropping it.

I'm very pleased with the picture quality although it may not match a camera with a much larger lens system, but it was great to be able to take pictures and movies when I would not have had my larger camera available. The 15 fps movies do not match a 3CCD digital video camera, but they are acceptable. I even recorded short clips during live theater performances (with the screen brightness set at its minimum) and I was pleased with the quality from this tiny camera.

I have used digital cameras for several years, among them the Olympus C-50, Olympus C5000, and my main SLR, Canon Rebel XT and a few others. I bought the 770SW for a trip to the Galapagos Islands so I could snorkel and free dive. It was purchased a month early so I could get accustomed to the camera.

This is the first digital that I have used without a viewfinder so that took some getting used to. The criticism that one can't see the LCD in bright sunlight is VERY true but that is true of most digital cameras with or without viewfinders. I could see it underwater but not great. None-the-less I could aim it approximately and got some really nice shots. Posted one of a giant turtle and a pelican, which landed on my head thinking I was a rock. The interesting thing is that one doesn't have to change the settings if one shoots underwater mode (far) as it also takes great above water shots. Once you dive below the sun level or greater than 20 ft, the pictures get bluer and bluer as one expects. For scuba I use a Nikonis with a slave strobe, which is really necessary for good shots when one gets 30 or 40 feet. BUT for snorkeling, this camera worked great. In salt water, I can't go as deep anyway without weights, so had no problem with enough sunlight. Using the flash underwater would be OK if the water was perfectly clear, but the water was rather rough in many places and had many particles, so the flash would have bounced off all those particles and produced photos with spots anyway, unless you were trying to get that special effect. Actually had enough light for good shots as the ISO the camera sets itself to when set for underwater far. I suspect that is 400 or 800 since I didn't see much movement in the photos AND the current was strong as May is winter in the Galapagos.

I would suggest purchasing the H-chips (i.e. xD cards) rather than the M-chips as the H-chips are faster which means you can shoot faster to have more chances to get that GREAT shot. I used the 1GB xD cards.

To minimize or eliminate the sand problem, after use on the beach or snorkeling, I repeatedly washed the camera in fresh water while I continually opened and closed the lens (by turning the camera on and off).

I did not have the problem that some people talked about of the mode changing when the camera was turned off. Mine doesn't do that.

I was concerned about a couple of reviews that I read that the images were soft. NONE of my images are soft. They are very sharp and have blown them up to 11 x 14 without problems.

I personally feel that one should throw away the wrist strap immediately and buy an inexpensive lightweight neck strap and put it through the same hole. It cost me $9 at my local camera store. I lost an Olympus C-50 as I was getting off a sightseeing bus with it around my wrist, and the person behind me in a GREAT hurry pushed me, the camera slid off my wrist onto the cement 6 ft below and that was the end of that. Thankfully Olympus had a policy that if you send in a camera and $150 (as of 2005), they will repair it regardless what the problem is. Believe me that C50 had LOTS of problems which they repaired to make it like new. Anyway, a neck strap is a MUST as far as I am concerned.

Can't judge the panorama function as for the most part I take overlapping photos and stitch them together in Photoshop, which works great.

For indoor flash photos, one must be within 8 ft or so and not have high ceilings, then it is fine. I also increase the ISO to 400 or 800 for inside shots if there is a great distance. Obviously one introduces some noise, but many times useable if I don't have another camera around to use. It would be nice to have more flash power, but guess one can't have everything especially for the price and size.

If it is reasonably bright inside or outside, the photos are of good exposure, and sharp for blowups. I haven't noticed the white balance issue that one reviewer referred to, altho I think that was on inside pictures. When I do take photos when it is dark inside, I do use the Photoshop filter "highlight and shadows" more.

I was surprised at the battery life I got. Expected to go through many batteries in a day so bought a few to take along on my trip. Never used more than two and usually only one battery with all day shooting and 2 snorkeling trips. They do sell two types of batteries and suggest getting the one with the longer shooting time.

I now carry this camera EVERYWHERE. Buy one of the skins, which go around the camera to protect it from scratches. It was only $11 at a local camera shop. No it doesn't replace my Canon Rebel XT, but it takes great photos especially in bright situations and does underwater and you can even drop it (haven't tried that one out). It is so small, fits in my vest pocket and barely know I am carrying it.

Definitely as far as I am concerned, this is a MUST HAVE camera.

When I bought this camera in March I was excited for it. Drop proof, waterproof, crush resistant? Sweet! I'm pretty tough on pretty much all of my stuff so I figured this would be the greatest camera ever, I was disappointed. i dropped it a couple of times on vacation, only from pants pocket height or table height and figured it would be ok, nope. It still took pictures, but as soon as I went back into the ocean it stopped working properly. The scene mode stopped and each time I want to go from looking at the pictures I have taken back to taking pictures, I have to restart the camera. Bottom line, if you are going to buy this camera, definately get the extended warrenty on it, chances are if you are at all near as rough on it as I was, it's going to break.

The new Olympus Stylus 770SW is the nicest camera to date I've purchased. It takes great pictures and is extremely durable. The picture quality is awesome in all types of weather conditions and lighting. I stronly suggest to purchase this if the price is right.

Apparently digital cameras haven't come very far in the last 7 years. Just bought the 770SW and thought I'd test it out. I shot a series of indoor, outdoor, and macro shots, using the same focal point, with my old 2MP Fuji and the new Olympus. I shot at two different quality settings on each and with an array of camera settings (canned features, white balance, iso, etc). No zoom. Then I downloaded them and compared them side by side. Even after 7 years and 5 more megapixels, the shots with the Fuji had truer color and better focus. The macro shots were ok with the Olympus but brilliant with the Fuji (and you could actually see everything behind the subject with the Fuji, the Olympus was completely blurred).

The waterproofness: nice
The shockproofness: nice
The size and battery life: great
Canned features, setting, menus, ease of use: pretty good (tough to pick the right wb/iso when your out in the sun and can't see the LCD well)
The picture quality: not worth the price

And I'm not an idiot at picture taking. Pictures do look better with the right settings, but still not as good as my 7-year old brick. I expected a difference with the smaller optical zoom, but not at zero zoom.

If you buy this, I recommend getting it at a camera store, so you can return it if you're not happy (like I'm doing)

Would not recommend buying this camera! We purchased this camera specifically for a vacation to Hawaii. The third time we used this camera (in only a few feet of water) it leaked. We called Olympus customer service from Hawaii to try to get a camera loan or replacement for the remainder of our trip with no success. In fact, the customer service agent told us they had received many back because of leaks. Now we have a bad camera, memory card, case and skin and nothing but frustration dealing with Olympus. Extremely disappointed in this product and Olympus.

The two things I've heard about the camera that people complain about:
You have to take the battery out to charge
Indoor Pictures Suck

WELL THE SECOND IS A LIE. :P Photobucket isnt working for me at the moment so I can't upload the pic, but if you email or PM me I would gladly send you an indoor pic.

On my camera it looks just fine. There are no halos no spots or blurs etc. However, I am not a proffesional photographer so I couldnt tell you everything. But to me it just looks like a great picture. I will try uploading a few to amazon. So check the user Images link by the picture of the camera.

About taking the battery out. Is it really that hard? You open the door, take out the battery, put it on the charger. The charger isnt that big and if you are traveling its not like you wont have room to pack it. I dunno, but it seems like an extreeeeemly silly thing to gripe about. Honestly.




Anyways, the camera is great. If you were thinking about it I highly reccomend it. It's kinda scary getting it wet for the first time, but amazingly fun afterwards. Its fun to ask people to do it. haha


Bottom line, Buy it youll love it.

ALSO IF YOU ORDER HERE, the silver camera isnt really that color the front panel does not match the rest. it is the awesome gun metal color. Anyways like ive said a thousand times its amazing.

This is a good camera for outside shots. It's a great looking small and very solid package. However, indoor flash photos have been a consistent disappointment. A "bloom" of haze consistently appears on the right side of the image... Eventhough there is nothing blocking the flash or the lens.