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

I decided to purchase this particular camera for the shock + waterproof feature. I do a lot of backpacking/traveling. I wanted something that was small and durable, yet still had good photo quality. I love the waterproof feature for around the beach or on the boat. Shockproof is good and I have tested it a couple of times accidentally. I am still learning to use all the features. My first trip using this camera was a couple week backpacking tour around the UK. Photos were good for the most part. The waterproof feature certainly came in handy as it poured rain most days. The menus are easy to navigate. My only real complaint is the positioning of the lens. You will find you get many shots with fingers in the corner. Overall I am pleased, It is exactly the rugged, small camera I was looking for. Price was excellent compared to other websites, and the shipping was fast.

I bought this camera primarily for its waterproof, dustproof, and almost indestructible make. Let's make it clear that I am no professional photographer, but I do see some problems with this camera which would easily make me replace it for something else.

The 10 megapixels made it an ever better deal since you can enjoy your pictures up on a big screen, but here is the biggest problem with this stylus. The images don't look quite as nice as you would expect from a 10 megapixel camera. Some appear really grainy, others too dark or washed, and others have chromatic aberrations. I have minimized all of these by tweaking some of the setting in the camera, and have found that the auto setting is only good up to a certain point. Also, higher isos reveal very grainy and washed-out pictures - setting it at 200 and 400 have given me near perfect shots. Sometimes I don't feel comfortable switching it around according to the lighting, so I just go with the preset modes - and there are a whole lot of them which also give very good images.

While the picture quality was really upsetting at first, once I went snorkeling my doubts about the Stylus 1030 SW completely dispersed. This camera goes where no other can go, and the pictures and movies underwater made for some good time.

I definitely recommend it if you're looking for something fun, durable and with good picture quality. However, if you're looking for great picture quality then you're better off going with other models or even an expensive SLR.

* This stylus also has the Olympus Panorama function which takes picture in a phenomenal panoramic view. One of the other reasons why I bought it, and it was definitely worth it.

I love the camera! The versatility is amazing. It has many "quick expert mode" settings, that make it very easy to use. My only wish is that the shutter button and the lens, are a little closer to the center of the camera. It would make it much easier to use with one or two hands.

Well, I wanted this to be the camera that could do it all. I have an old Canon S40 with a UW housing that takes excellent quality pictures - great optics for a point and shoot - but the old Canon is a bit heavy for my shirt pocket and very bulky with the UW housing. Unfortunately, this Olympus 10mp camera takes poorer quality pictures than my old 4mp Canon S40, with or without the UW housing on. Bright sunny day pics turn out acceptably on the Olympus, but any other lighting conditions result in dull, washed out looking, somewhat grainy pictures. Sent it back.

Everything about the camara is as described , but the quality of photos done in dark conditions is not as good as other similar camaras (eg canon, panasonic..) which lack the water and shock proof features. . .
But overall very happy with it and would recommend it... may be in the near future Canon or Panasonic will go for those features and then.. will see.