Olympus SZ-31MR iHS Digital Camera Review

Motion

The SZ-31MR is capable of 1080/60p video recording, and the resulting clips are therefore very smooth. We detected only the slightest bit of trailing and frequency interference, and no artifacting resulting from compression. More on how CamcorderInfo tests motion.

Video Sharpness

Video details are very sharp. Under studio illumination, the sensor is capable of resolving 650 lw/ph horizontally and 600 vertically during clips. This places the SZ-31 ahead of even the best cameras in this class. More on how CamcorderInfo tests video sharpness.

Under our 60 lux low lights, resolution drops but not by much. Horizontal sharpness is reduced to 575 lw/ph, but vertical holds steady at 600.

Low Light Sensitivity

The SZ-31 requires only 18 lux of ambient illumination to gather 50 IRE of video image data. That's far better than average for a compact camera, though the best we've seen from a competitor is 3 lux. Given how much Olympus is pushing the "iHS" or "Intelligent High Sensitivity" capabilities of this camera, we were pleased to see this translate into a measurable video sensitivity improvement.