Olympus Stylus 1030 SW

Memory (2.50)
There’s a modest 14.7MB of internal memory built into the camera – beyond that, you’re looking at an investment in xD-Picture Cards, an Olympus proprietary memory format currently available with a maximum storage capacity of 2 gigabytes. We can’t really come up with an advantage to using xD cards – they can’t come close to the enormous capacities of SDHC cards (now at 32 gigabytes), and sell for a higher price per capacity than SD cards.  Radio Shack, for example, sells a 2-gigabyte SanDisk xD card for $34.99, while a 2-gigabyte SanDisk SD card goes for $14.99. The camera comes with an adapter that enables it to accept microSD cards, the type ordinarily used in cellphones. Here again, unless you happen to have a stash of microSD cards with nothing better to do, we would prefer using standard, inexpensive, high-capacity SD cards, like most compact cameras.

Other features (12.00)

Torture and Abuse Resistance: Ordinarily our carefully orchestrated digital camera evaluation procedure doesn’t include physically abusing the equipment, so the very heart of the 1030 SW’s appeal lies here, at the tail end of our review. Olympus makes four significant promises regarding the camera’s ability to stand up to harsh conditions:

- Waterproof to a depth of 33 feet (10 meters) for an hour
- Freezeproof down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius)
- Shockproof to withstand a 6.6-foot (2 meter) drop
- Crushproof to withstand 220 pounds of pressure


Since our staff lacks professional divers to take our test camera down to a 30-foot depth, we tried the 1030SW in more readily available environments (a pool, a bathtub and an unoccupied aquarium tank) with excellent results. After years of guarding our cameras against the elements, it seemed incredibly intimidating at first to dunk a camera in H2O. It quickly became clear, though, that Olympus had delivered on its waterproof promise. All seals held, even after violent jostling, and the camera emerged unscathed.

Temperature torment was also inflicted using the water bath technique.  A cooler full of water, ice and salt was brought down to roughly the 14-degree mark and the camera was immersed. Again, it emerged, Houdini-like, none the worse for wear.

Shockproof was relatively easy to test. We started tentatively, with a fall to a carpeted surface, but finally graduated to a linoleum floor. The 1030 SW plummeted, bounced slightly, and continued to function.

Finally, a heavyset editor's back pocket was used to test grace under pressure. The 1030 SW survived the indignity unscathed.

Manometer: To be honest, we thought a manometer was something you bought from an ad in the back pages of Cosmo until we encountered it in the camera manual. Turns out it displays the atmospheric pressure and altitude/depth while shooting, ranging from -32.8 feet (-10 m) to 16,400 feet (5000 m). This would be a far more useful feature if you could actually record the reading along with your photograph, but it's still worth having.