Olympus Stylus 1050 SW

The curve plotted above does not represent a pretty picture. At the lowest available ISO settings (ISO 80 and 100), the 1050 SW performs very nicely, but loss of dynamic range from that point on is distressingly swift. Even without pushing the camera to its ISO 1600 extreme (which is really not that extreme, in a market where ISO 3200 for a compact camera is not uncommon), dynamic range limitations will be reflected in a lack of crispnesss and realism in high-contrast images.
 

Olympus 1050 SW Dynamic Range Scores

White Balance (3.84)
Except in fairly extreme lighting conditions – reading by candlelight, for example – we're not very sensitive to the color of the light around us. Looking at a sheet of paper under fluorescent light or a standard household bulb, for example, our minds adjust for the substantial difference between the two source of illumination and basically see the paper as white. This adjustment is far more difficult for a camera than it is for the human brain, but it's necessary to produce a good-looking photo. Most cameras offer at least two ways of coping with this challenge: an automatic system which lets the camera analyze the incoming light and adjust accordingly, and a set of presets tuned to specific light sources, which the user can choose manually. We test both of these strategies under a range of lighting conditions.

Auto White Balance (4.01)
Most often we find that a camera will cope well with certain light sources and go down to defeat with others. This is certainly the case with the 1050 SW. Interestingly, one of the light sources that proves most challenging for compact cameras, fluorescent bulbs, was a strong point for the 1050 SW, and it also handled flash with good results. However, colors were wildly off in shots taken in the shade, and photos taken under tungsten lighting (similar to ordinary household bulbs) showed an uncomfortable shift towards overly warm and orange tones.
 

In the test images below, produced by Imatest image analysis software, the differences between ideal and actual colors have been exaggerated to show the nature of the color shift more clearly. You wouldn't see this level of difference in actual photos shot with the camera.
 

The good white balance performance achieved using flash and under fluorescent light was heavily outweighed by surprisingly poor scores in daylight shade and incandescent lighting. Using flash indoors will help some, but it's no solution to an overall disappointing result. While the Samsung is the obnovious kid who spoils the curve for the rest of the class in the comparison below, the 1050 SW lags significantly behind even average performers.