Olympus Stylus 1050 SW Digital Camera Review

Olympus Stylus 1050 SW

Digital Camera Review

Nov 28, 2008 - By Steve Morgenstern
1.8 The 10-megapixel Olympus Stylus 1050 SW is the latest addtion to the company's line of ruggedized point-and-shoot cameras. It doesn't match the level of indestructibility achieved by the brawny 1030 SW we reviewed earlier this year, but it's fine for the pool or ski slope, with waterproof performance to 10-foot depths and freeze resistance down to 14 degrees F (-10 degress C). We like the style and strong metal construction, but our lab testing was not kind to the 1050 SW. And while Olympus is proud of its admittedly innovative Tap Control system, we found it more gimmicky than practical. For the full story, click through to the complete review.
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Olympus Stylus 1050 SW

Speed/Timing
Fishermen and photographers alike like to fall back on that old chestnut, "You should have seen the one that got away," but it's not always a lie, and it's not always your fault. If the camera is slow to respond, you're going to miss key shots, even if you have the reflexes of a cougar. To fend off frustration, we test the speed and alacrity of each camera in several areas.
 
Startup to First Shot (6.0)
You see a photographic opportunity, you pull your delightfully portable camera out of your pocket, turn it on and wait till it's ready to take that first picture. In this case, you'll have to wait nearly four seconds on average, which doesn't sound like much on paper, but can be excruciating when Bigfoot is loping away into the underbrush before you can press the shutter.

Shot-to-Shot (7.27)
The 1050 SW provides two very different continuous shooting modes. The first, shooting at the camera's full 10-megapixel resolution, is a leisurely affair, sedately taking one photo every 2.7 seconds or thereabouts. Our scoring is based on full-resolution shooting, and that's not a rate that's going to rate well, but we did try out the alternative, truly high-speed mode in addition. This mode lowers resolution to 3 megapixels but in exchange captures shots at a smoking 6 frames per second. They might not be suitable for gorgeous 11 x 14 prints on your wall, but we like this mode for capturing sports and high-velocity toddlers alike.
 
Shutter-Shot (1.81)
You're not likely to miss a shot entirely due to the delay between pressing the shutter button down and having the camera actually record an image, but at a little over a second, you may notice the lag.

Processing (1.35)
After taking a photo, the camera has to process the data and store it to memory before you regain control of the camera for another shot. For most cameras, this moment occurs when the photo you just took appears on the rear LCD screen for review. Olympus offers a bit more instant gratification is this regard, letting you see the review image nearly instantaneously. Unfortunately, writing the photo file out to a pokey xD memory card is anything but instantaneous: it took over 6 seconds on average before the process was completed, which is basically a digital eternity.
 
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