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Viewfinder
There is no viewfinder on the 1050SW; everything is done through the LCD screen, which we discuss below.
The LCD screen of the 1050SW is a 2.7-inch affair with 230,000 pixels. This is a little on the low side; other cameras have similar sized screens with higher resolutions, which makes for sharper previews and an easier way to check focus and fine details. The LCD is not a touch screen, but there is a way to control the camera by touch; it responds to taps on the sides, top and back. We'll discuss this more in the controls section.
The 2.7-inch LCD screen is pretty clear and bright,
but not that sharp
Flash
The small flash sits on the front of the camera near the lens; it does not pop up, out or around. It is located very close to the small lens, which won't help when it comes to avoiding red-eye. Cameras with flashes very close to the lens are more prone to this, but the 1050SW does try and compensate for this with a red eye reduction flash mode, designed to reduce red-eye with a series of pre-flashes. Olympus does not quote a the guide number for the flash, but small flashes like this don't tend to have enough power to reach into the inky depths. Next to the lens is a small auto focus illuminator LED, which is used to help the auto focus out in dark spots, as well as in a special macro mode for illuminating small objects.
The flash is located close to the lens.
The Olympus lens has a native focal length of 6.7mm - 20.1mm. Translated into a 35mm film camera equivalent, this is a 38 to 114mm lens, which does not offer much wide-angle coverage. Although it has a decent telephoto range, the relatively small wide-angle setting means the 1030SW won't work well for large groups. If a troop of dolphins starts doing a song and dance number in front of you, you might have a problem getting the ones on the edge in.
The small lens of the 1050SW has imited wide-angle coverage
Connections
There is only one port on the 1050SW, which does triple duty as a USB port, A/V output and power input. Cramming all of this into one connector makes for a simpler camera, but also means that the cables are proprietary; if you lose one, you have to buy another one from Olympus.
The battery in the 1050SW is a 660mAh model. We weren't able to test the battery life of the camera, but Olympus quotes it at 200 shots, which is a bit on the low side.
The 1050SW can handle two types of memory cards: xD Picture cards and Micro SD cards. Only one can be installed at a time though, and MicroSD cards require an adapter, which is included.
Water, shock and freeze proofing – The 1050SW has rubber seals around the ports and covers and is guaranteed to survive water up to 10 feet deep, a drop from 5 feet and temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius (-14 degrees Fahrenheit).
Panorama – The 1050SW includes a panorama mode that stitches together three shots by simply pressing the shutter and panning around; the camera captures the images and patches them together in memory. However, the in-camera stitching is only available if you use an Olympus-brand xD Picture Card.
Face Tracking & Smile Recognition - Olympus claims the 1050SW can track up to 16 faces at once. We don't have that many friends (especially at the Photokina show where we examined the camera), so we weren't able to test this claim fully. However, face tracking did work as advertised with the few friendly faces we could find. It also includes smile shot, which will take a photo, examine to see if the subject is smiling and, if not, take another three photos in quick succession, in the hope that one of them will capture a beaming, happy mug shot.
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