Model Design / Appearance
Olympus’ marketing material describes the Stylus 710 as “Designed for Pockets” and that might not be too off base. Slightly wedged shaped, but only just over 3.5” at its thickest point, the 710 is further proof that thin is in. We just wish that the cool metallic front face plate was matched by something more substantial on the backside, which is a polycarbonate that feels plasticy.
Size / Portability
If you’ve only seen the Stylus 710 in a brochure or a press photo, you won’t grasp how truly small it is unless you hold it in your hand. Indeed, the Olympus Stylus 710 is one of the smallest and lightest cameras in its class. With dimensions of 3.7” (W) x 2.2” (H) x 0.8” D (94.8mm x 55.9mm x 20.4mm) the 710 definitely feels comfortable in your pocket. And weighing in a just 3.6 ounces (103 grams) without the battery or media card, it’s definitely not going to drag you down.
Handling Ability
This model is stylish but not robust. Other small cameras are tiny too but have a stronger, heavier construction and feel like they can be tossed around a bit without harm. The 710, however, is delicate and if you don’t have tiny hands, you’ll feel like you’re holding a dainty teacup when you’re taking a picture.
Also, the 710’s frame and button size is so small it’s difficult to use unless you have small hands and fingers. While not slippery, the wedged shape design of the 710 doesn’t always feel comfortable in your hand. Definitely make sure you hang on to this baby. If you drop it, it’s probably all over.
The one plus about the design is that the indentations in the polycarbonate back have created good places to put your fingers when taking pictures. Overall though, this tiny camera is hard to hold. Theoretically, it should be a one-hander. The shutter button though is not particularly sensitive and the balance of the wedge shape is such that just one hand won’t do. With two hands, however, you feel like your fingers are totally draped over the camera.
Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
Having only the shutter button and the power button on the top is actually a good choice for shooting because it makes things less confusing. The back of the camera, though, is a bit of a mess. The zoom rocker and control dial positioning are fairly traditional. The four-way multi-controller on the bottom with the four small mode buttons (Menu, DPOF, Trash and Display/Help) surrounding it in a square though is not very intuitive.
While it might not be fair to compare this model to some more expensive digital cameras from Nikon and Canon that feature a jog dial, when trying to squeeze so many modes onto the back of a very small camera, dials are definitely the way of the future. Plus, as anyone who owns an iPod knows, they’re a lot of fun to play with.
Menus
To be quite frank, the graphical user interface (GUI) on Olympus’ point-and-shoot cameras have always been less than appealing to me. The design of the interface with its blue screen background looks a bit dated, the font choices are weird and not very clear to read and the overall flow of the menus is not intuitive. Though Olympus has made some progress on its GUI in some of its latest models, they still seem a bit stuck in the 8-bit Age.
In the shooting menu, there are five selectable settings, written out and with icons, in a prism formation on a blue swirly background – Image Quality, Setup, SCN (for Scene) and Reset. The playback menu has nine selectable settings represented by icons and written out – Slideshow, Edit, Print Order, Calendar, Playback Menu, Setup, Index, Erase and Album.
In the Scene mode, menus for the different scenes are represented by icons next to descriptions of the scene and what it’s used for. This could be very helpful to beginning users, but most entry level users won’t turn them if they’re buried in a menu. Most people also have trouble making sense of what each icon actually means. At least information is available.
The Guide menus are also helpful, giving users basic information on how to blur the background in a shot, for instance. We’re all for anything that helps educate the user so they have a better experience taking pictures. Again though, whether people will actually explore these guides is debatable.
In movie mode, the menu presents the user with resolution options. See the Movie Mode section for more details.
Ease of Use
The Olympus Stylus 710 is certainly not difficult to use in its basic shooting mode, but it’s also not totally intuitive. The menu system is a bit dated looking and takes some time to figure out how to navigate. Having a mode on the dial that actually says “Guide” is a great choice since it doesn’t force the user to struggle through menus to find it. The overall tiny design of the camera though is hard for anyone with large or even average-sized hands to use. We love the fact that the cameras are getting smaller, but is it necessary to sacrifice usability?
