Olympus Stylus 720SW

Manual Control Options
The Olympus Stylus 720SW isn’t big on manual control. Aperture and shutter speed cannot be manually adjusted, though users can make the exposure brighter or darker with the exposure compensation control. Metering and ISO can affect the lighting, and the user can also select white balance and auto focus mode. All of these options are buried within the 720’s complicated menu, and some options are even located in two different places, such as the Menu button or OK/Func button.

Focus
Auto Focus (5.75)
The Stylus 720SW’s contrast detection auto focus system isn’t as sensitive as it should be. It doesn’t do well in low contrast situations, including underwater, when the contrast is dulled. Although users can choose between iESP Auto and Spot auto focus modes, both are quite slow, and some pictures still end up blurry. The system doesn’t perform well in low light either, as it has no illuminator to assist it. This Olympus digital camera focuses from 19.7 inches normally, from 7.9 inches in the macro mode, and from 2.8-19.7 inches in the super macro mode, a range which can capture small and large subjects alike. Auto focus is generally disappointing; it adds to the shutter lag and often fails to focus on subjects.

Manual Focus (0.0)
This feature is not available on the Olympus Stylus 720SW.

Exposure (7.0)
While the Stylus has plenty of exposure modes, all of them are very automatic. 28 shooting modes all allow access to the +/- 2 exposure compensation scale available in the standard 1/3-stop increments. A pseudo-exposure bracketing mode, called the Auction mode in the scene selections, shoots small-sized pictures at three different exposure values and lets users select the best one for posting on an online auction site.

Metering (6.75)
The metering mode option is found in the Menu and OK/Func menus, and can be switched from ESP multi-pattern to spot. Multi-pattern mode is the default, as it averages the metering from measurements taken around the entire frame. The spot option could more accurately be titled a center-weighted metering mode, as its "spot" isn’t all that small. Brackets in the center show the source of the 720SW’s exposure measurements. While these options should suffice for the casual user, they still fall short of the three standard options: multi, spot, and center-weighted.

ISO (8.25)
One of the highlights on the Olympus Stylus 720SW’s spec sheet is its ISO range. With Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 options, this digital camera seems set to perform decently in low light without the aid of the flash (check out the Low Light Performance testing section to see how it actually did). Users can find the ISO options in two different places: the recording menu and the truncated OK/Func menu. There isn’t a live view in either, though, so choosing the right ISO can be a bit tricky and involved.

White Balance (6.25)
There is no custom white balance mode, but users can tweak the colors by choosing from the following list: Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, and Fluorescent 3. Options do not appear in text, only as icons. Fortunately, a live view saves users from pulling out the CD-ROM user manual to distinguish between the three fluorescent white balance modes.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
Shutter speed cannot be manually adjusted. Instead, the camera meters the scene and chooses a speed between 1/1000th and 1/2 a second. This range is true for every mode except the Night scene mode, where the shutter speed can slow to 4 seconds. Users won’t know what shutter speed is being used until the picture is uploaded into the Olympus Master Software, which displays all of the file information.

Aperture (0.0)
The software also shows the aperture as part of the file info. Like the shutter speed, it cannot be manually selected. The maximum aperture in the widest focal length is f/3.5, while the telephoto end is f/5.0.