Olympus Stylus 730 First Impressions Review - Olympus Point and Shoot and Non-DSLR

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Model Design / Appearance
The 730 can survive a rainstorm or two with its all-weather metal housing and rubber sealants. It may not be able to bounce or take a fall like the 720SW, but the new 730 is still quite sturdy. The camera is nearly flat, but still has a few components that poke out. The lens sticks out from the front and the thumb grip curls out in the back. The camera is rectangle-shaped, but it still has the cool aura that the Stylus Verve brought to digital cameras. The metal body has chrome and dark silver elements that contrast for a sophisticated look. The huge LCD screen on the back is attractive and the backlit control buttons are unique to this digital camera. Overall, the Olympus Stylus 730 has a new design that makes it one of the best-looking Olympus cameras out there.

Size / Portability
The camera’s good looks are quite portable too. The Olympus Stylus 730 keeps a compact frame. It measures 2.4 inches tall, 3.8 inches long, and 0.83 inches wide. The pocket-sized camera definitely has some heft to it; you would know if it dropped accidentally. It weighs 4.6 oz without the battery or card. Hopefully it won’t be dropped – this is not shock proof – but it does have sturdy features to improve portability in a pocket. A metal lens cover protects the glass and keeps pocket lint out of the lens, while the rubber seals keep moisture such as condensation from a water bottle out of the camera’s insides.

Handling Ability
The rectangular camera doesn’t have a vast number of handling features, but does have a single thumb grip on the back that is quite effective. The thumb grip curls up on the right edge of the back. It has small dimples in it for texture and gives the edge a jagged look. With that tiny feature, it is easy to shoot with only one hand. On the front of the camera, the Olympus logo is textured where the fingers wrap around – but this is a stretch to call it a handling feature.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The control buttons on the Olympus Stylus 730 are unique with their backlighting and clustered setup. The backlighting is interesting; a green light shows behind the playback button, a red light shows through the recording and delete buttons, and white light shows on the rest. The clustered setup isn’t as brilliant an idea; pushing buttons without looking is quite dangerous in this case. Most other cameras separate the buttons and add bumps or some tactile feature so users can distinguish the buttons and push them without looking. Still, this unique interface is backlit and labeled well. The camera’s multi-selector is square-shaped and slopes down in the middle like a bowl. In the center of the multi-selector is an OK/Func button. When the multi-selector is pushed, it makes the sound of clipping fingernails. This isn’t that annoying unless you’re in a museum or other area where silence is preferred. There are a few buttons on the top of the 730, including a Reset button. This is strange, as most compact cameras bury a reset option in the setup menu expecting that users won’t have to reset the camera to its default settings that often. Overall, the buttons are properly sized and labeled. There is one exception; the zoom switch is tiny.

Menu

Almost all Olympus digital cameras are cursed with non-intuitive menus and the 730 is no different. When the Menu button is pushed, the initial menu screen appears with a jumble of eight or nine options. In the recording mode, these are the options: Compare & Shoot, Image Quality, Multi-Shot, Panorama, Camera Menu, Setup, SCN, and Silent Mode. The Camera Menu is the central menu item and pushing okay takes users directly to the following items.

White Balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3
ISO	Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Drive	Single, Single, *1 (keep in mind this is a pre-production model)
Metering	ESP, Spot
Fine Zoom	(no access)
Digital Zoom	(no access)
AF Mode	iESP, Spot
Voice Memo	On, Off
Label Shot	(+/- 6 sliding scale)
Frame	Suitcase, Off-center with Polka Dots, Lacey Heart, Crooked on Clock, Airmail Envelope over Photo, Off-center Circle, Rectangle, Vertical with Heart at Top, White Rectangle, Retro, Half and Half

This menu was organized into two tabs, labeled 1 and 2, but the tabs are so small users hardly know they’re there. Some of the menu items were in text and others in icons, so there is no clear style throughout the system. Keep in mind that the reviewed camera is a pre-production model and the menus could change. With that in mind, some of the menu items blocked access to their options. For users who think these options are much too buried in this ridiculous menu system, there is a small menu for frequently used options when the OK/Func button is pushed. Here it is.

Recording Mode	Program, Auto
White Balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3
ISO	Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Drive	Single, Continuous, High-Speed Continuous
Metering	ESP, Spot

This can be confusing to have several settings appear in different places, but that confusion is probably better than the chaotic appearance of the initial blue menu. The following options come from the setup menu, which consists of four tabs.

Format	Yes, No
Backup	(no access)
Language	English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Power On Setup	Screen (Off, 1-Olympus logo, 2-blank screen with car engine starting), Volume (Off, Low, High)
Color	Normal, Blue, Black, Pink
Beep	Off, Low, High
Volume	Off, Low, High
Shutter Sound	Off, 1-traditional click, 2-hammer, 3-space sounds (all with Low and High volume options)
Volume	6 options from mute to loud
Rec. View	On, Off
File Name	Reset, Auto
Pixel Mapping	Start
Screen Brightness	+/- 7 sliding scale
Time	Set year, month, date, time, Y/M/D or D/M/Y or M/D/Y
Dual Time	Off, On
Alarm Clock	Off, One Time, Daily
Video Out	NTSC, PAL
Info	Normal, Detail, No Info
&	Off, On

You didn’t misread the menu. There are two volume options on this pre-production model. Undoubtedly they will be fixed when the real thing comes out. When the menu button is pushed in the playback mode, the following jumble of choices appear on the initial screen: Slide Show, Edit, Print Order, Calendar, Playback Menu, Setup, Album, Erase, and Silent Mode. The playback mode’s menu is quite short.

Protect	On, Off
Rotate	+90°, 0°, -90°
Voice Memo	Yes, Cancel
Album Entry	Select Image, Set Calendar, Set All

Overall, the menu system on the Stylus 730 isn’t intuitive or desirable. Still, this menu has an advantage over previous Olympus models because of its large viewing screen and enlargeable text and graphics, making it easier on the eyes to see those clusters of icons and text.

Ease of Use

This digital camera has its pros and cons. On one hand, its menu system isn’t very intuitive with some settings found in multiple places and some menus dragging on in length. Still, the camera has a simple mode that shrinks the menu and transforms the Olympus Stylus 730 into a bona fide point-and-shoot. The 730 also packs an extremely helpful feature that is hard to find anywhere else: a help guide. This help guide doesn’t just display how many pictures are left on the card if the full-resolution image size is chosen or what the exposure compensation setting is used for. This help guide consists of an extensive list of scenarios and helps users achieve the proper exposure accordingly. Below is the in-camera help guide.

Brightening subject	1. Increase the value of exposure compensation, 2. Set to fill-in flash
Shooting into backlight	1. Set to fill-in flash, 2. Set the metering to Spot, 3. Increase the value of exposure compensation
Set particular lighting	1. Outdoor in sunny, 2. Outdoor in cloudy, 3. Incandescent Lighting, 4. Warm Fluorescent, 5. Neutral White Fluorescent, 6. Cool White Fluorescent
Blurring background	1. Set to Portrait mode, 2. Zoom in
Adjusting area in focus	1. &, 2. Zoom out
Shooting subject in motion	1. Set to Sport mode
Close up photo	1. Use macro mode
Super close up photo	1. Use super macro mode
Shooting at night	1. Set to night mode
Reducing blur	1. Set to image stabilization mode, 2. Increase ISO sensitivity
Reducing red-eye	1. Set to red-eye reduction flash
Adjusting image quality	1. Shooting pc-editing quality, 2. Shooting large-print quality, 3. Shooting normal quality, 4. Shooting l/postcard quality, 5. Shooting web/email quality

This does prove to be a lot of words, but I think it beats having to reference the user manual every time a picture comes out blurry or dark. Overall, the help guide is a very nice touch but the overall interface is still too confusing.

Components Page 4 of 10 Modes
Olympus Stylus 730 First Impressions Review Navigation

Intro

Physical Tour

Components

Design / Layout

Modes

Control Options

Image Parameters

Connectivity / Extras

Overall Impressions

Conclusion

Components	Page 4 of 10		Modes
Olympus Stylus 730 First Impressions Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion

Olympus Stylus 730

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