Olympus Stylus 770SW

Viewfinder (0.0)
There is no optical viewfinder on the Olympus Stylus 770SW. Despite this, the LCD provides a nice live preview. It represents a 100 percent accurate presentation of the recorded image that gives it an advantage over most optical viewfinders on digital cameras. Unfortunately, there is no way to get rid of the file information that clutters the screen. Selected controls like white balance and ISO display icons on the left while the shooting mode appears at the top. The image size and number of pictures left on the memory card are displayed at the bottom, and icons for flash and such appear on the right. The refresh rate of the screen is about 30 fps which looks slow when moving the camera around or viewing active subjects. When the shutter is pushed halfway and the exposure locks, the refresh rate bumps up a notch so that subjects look much smoother. Once a picture is taken, the shot appears for about 2.5 seconds while the red indicator light flashes.

LCD Screen (7.5)
The Olympus Stylus 770SW has a 2.5-inch HyperCrystal LCD screen with Bright Capture technology. This technology takes information from 9 pixels on the sensor to create 1 pixel on the LCD screen that theoretically makes a more accurate image. It still doesn’t look that close to reality though, if you ask me. The LCD’s brightness can be adjusted in full steps on a +/- 2 scale in the setup menu. There is also a power-saving mechanism that dims the LCD screen when not in use for a few seconds.

The 770’s display screen is a big improvement from the older 720’s. The Stylus 720SW had a 2.5-inch screen, but it only had 115,000 pixels. The new screen has a much smoother view at 230,000 pixels. It can be viewed at a much wider angle too at 140 degrees. Above and below eye-level and side-to-side, the image can be seen. The only drawback to the view is the shiny surface of the screen itself; it easily catches the glare from lights but repels fingerprints very well. It isn’t spectacular in bright sunlight. You still have to squint in daylight to see it even when the brightness is boosted. However, it still beats out most cameras’ screens currently on the market.

Flash (5.75)
The small built-in flash unit is located to the left of the lens when viewing from the front. The flash isn't very powerful or even, so should be avoided if possible. It reaches 12.5 feet when the lens is zoomed out or 8.5 feet when zoomed in. Don't bother using it on close-up subjects. The harsh shadows and occasional blown-out highlights should discourage users from activating it in the macro mode. Perhaps to avoid this, Olympus included an LED super-macro mode that shoots out the white LED beam to illuminate subjects. The light stays on while shooting unlike it's purpose as an auto focus assist lamp. The LED lighting is softer than the flash, but it still causes stark shadows behind subjects and uneven flashlight-like lighting.

The flash on the Olympus Stylus 770SW's coverage is spotty. It produces a hot spot slightly above the center and to the right in the frame. This leaves the bottom corners of the frame much darker, and the top two corners only a shade lighter than the bottom.  The following modes are available by pushing the flash icon on the right side of the multi-selector: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, On, and Off. The red-eye reduction mode delays the shot significantly because it sends out strobe lights for about a half-second. This worked in eliminating red eyes, but because it took so long it caused some blinked eyes. The red-eye reduction mode is necessary though, as other settings still saw red eyes in the pictures. Pictures that used the flash didn’t look very good. The stark lighting and occasional red eye aren’t worth the extra half-second delay.

Olympus tried to include a few alternatives to the built-in flash. There is an Available Light scene mode that boosts the ISO and disables the flash. There is also the aforementioned LED super-macro mode that only works in very specific situations. Overall, the flash is something to be avoided as it is weak, spotty, and hardly ever produces attractive lighting.

Lens (6.75)
The 3x optical zoom lens on the Stylus 770SW is the same one that is included on the older 720SW. The lens measures 6.7-20.1mm, which is equivalent to a 38-114mm lens on a 35mm camera. The lens is made of 10 smaller lenses in 8 groups, with 3 aspherical lenses. It has max apertures of f/3.5 (wide) and f/5.0 (telephoto) which isn’t very impressive. Most digital cameras offer a max aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end, which lets in enough light for decent pictures in dim living rooms and clubs. The smaller aperture on the 770SW means that the camera’s image sensor has less light to work with when capturing pictures.

The lens is controlled by two tiny buttons on the back of the camera. In the top right corner, the buttons occupy the space where the thumb naturally rests. The buttons are labeled just fine, but there is a bump between them that certainly doesn’t help in handling. Perhaps it is meant to help differentiate between the two buttons, but it protrudes in similar fashion and almost feels like another button. The zoom control isn’t very impressive; it easily allows about six different focal lengths to be accessed within the 3x range. If users really try, they can stop at seven focal lengths when zooming in and nine when zooming out. To its credit, the lens settles well when the control is released. It doesn't breathe in and out or backfire into place like on some other models.

The Olympus lens is internal, so it never protrudes from the camera body. It does make a little electronic noise when it zooms in and out though. My main concern with the lens is its placement in the top right corner of the front. This is where the left fingers wrap around the camera – and end up blocking the lens and showing up in photos. One of the things I like about the Stylus 770SW is that I can let my toddler hold it and snap a few pictures without worrying about him dropping and ruining it. He doesn’t pay much attention to details like finger placement, though, so he snapped several pictures of his fingers. Sure, I don’t expect him to be a little Ansel Adams already, but he did look at the LCD screen rather strangely when his finger pictures showed up as pink fuzzy blobs. The lens placement won’t just be a problem for toddlers. I snapped a few fuzzy blobs myself. It could definitely be an issue if snorkeling and paying attention more to the fish than the camera.