Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

May 23, 2007 - By Emily Raymond
Not too long ago, we gave you our first impressions of the Olympus Stylus 770SW from a preproduction model provided by the manufacturer. We recently received the ready-to-market digital camera, which is immune to shock, cold, water, and dust. The 7.1-megapixel camera succeeds the waterproof 720SW that has the same resolution and similar compact body.
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Auto Mode (6.5)
There is a button below the “W” zoom button that accesses shooting modes. It cycles through anti-shake, scene, and shooting modes represented by a camera icon. In the shooting mode, the OK/Func menu must be entered and the Auto mode selected. This isn’t as easy as twisting a mode dial to a camera icon or even scrolling through a list of modes to Auto. When the Auto mode is selected, all other options in the menu are disabled. Users can still access the functions on the multiselector: flash, exposure compensation, macro, and self-timer. The Auto mode takes decent pictures, but it isn’t as easy to find as it should be.

Movie Mode (3.5)
The movie mode isn’t as easy to find either. It is listed at the bottom of a long list of scene modes. Most cameras have an on-camera switch or a spot on the mode dial for the movie mode. This model doesn't have a mode dial or switch, but I would have thought that the movie mode would have its own spot aside from the Auto/Program, Digital Image Stabilization, and Scene modes accessed with the mode button. Surely, the movie mode is more useful than the digital image stabilization mode.
 
The following resolutions are available: 640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120. Unfortunately, this movie mode isn’t improved from the Olympus Stylus 720SW. The movies still record at a very choppy 15 fps. The optical zoom isn’t available either. The white balance and metering can be set from the OK/Func menu that will make the lighting and colors look more accurate. But the overall quality of the movies is poor. Movies can be played back with audio but not edited within the camera, and movies don’t play during slide shows. Only the first frame shows up as a still image.

To see how the 720SW performs in movie mode, refer to the Video Performance section of the review

Drive / Burst Mode (5.25) 
The burst mode is available in the OK/Func menu only when the Program menu is activated. Don’t get too excited about it though. It consists of Single, Continuous, and High-Speed Continuous options that aren’t as great as they sound. The continuous burst mode shoots at full resolution at 1.1 frames per second for four pictures at a time, although the camera's specs claim it can fill up an entire memory card. The high-speed continuous burst limits the resolution to 3 megapixels and shoots 3.5 fps for 12 shots.

Playback Mode (7.0)
The playback mode is accessed with a button that also shows off the user’s “favorites.” Images can be added as “favorites” via the first screen that appears when the Menu button is pushed. Favorite pictures on the Olympus 770SW are saved only on the camera; there is no syncing with the software like on other digital cameras like those made by Kodak and Canon. This menu screen shows “Playback Menu” in the center. 

Protect
Off, On
Rotate
+90, 0, -90
Voice Memo
Yes, No

Surrounding the central playback menu are eight options. From the top, clockwise, they are Edit, Print Order, Setup, Silent Mode, Erase, Calendar, Add Favorite, and Slide Show. There isn’t much in the regular playback menu. The voice memo feature records for 4 seconds while the LCD screen displays a “Busy” message. The editing feature shows this menu. 

Trim
640 x 480, 320 x 240
Red-Eye Fix
OK, Cancel
Black & White
OK, Cancel
Sepia
OK, Cancel
Frame
Birth announcement, Suitcase frame, Polka dots, Heart, Frame on clock, Airmail, Circle on blue, Pink lacey rectangle, Vertical heart, Pink rectangle, Sixties cutout, Vertical invite, Angel wings
Label
Congratulations, Thank You, Happy Birthday, Good Luck, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays, Best Wishes, Missing You, Love, Smile
Calendar
9 calendar page layouts to choose from
Brightness
+/- 5 in full steps
Saturation
+/- 5 in full steps

The red-eye fix function did not work when I tried it. The color modes showed dull colors, but it saved pictures as separate files from the originals. The brightness and saturation can be changed with a live preview, and all kinds of projects can be printed directly from the camera with the frame, label, and calendar features. The Olympus Stylus 770SW can create birthday and greeting cards in the playback mode, as well as pages for calendars and scrapbooks.
 
Erasing pictures is fairly easy on the Olympus 770SW. Users can delete a single image by pushing the bottom of the multiselector or can delete groups of selected images within the playback menu. Also in the playback menu is an option to play slide shows. The cheesy background music that was on the 720SW is back for a reunion tour on the 770SW. It’s the same two measures of elevator music over and over and over again. I suggest not using it in long slide shows just to stay sane; you don’t want to get this stuck in your head. The only other option for slide shows is what type of transition is to be used between pictures in the show: Normal, Fader, Slide, and Zoom. Movies can’t be played in slide shows; instead, only the first frame appears with a filmstrip-like frame around it.
 
There are quite a few editing options and a decent venue for slide shows and deletion. This is nice, but the delay when scrolling through pictures was undesirable. The red indicator light flashed for about 1.5 seconds when I pushed the multiselector to the right and left to scroll through the pictures. The next shot appeared only after the red strobe light show. Despite the annoying delay, the playback mode is useful since pictures can be easily viewed via the high-resolution LCD screen. 

Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The mode button just below the zoom controls rolls between auto/program, digital image stabilization, and scene modes. Yes, the digital image stabilization mode has its own special place outside the regular scene mode menu. This mode uses high ISO sensitivity with quick shutter speeds and gets trigger-happy with the flash to reduce the occurrence of blur in images. It does its job in reducing blur, but the pictures that used the flash didn't look very good at all because of the stark contrast and uneven coverage. That is a flaw of the flash component though - not necessarily of the preset mode.

All other scene modes are squished into a lengthy menu that appears when the scene position is entered or when the Menu button is pushed and the Scene option is chosen from there. The scene menu displays text titles of the modes and then a brief explanation appears about a half-second later with a sample photo. The following modes are listed: Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Available Light, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select 1, Shoot & Select 2, Beach & Snow, Underwater Snapshot, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2, Underwater Macro, and Movie. There are plenty of underwater modes listed to cater to the camera's waterproof nature.
 
Design / Layout Page 6 of 14 Control Options
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