Olympus Stylus-9000

Movie Mode
The camera shoots video at 640x480 or 320x240 resolution, at 30 or 15 frames per second. The results are saved in Motion JPEG format in AVI files.

Drive / Burst Mode
Information about continuous shooting performance was not available during our preview. We do know that the camera has a single 12-second self-timer setting.

Playback Mode
Photos can be enlarged on-screen ujp to 10x during playback, which is plenty to judge image sharpness. Zooming out during playback brings up a screen full of thumbnail images, first 4, then 9, 16 and 25. A slideshow option is also available.

Editing options during playback include red-eye fix, shadow adjustment (dynamic range enhancement), resizing, cropping and color mode shift (black & white, sepia, oversaturated), along wth the option to take a photo and embed it into a calendar page template for printing out, which we think is kind of fun. There is a one-click Perfect Fix utility that attempts to automatically enhance an image. Also, as part of the total Beauty package that starts with a Beauty-enhancing shooting mode, there are three Beauty edit effects, which clear up complexions, enlarge eyes and add 'sparkle' to the subject's eyes by locally jacking up the contrast and brightness of the pupil.
 

Custom Image Presets
The Stylus-9000 includes a substantial array of 14 scene modes, including:
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Night Scene
- Night+Portrait
- Sport
- Indoor
- Candle
- Self-Portrait
- Sunset
- Fireworks
- Cuisine
- Documents
- Beach & Snow
- Pre-capture Movie

We're not quite sure why they didn't include Smile Shot, a mode typically found on current Olympus models, that waits after the shutter has been pressed until the camera sees a smiling face before taking a photo. Maybe the camera is targeted at the deep-pocketed Grinch market.

And, if so, the Grinch will at least look his best if the camera is set to Beauty mode, a newly introduced Olympus feature that automatically smoothes complexions, removes blemishes and cuts down on wrinkles. Beauty mode has its limitations, we discovered. It saves the processed images at only 2-megapixel resolution, and it takes quite a while to work its digital processing magic, during which time you can't shoot another photo. Also, there is only one level of Beauty enhancement available, while Casio (which pioneered this feature) lets the user choose the intensity of the ersatz attractiveness effect. On the plus side, while shooting in Beauty mode, the camera saves both the original and processed image, so you can always go back and retouch by hand if the automated effect is displeasing.

Another option for those who enjoy going beyond the basics is panoramic photo shooting. You can shoot up to 3 shots and stitch them together directly in the camera, or up to 10 to be connected afterwards using the supplied Olympus software.