Summary: 1030SW Great Durability but soft pictures

Comment: I got this camera for taking on trips outdoors. I wanted something small that was water proof. Everything works well and the pictures during a sunny day are great. When there is less light, it suffers a bit.

Auto mode picture taking is ok but I wish there were manual modes. It is tough to get the picture I want at night.

ISO 400 and above is grainier than other compact cameras.

The pictures are a bit soft but reproducible to nice prints.

Water proof in the surf. You should definitely give it a fresh water rinse after use. Make sure that there is no sand in the lens cover. I heard that it would get stuck but I have not experienced this yet.

It is a bit heavy for the size but it is really heavy duty I suppose for the impact resistance.

XD cards are a little more expensive but it comes with an adapter to use micro SD cards. You can get 2gb micro SD for $7.99. This will allow for some serious pictures but make sure you have an extra battery to fill the card.

Video mode only does 10 seconds at the higher frames per second mode which sucks but the XD-m and other newer XD-h allow for longer videos in the higher resolution modes. Ten seconds is ok because we don't do to much video with the camera. You can get more time at the 15 frames per second mode at 640x480 if needed. I will get some XD-m+ cards later for video at the highest rating later. It is just cool to be filming a video while surfing and in the tube action vid.

Battery power is pretty good and sustains at prescribed projections by Olympus.

Overall I really like this camera but there are little things that make it so I can't give it 5 stars so it gets 4. For a point and shoot in swamps of Mexico, deserts of the Mojave, Oceans of the pacific kayaking or surfing, and at the size it comes in and with an optional floating camera strap, it is a great camera for $280. The floating strap was $15 which was pretty good. It would really suck if it was dropped and sank to the bottom of the ocean while surfing or snorkeling.

I have a Canon SD300 that takes way better quality pictures because of the manual modes, but it is very fragile. I broke 2 of them but good thing I purchased the warranty. This is a dry land camera and the size is great but not water proof. When I take this out to the beach, the salt air affects it and seems to clog it up. I have a water proof box for it but it is big and bulky. The 1030sw is the ultimate outdoors person camera. There is a pentax optio that is water proof but it is a bit bigger. Size is a big concern for us being we need something small and stealthy to fit in our gear.
I also have an older Olympus C-3020 that takes awesome pictures and has more of a manual mode. Of course the lens is bigger and the pictures at 3.2 megapixels are crisper. This camera is pretty big and it tough to take around hiking on trips. It still works really well.

When I got this 1030sw from Amazon, I should have ordered the accessories with it but forgot until later. They shipped really fast and I was pretty happy about it.

I would recommend this camera for anybody that is into outdoors h20 sports or the likes, but be aware of the camera not allowing for full manual mode. It is just a small compact point and shoot camera built tough.

4 stars given - If olympus fixed and added the things that were addressed here, they could sell a ton of these and would warrant 5 stars plus.

Have fun shopping for your camera :)

Summary: Takes a 'lickin and keeps on tickin!

Comment: WHat an amazing camera! The video quality is great, picture quality is excellent. I recently took this camera on a 7-day cruise where I knew I would be snorkeling and spend most of my time underwater. I was afraid at first to get the baby wet...but it handles like a pro. My advice....USE THE DIFFERENT SETTINGS!!!!! They really made a difference between shooting landscapes, on the beach, in the water etc. I dropped this camera several times with not a single problem. it just works.... If you plan on shooting alot of video clips, I would recommend the special 2GB M type video card (it was less than $15 on amazon) I's also recommend the floating wriststrap, which came in very handy while swimming....and yes it keeps the camera from sinking!). I can't tell you how many people were asking me about my camera...they were so envious that I could take great digital photos without some bulky plastic camera housing!

Pros:

DURABLE ...this thing took a beating
Great pre-settings for different conditions
Love the thumb wheel to toggle between camera and video and the Guide
big LCD screen
great mic quality when taking video
very sleek/slim design
worth every damn penny if you live outdoors!
came with mini SD card adapter


Cons:

Wrist strap doesn't tighten to wrist ( i just took one off an older camera)
LCD screen is hard to see in sunny conditions ( but that's with every LCD camera)

Summary: I love it!

Comment: As far as I'm concerned, this is the optimal camera. It has all the features I've come to rely on with a point and shoot (video, image stabilization, autofocus, even 3x zoom) but also is waterproof and shockproof! I had no worries letting my 5 year old cousin use it unsupervised, there wasn't much she could do to it except maybe lose it. My favorite feature is the "rapid fire" mode, were I can take several pictures a second when trying to capture just the right frame.
The only thing I miss is having a view finder. But actually so far I haven't been in a situation when the LED screen hasn't been sufficent to take a shot. Its just when I hand it to someone unfamiliar with digital cameras that it ever was an issue.

Summary: Exactly what he wanted

Comment: This was a gift for my husband. He is a big hunter and fisherman so it is perfect for him. He loves it. It is hard to see through the screen though looking into the sun but really that isn't a big deal for him.

Summary: Durable point-and-shoot for the outdoors

Comment: I bought this camera to replace my old powershot SD700, which broke when it was dropped onto a carpeted floor from a height of maybe 4 feet. Overall, I'm happy with the Olympus, but it falls short of my SD700 in a few areas.

Pros:
- The Olympus is smaller than I expected. It fits easily into my pocket and is not cumbersome to carry around on backpacking trips, for example.
- This thing is durable. You can feel the "sturdiness." I added a screen protector from bestskinsever, and now I feel like it's indestructible. I never worry about it.
- It does a great job with macros (close-ups). It even has a special macro mode that uses a small, built-in LED to light your subject. Very nice feature.
- It has an impressive zoom; better than the 3X of my old SD700.
- It has an impressively high-res CCD: 10.1MP; again, better than my old SD700.

Cons:
- My old SD700 still took better pictures. I can't think of a way to quantify this qualitative observation, but I think it's true. I recently went on a backpacking trip and my buddy brought his camera, which happened to be an SD700. We took pictures of the same scenery, but the Fall colors looked more vibrant through his camera. Images also seem..."sharper" with the SD700, despite the megapixel advantage of the Olympus. Maybe someone who knows more about cameras could explain this.
- There are a handful of different acquisition settings on the Olympus, but navigating to them is not very intuitive and definitely not very fast.
- There's no real manual control of things like shutter speed, etc.

I use this camera for all of my outdoor activities: backpacking, snowboarding, climbing, and trips to the beach. That's what this thing was made for, and it feels good to carry it around in my pocket or toss it into my gear bag without worrying about it breaking like my other cameras. The pictures it takes are good enough for me, but are out-shined even by older, cheaper cameras of the same size. If you get this camera, you'll like it. Just keep in mind that you're paying quite a premium for durability.