Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
  Waterproof vs. Image Quality May 15, 2008
Purchased Olympus 1030SW mainly for waterproof/freezer/drop features. My vacations are watersports and wintersports. So now I don't have to worry about climate and environment factors effecting my pictures or making sure the camera is inside a ziploc bag.
BUT ... the image quality is sacrificed. My old Canon S400 4MP camera image quality is better, I mean way better. Sharper + better color. Even the Canon flash pictures don't look so "white". Since I don't print anything bigger than 5x7, I can live with it for now.
 fails in four hours May 13, 2008
We bought an Olympus 1030 for a family trip to the Florida keys which included some snorkling. The camera quit working half way thru the trip with only 3 to 4 hours in water. We were very dissapointed and missed a lot of good photo opps. It is going back.
 Great camera May 9, 2008
I saw this camera at a dive show. The Olympus rep placed the camera flat and then hit the LCD with a closed fist. I've broken many a point N shoot, so after seeing that, I figured this one would last a bit longer. I just returned from Little Cayman. The camera was dropped, it still worked; submerged in salt water, still worked; submerged in a pitcher of beer, still worked; and subjected to normal stresses found on a bouncing boat and it still works! The battery lasted for several days prior to needing a recharge. The UW pics turned out ok. Most required some color correction but nothing horrible. I'd like if the camera would record in RAW. For snorkeling, this would be great or shallow dives.
great little camera with all I needed May 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having just returned from a trip to Costa Rica and being disappointed with my older Kodak digital I started looking for a new camera. The problems with the Kodak, which served me well for a number of years, were: didn't zoom enough, LCD screen was awful (I always used the viewfinder), horizon that was always off, battery life was good, but to recharge you had to lug the dock with you. Another problem was the on/off lever, which, inside my day bag, kept getting turned on by mistake and wasting battery.
I looked at the Olympus because my favourite old film SLR was an Olympus manual. This camera has a 3.6 optical zoom along with a digital zoom that takes it to 18-23X depending on your settings. The menu is much easier to go through and I like the "idiot proof" sample pics on the menu to tell you exactly what each setting will mean. There's even sample pics through the viewfinder of the different light settings. The on/off button is a much better design than the old Kodak. The flash on/off is very easy. I also like snorkeling and thought that having a camera that could serve both above and underwater would mean having to lug one less camera along with me on trips. I also liked the fact that the recharger was much, much smaller than the Kodak. I was pleased to discover that it will also take underwater movies. The LCD screen is large and very easily viewed in all conditions. My first pictures taken with the camera were very pleasing. I tried a bunch of lighting conditions and the camera did well in all. The only drawback that I can see is that when you push the camera up to 18-23X the pictures get a bit grainy, but that happens with all other cameras that I've used and is to be somewhat expected. The menu has such useful settings as: "through glass", indoor, night, candle, etc.
For those who like to do top notch HD zooms, this is not the camera for you and why would you be looking at this anyway. For those who like a camera that will go anywhere with you and do most of the stuff a much larger camera does, this is a great buy
Super Camera May 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This camera was recommended to me by daughter who loved her similar Olympus camera. this camera has surpassed my expectations. I was very happy with my Canon digital camera but as we spend a lot on time in our boat and love snorkeling this water proof camera intriged us...we Love it. Wonderful clear pictures and very user friendly.
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