Life can be tough, especially for digital cameras, and precision instruments such as these are not commonly built to withstand the abuse they can sometimes be subjected to. Olympus’ solution is the Mju 725SW, built to withstand being dropped from a height of up to one and a half metres, this camera is not only tough, but also waterproof to a depth of five metres. In this review Gary Wolstenholme searches for a chink in this warrior’s armor.

A choice of two autofocus modes are available through the camera’s menu - iESP and Spot. The iESP mode automatically selects an off-centre focusing point depending on your subject. The Spot focusing mode is fixed to one point in the centre, allowing you to focus and recompose for off-centre subjects. The autofocus on the Mju 725SW isn’t the fastest I have used, but it certainly isn’t slow.

In light of this accolade, in October Olympus launched an updated version, the mju 725 SW. It looks almost identical, with the same tough industrial-looking steel body, complete with exposed Allen bolt heads. These struck me as a bit of a cosmetic pretence the first time around, so in a spirit of inquiry I undid the three on the front panel just to make sure they were real bolts. In fact one of them was a fake, but the other two held the front inset panel in place. The camera comes in three colour schemes (the Titanium version you see here, plus Deep Blue and Cherry Red) with only this inset panel being of the different colour.

The similarity between the two models even extends to the retail price. The mju 720 SW is available online for around £220, while the best price for the new 725 SW is £223.

The only real difference between the 720 and its successor is an improvement to its already impressive durability. Where the 720 was waterproof to a depth of three metres, the 725 is waterproof to five metres, a whole extra 1/5th of an atmosphere of pressure, which I’m sure will make a huge difference.

Specifications

• 7.1 megapixels
• 19 MB internal memory. Removable xD-Picture Card.
• 3x optical zoom equivalent to 38mm-114mm in 35mm format
• 2.5” LCD monitor with 115,000 pixels
• 7cm Super macro mode
• 25 scene programs
• Shutter speed range - 1/2s-1/1000s (up to 4sec. in night mode)
• Sensitivity range - ISO 80 - 1600
• Waterproof up to a water pressure equivalent to 5m depth
• Shock-proof from heights of up to 1.5m

Anyone can get great results with the Olympus C-370 ZOOM. Compact and lightweight, this camera is simple and fun to use. It is based on a ‘one button, one function’ design principle, which makes navigating menus and features easy. However, this camera should not be underestimated. With 3.2 million pixels and a 3x optical zoom lens, delivering crisp photos is a snap, whilst the Super Macro mode allows dramatic close-up shots of extremely small subjects.The Olympus C-370 ZOOM will be available from October 2004, priced £119.99 (approx $175). It comes with the new Olympus Master 1.0 software and incorporates a range of features including:

• Easy to use, ‘one button, one function’ operation
• 3.2 million pixels
• 3x optical zoom
• 1.5 inch LCD
• Endless recording with movie function (limited only by the size of the available memory)
• PictBridge compatibility

The Olympus C-370 ZOOM is a marvel of simple design. Stylish but functional, it gets the job done with an absolute minimum of fuss with easy-to-use controls offering straightforward point and shoot photography. Using this camera could not be easier, even the four programme modes are supported by a special help function, which describes the selected mode on the LCD monitor.

With 3.2 million pixels, the Olympus C-370 ZOOM doesn’t stint on performance. Definition and image clarity is further enhanced by a 3x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 38–114mm on a 35mm camera), which incorporates three aspherical elements. A 4x digital zoom provides additional magnification power.

The C-370 ZOOM delivers great versatility. A Super Macro mode means subjects as little as 2cm away can be captured easily. Meanwhile video sequences are limited in length only by available memory. Image data is saved to the 12MB internal memory or on xD-Picture Cards of up to 512MB.

The Olympus C-370 ZOOM – main features:

• 3.2 million pixels
• 3x optical zoom (equiv. 38 – 114mm on 35mm cameras) f2.9-5.0
• 1.5 inch LCD, 130,000 pixels
• 12MB internal memory
• One button per function concept, reset button
• New user interface with useful descriptions of programme modes
• Four scene programmes (Portrait, Self-Portrait, Night Scene, Landscape)
• Endless recording with movie function (limited only by the size of the available memory)
• PictBridge support
• Super Macro, from as close as 2 cm
• Accepts standard (rechargeable) AA batteries

Special menus explain what each of the camera’s four scene modes do, each selected using a small dial positioned to fall nicely under the right thumb. The scene modes on offer are portrait, self-portrait, night scene and landscape. You also get a fun movie mode offering 320 x 240 movies with sound and recording to the limit of the xD Picture card storage. Exposure control is run through an accomplished Program Auto exposure mode that provides true point-and-shoot ease of use.

PictBridge support allows shots to printed off directly from any compatible printers without the need to transfer pictures to a PC first.

The 3x zoom lens has an unremarkable 38-114mm focal range, but it’s more than adequate for this camera’s typical user and has a respectably fast F2.9 maximum aperture. The C-370’s stand-out feature has to be its great 2cm macro mode. It works well and provides stunning, frame-filling close-up capability.

However, there are a couple of problems. The most irritating is the lack of a custom set-up feature that allows you to set the camera for repeated use within the same mode; it always ‘resets’ back to the default settings. This means you have to repeatedly set the camera up again, each time you turn it on - even the quality setting isn’t retained.

The Olympus Mju 720SW “Shock and Waterproof” (aka Stylus 720SW) is a new 7 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens, a 2.5″ screen and an ultra compact metal body that is waterproof and shockproof! As far as I’m aware, this is the only shockproof digital camera ever released! The 3x optical zoom lens is equiv. 38-114mm on a 35mm camera. The Olympus Mju 720SW is available from around £235, this makes it good value for money for an ultra compact waterproof, and shockproof 7 megapixel digital camera. The camera is enclosed in a sturdy metal body and is available in three colours: dusky pink (shown here), Steel silver and Polar blue - the colour is only visible on the front of the camera, the rest of the body is silver. The camera records videos at 15fps and with a resolution of 640×480. The camera is very compact and thin - the body measures: 91 x 58.7 x 19.8 mm (without protruding parts), and weighs approx. 149g.The first thing one would notice with the 770SW is its solid but surprisingly lightweight body. For such a small device (91.8 millimeters by 59.2 mm by 20.6 mm) it can withstand external forces most digital cameras its size and even bigger could not. Olympus makes several claims regarding the unit, particularly being shock-proof at a height of five feet, waterproof at 33 feet, freeze-proof at negative 10 degrees Celsius and crush-proof at 100 kilograms (that’s the weight of almost two men). Normally, no one would want to do extreme stress testing on any electronic device unless allowed by the manufacturer (in my case, distributor Axis Global) but I was tempted to do so — of course with a little control.

The Olympus Stylus / Mju 720SW has a LOT going for it, and would be especially suited to someone who wants to take their camera with them everywhere they go, especially if they’re prone to dropping things, getting things wet, getting things dusty. The shockproof and dustproof qualities, and the solid build of the digital camera is likely to make the digital camera last much longer than other digital cameras, this makes it excellent value for money compared to less solid digital cameras. Image quality was generally good, although slightly under-saturated for some people’s tastes, and images were slightly soft. Noise was quite well controlled. The camera is very easy to use and there were several features built into the camera to help get better results, such as the digital image stabilisation mode and numerous scene modes.Olympus Mju 720 SW digital camera and concludes with overall rating of 4 out of 5 that with a rock-solid build, large LCD screen and easy-to-navigate features, the Olympus 720 SW looks likely to kick sand in competitors’ faces. The good points are built like a tank yet compact and lightweight, waterproof and shockproof plus good image quality, while bad point is small controls.

The Olympus EVOLT E-330 offers something a lot of people have been hoping for. Taking advantage of how far the price of image sensors has fallen, the E-330 features not one, but two sensors. The first is an NMOS sensor with a resolution of 7.5 megapixels, which is used for image capture. The second sensor is a CCD of unknown resolution, which is used to allow a live preview image on the camera’s LCD display. A couple of digital SLRs have offered live previews in the past, but these have come with strong limitations as to how long (and how) they could be used, making them essentially unuseable in the manner that most point-and-shoot digicam owners have become accustomed to. The E-330 solves this, and so the company has focused on optimising the LCD shooting experience, with a larger than average 2.5″ LCD display mounted on a tilting mechanism for easy viewing from a range of angles.The E-330 also offers a range of other features shared with past Evolt models, including CompactFlash and xD-Picture card storage, dust reduction system, and more.

The Olympus E330 offers a resolution of 7.5 million pixels. Although this is slightly less than that of its predecessor, it certainly isn’t significant. However, these types of resolutions do require quite a share of storage capacity. This doesn’t limit itself to memory cards; larger hard disks would also prove handy. I would recommend a memory card with a minimum of 1GB for photographing. A RAW file already proves 12.9MB in size, whilst a TIFF is an astounding 21.6MB. This should make it clear why it’s wiser to capture your images in RAW than in TIFF, especially when you want to achieve the maximum quality. JPEG offers the choice between several resolutions, each featuring four compression modes. The minimum compression is 1/2.7, which translates to a 5.7MB file when working with the maximum resolution. This is still quite a reasonable file, which easily suffices to produce large prints. The following table shows the amount of images that fit onto a 1GB card. The Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Lens captures extremely sharp and detailed images and can be purchased as a kit with the Olympus E-330.

The new Olympus Stylus 810 is an 8-megapixel compact with a sleek stainless steel weatherproof body and 3x optical zoom. As one of the smallest cameras in its class it comes with a choice of 20 scene modes covering a wide range of familiar photographic situations, a helpful Guide function and an effective ISO range of 64 to 3200 to deal with most image situations. One of its strong selling points would have to be the unique Digital Image Stabilisation function which prevents blurred images at the capturing stage and corrects images that are blurred as a result of camera shake.The versatile, water-resistant 8-megapixel Olympus Mju 810 adapts to dim environments as readily as it braves damp ones. Thanks to a combination of high sensitivity (up to ISO 3,200), digital image stabilisation, and Olympus’s Bright Capture pixel-pooling technology, the Mju 810 can take and display acceptable pictures in low light. Unfortunately, this camera doesn’t do as well in fair weather — its LCD tends to wash out in bright sunlight.

The Olympus Mju 810’s sleek, 145 gram stainless steel body is easily pocketable and less than an inch thick, with its 35mm-to-105mm-equivalent lens fully retracted. Unlike its resilient brother, the Tough Mju 720 SW, the Stylus 810 isn’t submersible, but it has better sealing and gasket coverage than a typical camera, which allows its weather-resistant body to keep shooting despite a bit of dust or precipitation.You can easily manipulate most of the camera’s controls with your right thumb, so the Mju 810 is well suited for one-handed shooting. Besides a power switch and a shutter release on the top panel, all camera controls are clustered on the back panel, next to the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD. These controls include a zoom rocker and a simple mode dial with only five settings: movie mode, scene selection, playback, recording mode and Guide.The latter can be used to call up image info, a rule-of-thirds grid for help in composing images or a live histogram to evaluate exposure levels. The camera menu, which provides control over all camera functions is clearly laid out with a mix of pictograms and text. A handy shortcut is that pressing the OK key in recording mode opens a sub-menu with direct access to the most frequently used shooting options such as white balance, ISO, drive and metering, thus avoiding the need to enter the elaborate camera menu.