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| Brand: Olympus
Buy New: See price in cart
New (61)
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 203
Color: Silver
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: No
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Includes Software: Yes
Optical Zoom: 4
Digital Zoom: 5
Connectivity: AV
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 18.2
Minimum Focal Length: 5
Maximum Resolution: 10100000
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 3.7 x 0.8 x 2.4
nv:Sensor: 10.1 Megapixel
Size: 1/2.33?
Image Resolution: 3648 x 2736
Movie Resolution: 640 x 480
Memory Included: 14.7MB Internal
Storage Media: xD-Picture Card
Compressed Format: DPOF
Compressed Format: PIM3
Compressed Format: JPG (EXIF 2.2)
Movie File Format: AVI motion JPEG
Optical Zoom: 3.6x
Digital Zoom: 5x
Combined Zoom: 18x
Focal Length: 28 - 102mm
Focus Mode: TTL - AF
Focus Mode: iESP
Focusing Range: 50cm - infinity
LCD Monitor: 2.7-inch
LCD Pixels: 230,000 pixels
LCD Coverage: 100%
MPN: 226340
Model: 226340
UPC: 050332162914
EAN: 0050332162914
ASIN: B0011E87QI
Release Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Lovin' It April 12, 2008
J. W. Vincent (St. Paul, MN)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Bought this a little over a week ago, just after testing my underwater housing for my Canon S30 and finding it was leaking. We were leaving for five days of snorkeling in Cozumel and I wanted to be able to take underwater pictures. The Stylus 1030SW really fit the bill. Got a 2GB Olympus card and spare battery. The card was more than enough capacity and I was really pleased with how many shots I could take on a single battery charge. Over the 5 days I took over 800 photos and one battery usually lasted most of the day, even though I had the camera on most of the time I was in the water. I'm sure I surface dove to 15 and 20 ft a number of times, so, the 1030 was a better solution for me than the 850 would have been. I also really like the wider angle (effective 28mm). Camera worked great underwater and for other vacation shots. I usually turned the flash off underwater since shots taken with it would have lots of spots from reflection off all the little bubbles and stuff in the water, but, got some real nice fish & coral photos anyway. It can be tough to see the LCD in real bright conditions, and, the black is just paint (one time when getting out I got trown by a wave and slammed the camera into the coral bottom scratching the paint but otherwise the camera was uneffected). I'm very impressed with the quality of the photos this little camera is giving me, the range of adjustments, and, after a fairly short learning curve, the ability to adjust the settings pretty easily. I also got the floating strap which does keep this heavy little beast from going to the bottom if you happen to lose hold of it. I'm very pleased with this camera so far and looking forward to using it a lot, particularly taking it along biking, hiking, camping and other active outdoor uses.
 Very Well Built - Great for Hiking and Beach March 29, 2008
K. Howard (Honolulu, HI USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
I received this camera a few days ago and have been putting it through it's paces. I live in Hawaii, so have been using it while at the beach and free diving. For me, this is an ideal point and shoot camera.
I feel that the image quality is great. I may not have a very good eye to judge this, but my experience says that most cameras produce good images when used correctly. Poor images are more due to the user than the camera. I was impressed with the menu controls and how much explanation is on the camera itself (I especially like the on camera guide). Compared to my other cameras (Canon SD600 and Sony DCR-PC350 video camera with 3 MP still support) the menu system is much improved and easier to use. This is my first Olympus camera, so I can't compare it too prior models. I really like how I can use the full auto feature for simplicity, but the camera can guide me through more detailed situations using either the scene menu or the guide.
Physically, I was impressed with this camera. It is rather heavy, but feels very solid. For the first time, I feel like I can take a camera anywhere with little worries. I already dropped it on a hike in some mud and just pored some water on it and kept shooting. This, to me, is well worth the slight price premium for this camera. I simply couldn't get these pictures before without an expensive housing. The dial on the back of the camera is difficult to use, but a minor inconvenience.
I was rather impressed with the in camera panoramic function. If you take your time, it can give you good results.
 Want just a point & shoot with 10 seconds of video? March 31, 2008
James Shaules
10 out of 19 found this review helpful
I bought this camera because of the ability to plunk it in the water. . . But I'm still returning it as you will read.
I consider myself a skilled serious amateur photographer and currently own two Panasonic Lumix cameras (LX-1 & LX-2). When I shoot photos I am apt to change the exposure value for photos, consciously choose the f-stop and shutter speed when the conditions are less than ideal, and I am highly conscious of lighting and framing issues.
But I swim and wanted to take underwater movies for my stroke analysis. I earlier bought a DiCAPac plastic enclosure for my Panasonic but decided to stop using the enclosure after the plastic began to tear along the opening seam. So when I found the Olympus 1030SW I thought great! I can shoot underwater movies without a housing!
The Good. . . . I really like the shadow compensation technology. You can actually accomplish it in the computer but it is kind of cool to have it as a feature in the camera. I also like the length of time that the battery lasts before it needs to be recharged. The camera has a led light that you can choose to illuminate macro shots. This is a great feature if you intend to do close up macro shots. You can use the led as an emergency small light in the hotel room on vacation (if you can find the button). There is also a built-in alarm clock that could be quite handy. THe arrow pad control was intuitive. The camera has built in controls to modify or manipulate images (black and white, cropping, framing it, color manipulation) for those who don't have a computer. I do, however, question the ability to actually see the image well enough on the camera screen to intelligently modify the image in the camera.
The not so good. . . . The most annoying feature of the camera is that you must be very careful that you don't put your finger in front of the lens window. It's very easy to do; I know, I did it even though I was aware of the problem.
I do understand that this camera is designed to be used by the occasional photographer, but at $350 (I paid $400 at Amazon when it first came out) it seems that there should be at least some ability to consciously choose some settings without having to go into the "Mode Dial" "SCN" selection menu to find a comparable scene.
The Mode Dial has the following settings:
AUTO: "Shooting pictures with full automatic settings. The camera determines the optimum settings for the shooting conditions automatically" It changes ISO [sensitivity and color balance settings I think] - This is basically the point and shoot mode.
Program auto: "Set the optimum aperture value and shutter speed. The camera automatically sets the optimum aperture value and shutter speed for the brightness of the subject." I didn't really try to figure it out, but I never did understand the difference between AUTO and PROGRAM AUTO modes.
IMAGE STABILIZATION MODE: "Shooting pictures using digital image stabilization. This function reduces the blur caused by a moving subject or camera movement when taking pictures." So I wonder why there is a mode just for this rather than having a single button to turn it on and off? So is it like the Program Auto, or the Auto mode with image stabilization? Quien sabe?
SCN mode: "Shoot pictures by selecting a scene mode according to the situation. You can shoot pictures by selecting a scene mode according to the situation." So there are more than a dozen "scenes" that you are supposed to scroll down through to find one similar to the one you are going to shoot. Here's the list "PORTRAIT / LANDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE +PORTRAIT / NIGHT SCENE*1 /NIGHT+PORTRAIT*1 / SPORT / INDOOR / CANDLE*1 / SELF PORTRAIT /AVAILABLE LIGHT*1 / SUNSET*1 / FIREWORKS*1 / CUISINE / BEHIND GLASS /DOCUMENTS / AUCTION*2 / SHOOT & SELECT1*2 / SHOOT & SELECT2*3 /BEACH & SNOW / PRE-CAPTURE MOVIE / UNDERWATER SNAPSHOT*4 /
UNDERWATER WIDE1*4 / UNDERWATER WIDE2*4*5 / UNDERWATER MACRO". So what is a poor bloke to do? I know. "Oh wait! Let me shoot the picture of you, Johnnie, blowing out the candles. Margot! Tell him to wait! Now, Hmmm. Where was that mode? I know there supposed to be a way to take a picture of my kiddie blowing out a candle if you'll just give me a minute to find it. . . . "
Methinks the various scenes that you can select thru the SCN mode probably address lighting issues, light color issues, etc. But still! It is too impractical to use it. I doubt many will ever use it though Olympus may try to push it as a selling point.
Now, we come to the reason that I returned the camera. I play golf as well so today I went to use the camera in the movie mode for the first time in order to record my swing on video[swimming was to be later this week]. I had already set the camera to the VGA movie mode but when I pushed the button it turns out that you can only record ten seconds of video in VGA mode! That's ridiculous. There must be a lack of horsepower under the hood that it can't stream that resolution to the memory card, but it can in the QVGA mode since the resolution is less good. So, when I go to Hawaii in a couple of months and I want to shoot a video of my wife snorkeling with the dolphins in the water I'll be able to get ten seconds of video. Sounds peachy keen! That combined with the the dismal ability to choose the aperture and f-stop make it a sure returner for me. So sorry. . . :(
So, I'm returning it despite the fact I bought a silicone skin, two extra batteries and two 2gb memory cards.
Good for watersports, not great on land. April 14, 2008
Jill (san francisco, ca)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I spend a lot of time on and in the water and I bought this camera to stick in my pocket and go. It is very good for that. For general purpose use though it is poor-to-mediocre in comparison to other point and shoot digitals at this price that I looked at. I usually shoot slide film/ SLR, but I figured for the price this camera would probably take acceptable pictures.
The good: the macro mode works very well and is fun to use. The underwater thing is as cool as it sounds. The camera is well built and rugged and easy to carry around. The battery life is outstanding. All in all it should be a great outdoors person's pocket camera
The bad. The biggest problem (and it is a huge one) is the horrible program mode system. The lack of an aperture or shutter priority setting is a major, major issue in light of the bizarre pre-sets on this camera.
For starters, the camera sets the aperture wide open, no matter what you're actually trying to take a picture of. I shot about 150 pictures in "Landscape" and "Portrait & Landscape" modes last week and every time the camera set the aperture to the max allowed by the zoomed lens, usually f/3.5. Even if you point it at a fluorescent light or bright water (so there are no low-light issues) it does not stop down. This is stupid. It means that the only thing in focus in most of the "landscape" photos was a tree-branch in the foreground or some guy's hat. There is no manual override. Apparently it is a fixed aperture camera. The only way is to zoom to the max which only has a max aperture of up to 5.6 or so. Of course this means that the wide angle feature is useless for landscapes.
Even if you manage to get an appropriate f-stop, the camera has a problem picking appropriate ISO and shutter speeds, especially in low light. It seems to prioritize for low ISO, meaning that it also slows the shutter speed down, resulting in blurry and noisy photos. A speed of 1/40s with ISO 80 is pretty useless in terms of getting good handheld pictures vs speed of 1/250 and ISO 200, for example. Using the LED seems to fix this in the Macro mode but in other modes the camera insists on reducing shutter speed and opening up the lens inappropriately. You can set the ISO manually but the modes are fiddly and it's easy to forget if you switch back and forth a lot.
Finally my autofocus simply refuses to focus on anything more than about 70' away. Even if I confirm spot-focus before shooting on a distant object it will be blurry in the final picture, while random closer objects are in focus.
It is possible that there is something wrong with the camera I have as I can't imagine anyone designed it this way (right?). However I went to a local camera store and tried their two display models and had the same issues. It's going back.
Just got it a few days ago.....loving it so far. March 24, 2008
K. Kelly (Florida)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I will update my review as I learn more about it. But straight out of the box I love it so far. Easy to use, the pictures I have taken so far are great quality, and it takes much quicker shots than my Sony Cybershot DSC-W90. Happy so far and there is still so many things to test on it.......like the waterproof aspect.
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