The Perfect Camera for the Family That Drops Everything

I’ve had this camera for almost a year. My husband broke my old one before Easter and I knew I needed a new one before that photo op. How he broke it, I do not know. I think he sat on it and the lens cracked because when you turn it on, there was a weird black-lined leaf-like pattern on the display. But with him, my 3-year-old, a new baby on the way, and my own clumsy self, I definitely wanted a sturdy replacement. I had a 35mm Olympus Stylus back in the day and it was great. So that’s where I started looking. The Olympus Stylus 770 is what I found. I did compare it to a few other comparable options but I found that it’s perfect for my needs.

The basics
This camera is small, easy to use, takes great photos, is shockproof up to 5 feet, waterproof up to 33 feet, crushproof up to 220lbs., and freeze-proof to 14 degrees F. Talk about a hearty camera! It’s exactly what the doctor ordered for my family. It is a 7.1 megapixel digital camera with 3x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom and digital image stabilization. It has 18MB of internal memory and there are many available sizes of the compatible xD-Picture Cards (16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512MB; 1GB; or 2GB). I purchased the 1GB memory card. It has a large, bright 2.5” LCD screen and 24 shooting modes (more than I’ll ever need). The camera weighs 5.5 oz without the battery and memory card (both of which are tiny) and measures 3.6 inches wide, 0.8 inches deep, and 2.3 inches high. Included with this camera are a lanyard, an LI-42B ion battery, a battery charger, USB cable, AV cable, and Olympus Master Plus software CD. Windows 98SE through Vista or Mac OS 9.0 and higher are required.

To see more specs, visit Olympus’s Web site: www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1287.

My experience
I’ve been using this camera for almost a year and I’m very happy with it. On the one hand, it is very simple and layman-friendly, and yet I feel like a pro when I use it. I bought it online when it first came out and I believe I paid about $350 for it and I bought a 1GB memory card for an additional $50. That’s more than enough memory for all of the photos and video clips I forget to upload and erase. At the lowest photo quality (640 x 480), I can take about 6000 pictures, at the highest (3072 x 2304), about 300. I usually leave it at the second highest, which allows me to store 583 photos. This allows me to use the good ones for the annual photo calendar I put together.

Generally, my photos are just of the family. My daughter loves to pose and I’m a proud mother of two now so I take my camera everywhere. I take lots of indoor photos, plenty of outdoor park/beach/etc. shots, and a gazillion posed portraits. Since my daughter’s always on the move, I’ve taken advantage of the Sport mode many times. I hoped that that mode combined with the digital image stabilization would end my blurry motion pics. It hasn’t entirely done away with them but it’s a vast improvement over my Fuji FinePix E510.

I find that the shutter time is pretty long so even when using the Sport mode or one of the Shoot & Select ones (allows you to take a series of pictures and instantly save/delete them—which is not as helpful as it sounds), I still don’t always capture the images I want. Still, I have no plans on investing in or learning to use a $1000 camera, so this one suits my needs. For shutterbugs, the actual shutter speed listed in the specs is 1/1000 second to .5 second (up to 4 seconds in Night Scene mode). With the sequential shooting in high speed, the camera can take 3.5 frames per second, up to 12 frames.

I do think that the Bright Capture Technology employed in this camera works well. Although I do tend to “clean” up pics on the computer by adjusting their brightness, tone, and color, I generally don’t need to futz with it too much. My indoor pictures have been a lot brighter even when I forget to switch modes.

There are lots of modes that I haven’t explored yet, such as Candle, Fireworks, and Documents. What I love about this camera is that if you wait a second or two while scrolling through the modes, a short description of what the practical use of that mode is pops on the screen. So there’s no need to ponder whether you need “Underwater macro” or “Underwater wide 1” or to pull out the instruction manual. Scrolling through all of those modes can be a pain, though. That’s probably my biggest gripe. There’s no way to easily get to the most common modes. True, Portrait is number one and Video is at the end so I can click up once to reach it, but Indoor is 7 and Self Portrait is number 9 and there are a ton of others mixed in the 24. (The specs list 27 modes, but that’s counting auto, program auto, and digital image stabilization as modes—these are not on the scroll screen.)

Here is a list of all of the modes in order: Portrait, Landscape, Landscape Portrait, Night Scene, Night Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Available Light, Sunset, Firework, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select 1, Shoot & Select 2, Beach & Snow, Underwater Snapshot, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2, Underwater Macro, and Movie.

Speaking of video, this camera takes decent ones. It’s no camcorder, but at 15fps with sound, it works and provides grandma with lots of short, spontaneous clips of her babies or about one 45-minute film. It’s not perfect quality, but the AVI movies are much better than the ones I took with my previous digital camera and they transfer well online. I can zoom in before I begin and the videos don’t come out too gray or fuzzy. It’s fine for my purposes. My longest films on it have been about 10 minutes.

With my last camera, red eye was a big concern. With this one, I haven’t had to deal with it as often. When I do, it’s usually because I forgot to change modes and the included software works well enough for me to correct it. In fact, I’m pretty happy with the included software. It could be a bit more user-friendly, but it gets the job done. I can do the basics (crop, fix tone, balance color, fix red eye, print an assortment of photo sheets, etc.) without problems. That’s all I ask for. There are extras like turning pics into cartoons but that’s not for me. The 770 actually lets you fix some things on the camera itself but I prefer to see my pics blown up on a PC before I crop or fix red eye.

The compact size of this camera means I can slip it into my pocket or a small bag. It’s not one of those teeny tiny ones, but it’s definitely small and easy to conceal. Still, it has a good weight to it. As much as I hate lugging heavy machinery, I can’t stand flimsy things that feel like they’re going to fall out of my hands. This camera is neither. Though it’s slim, it does have some weight to it.

Because of its small size, it does not use standard batteries. So unlike my old camera that used AAs, this one has its own tiny chip-like licensed battery that requires its own special charging station (included with the camera). At first I thought that would be a total nuisance (like I don’t have enough wires around my house!), but since it seems to hold a charge for a long time I can’t complain too much. I think I use this camera on a moderate basis and I can still count how many times I’ve recharged it. I do shut it down after every use, however. I never timed it, but a charge takes several hours.

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking
Yes, this camera has fallen and it still works. It’s dropped out of my diaper bag twice and may have been “placed” on the ground by my heavy-handed little girl several other times. I’ve sat on it while it was in my back pocket so I suppose the crushproof part holds up, too. I was very pregnant at the time and about 170lbs. It does have some cosmetic proof of the indiscretions. The front panel has quite a few scratches and the LCD screen smudges very easily. I’m not sure what I expected, but since the 770 is promoted as such a hearty camera, I assumed it wouldn’t scratch so easily. A silicon skin can be purchased separately. No idea what it goes for.

We don’t have a pool and I’m no snorkeling adventurer, so I had no intention of utilizing the waterproof feature right now. I merely wanted it as a precautionary measure. I ruined a cellphone by wading in a pool once so I didn’t want anything similar happening to my camera. So far, so good. No, I haven’t submerged it but it has gotten wet with no problems. At some point, I’m sure we will take a real vacation and I’ll pull out my trusty camera for some poolside photos or pics of some jellies or tropical fish. Until then, I’m just happy that the 770 is waterproof. For folks who intend to take this camera to deeper depths, the PT-035 underwater housing can be purchased for about $300. That allows the camera to be waterproof to around 40 meters.

As for the freeze-proof, I’ll have to check that out this winter. I’ve had it out in 30 degree weather without problems so I can only assume another 16 degree drop won’t kill it.

Additional accessories
As I mentioned above, it is wise to purchase a nice size x-D Picture Card. My $50 1GB one is great. I’ve never been stuck without memory even after taking several videos and a ton of pics. For people who intend to use this camera underwater, the additional $300 underwater housing might be a wise investment. It allows you to use this camera to around 40 meters. Since the front panel of my silver 770 has acquired quite a few scratches, it might also be a good investment to purchase a silicon skin for this camera if you intend to be rough with it.

Overall satisfaction
I’m happy I spent the extra bucks for this camera. Originally, I was looking in the $200 range but this camera (which now sells for about $300) was a perfect fit for my clumsy, better-be-easy-to-use-or-we-won’t-use-it family.