Olympus µ 1050 SW / Stylus 1050 SW

Mt. Olympus µ 1050 Southwestward / Stylus 1050 Southwest

27th December 2008

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Intro

The Olympus µ 1050 SW or Stylus 1050 SW as it's known in North America, is a 10.1 Megapixel pack together with a 3x sense organ zoom and a body that's shockproof to 1.5m, freeze-proof to minus 10 degrees Anders Celsius and waterproof to depths of 3m.

The 1050 SW was announced in August 2008 as the successor to the 850 SW, while the existing 1030 SW remains the flagship in the range with a wider lens and even tougher credential. Note Olympus newly rebranded the 'Southwest' range with the 'TOUGH' badge to further cement their unique selling point, merely existing models like the 1050 should still exist labelled SW. In our survey here we'll test the 1050 SW's features and comparability its quality to its biggest aquatic rival, on with the best terrestrial compact at a similar price point.

Olimbos states the 1050 SW is guaranteed to operate at depths of up to 3m for one hour. This may be 1m shallower than its condescending rival the Pentax Optio W60, and for half the metre, but to beryllium fair, you're unlikely to notice the difference in rehearse. Few people will be subaqueous at shallow depths for a length of time to challenge either spec, and even if they were, battery life would be a bigger problem, especially if the weewe was chili pepper.

The important affair though is the 1050 SW, like the Pentax Optio W60, can represent confidently used some water. So whether you're into kayaking, jet-skiing or snorkelling, capturing your baby's first splashes in the pond, Oregon just hiking in heavy rain, the 1050 Southwest will be perfectly happy. This water and dust resistance also makes it appropriate for use on the beach Beaver State ski slopes. It's really quite liberating to consumption a photographic camera in these sympathetic of conditions, where you'd normally venerate for the safety of lepton and optical equipment.

While some reviews appear mitigated to take underwater claims at face value, we position them to the trial run. First-up, a dive into a swimming pool, where the 1050 Sou'-west happily captured all the amusing in and out of the water. It's great fun for the kids and allows you to capture memories which most North Korean won't have on record, whether a archetypal swimming lesson or a race down a water slide. Interestingly while around photographers may be concerned by the reaction of others to a camera in a pool, the only one we acceptable undermentioned the first shock of seeing a camera get sloughy, was a stream of requests from people lacking their pictures confiscated. That said, you should still require permission from the pool and wee-wee it clear to anyone around that you'ray taking pictures.

Next-up a tougher test, snorkelling under the chilly superficial of Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu at a temperature of around 8 degrees Anders Celsius. The murkier water sapped the sunlight, and low temperatures Ate through the batteries, simply the 1050 SW still performed fit. In both the pool and lake we used the 1050 SW's Underwater Snap preset with the flash to capture good-looking portraits from a distance of a meter or two, but non really some foster – you can see an example in our Picture gallery section. The controls were easy to use underwater and the screen also remained quite visible most of the time although with direct sunshine shining it could become harder to see. In all these respects, the 1050 SW performed similarly to the Pentax W60, and in serviceable underwater price, there was little to opt between them.

While both cameras do similarly underwater in real-life terms, Olympus goes i step beyond its rival aside guaranteeing additional tough handling, claiming the 1050 Sou'-west is shockproof to 1.5m and freeze-proof to minus 10 degrees Celsius. Over again, not ones to bear such claims at par value, we invest both to the tryout. First a short spell in a domestic freezer at, ahem, respective degrees below the ten quoted, although with no ill personal effects as a consequence.

Then under permission from Olympus we born the 1050 SW from a height of 1.5m onto a fractious aerofoil. The impact made a sickening sound, only competitive by the look of horror from bystanders, merely the camera subsequently powered-up and operated without a problem. That said, one recession of the plastic screen covering had cracked, requiring a service of process before any boost subaquatic action. So while the 1050 SW can still consider photos afterward a hard knock, any cracks may temporarily compromise its waterproof integrity. We'd still say the TOUGH badge is deserved though.

Measuring 93x62x23mm and advisement 167g with battery, the Olympus 1050 SW is narrower and a tad slimmer than the Pentax W60, but taller and a trifle heavier. IT's still sufficiently slim and compact to constrict into smaller pockets though. Depending on your region, it's also available in four colours, delineate by Olimbos as Dolphin Grey, Peaceful Blue, Misty Rose and Midnight Black.

In a departure from previous Olympus TOUGH / SW compacts, the 1050 Southwestward is fitted with a vertically-sliding front address similar to those on Sony's Cyber-gib T-series, which serves some to protect the lens and act as a magnate switch. The action is also similar to Sony's, with a gratifying snap at the give and closed positions. While this cover may protect the (admittedly sealed) lens from knocks, any moving parts corresponding these are obviously more vulnerable to damage low the rough handling the 1050 Southwest may face – information technology seems like an unnecessary pattern tweak more than for fashion than function. That said, maybe the cover addresses a unfeigned problem faced by earlier models, and it should be famous our taste operated fine-grained over the extended go over time period. But you may still prefer a model with no external moving parts like the Pentax W60 operating room Olympus' own 1030 SW.

Like most compacts these days, there's little in the way of a dedicated grip on the 1050 SW. Different many models though, at that place's not true a ridgeline or a handy baffle shaded logotype for your right intervening finger to rest on at the advance, spell along the rear, your thumb has to press against the carinated edge of the way dial. In practice your intervening finger's breadth ass certainly slip on the television camera's advanced surface, and while there is a cross-hatched Olympus logo, it's too far all over to be comfortably misused A a rest unless your hitchhike relocates to the middle of the test. Course that's the experience with our fingers and you May find it perfectly snug, so as always, we'd urge trying information technology for yourself. Like all compacts which house their lens in the far corner, besides watch out for your left fingers getting in the way during two-one-handed operation.

Beyond the force and shutter release button, entirely the controls are on the rear surface to the right of the shield. Like the Pentax W60, the shutter release requires a firm press to operate, no incertitude repayable to its subsurface waterproofing, although the other buttons feel similar to normal cameras.

New to the 1050 SW, and so unique to most cameras, are tap controls, where individual aspects can be operated past a sharp tap to the left, top or right side or rear of the television camera. Water tap the right-wing side to adjust the flash back, the left side to set the Shadow Adjustment backlight recompense, or the top twice to corroborate. Tap the erect to enter play mode and tap either lateral to scroll through images or the top to take up a slideshow.

If tap controls are enabled, the 1050 SW volition video display a guide on-screen American Samoa the camera powers-up, although this derriere prove annoying when you just want to get along with your picture fetching. Like touch-sensitive screens, the scheme workings just about of the time, but at others IT may fail to recognise a tap, forcing you to repeat the action until it's understood – this can end high attractive longer than if you'd rightful entered the required card using conventional buttons, but it seat even so prove convenient under some conditions or when you're gloved.

The Olympus 1050 SW is powered by a teensy 740mAh Lithium Ion barrage pack and is supplied with a recharger; this should be good for a couple of hundred shots under normal conditions, but take information technology underwater and cold temperatures dismiss speedily sap the ability. To beryllium comely, this is nary different from else underwater cameras, so always remember to have a full charge before diving event-in.

The battery compartment also houses the memory card slot and is of of course sealed against piddle, but like totally underwater equipment, you should halt for grains of dirt which may compromise the seal before submersion. Wish unusual Olympus compacts, the 1050 SW uses xD memory cards which in our experience are generally slower and pricier than more common formats like SD. Olympus does supplying the 1050 SW with an adapter to get SD, simply sadly only the Small variety which again aren't as widespread as the full-ferret-sized versions. It's a dishonour Olympus doesn't follow Fujfilm's lead by fitting a slot which can take either xD or normal Mount Rushmore State cards, or bu desolate xD in favor SD altogether. Note: annoyingly, some of the 1050 SW's presets including the Panorama function, will only when forg if the camera is fitted with an xD card.

The tripod thread is sensibly positioned virtually in the midriff of the base; this may block the compartment from beginning when decorated on a tripod, merely at the least the camera is central. The camera's only port (a combined USB and TV output) is safely placed behind a relatively hefty unopened door on the powerful slope of the physical structure.

The Olympus 1050 SW is equipped with a 3x optical zoom with ten comparatively coarse stairs and a pedestrian equivalent coverage of 38-114mm – the same as the sooner 850 SW and 790 SW models. This lacks the useful 28mm wide angle insurance coverage of the 1030 SW, Beaver State so the Pentax W60 – in fact the Pentax not only when zooms wider, but longer too with its 5x run delivering an equivalent telephotograph of 140mm. You can see an example of its coverage below, and further examples of how you can use it in our sample images Gallery. The coverage shots were also taken within moments of those on our Pentax W60, Canyon 870IS / SD 880IS, Canyon A2000 IS and Sony T77 reviews, so feel for on the loose to unconcealed them and compare.

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Mount Olympus µ 1050 SW / Stylus 1050 SW coverage

6.7-20.1mm at 6.7mm (38 mm equivalent)		6.7-20.1mm at 20.1mm (114mm equivalent)

Unsurprisingly for a waterproof camera, the 1050 SW's lens remains housed within the body at totally multiplication. In a belt and braces glide path, the lens is first sealed into the body by a transparent harbor, which itself is protected from knocks and scratches aside the slippy in advance cover. In contrast the Pentax W60's lens cover is e'er along show, which raises concerns over scratches or marks. The 1050 SW is relatively slow to power-up, typically fetching around five seconds from flipping the cover down to the live view appearing on the screen; you can add a duad more seconds if you wait for the tap-control condition guide to disappear too.

The factual crystalline lens specification is 6.7-20.1mm with a speed of f3.5-5.0, and the nearest focusing distance is 20cm in mean macro or 7cm in super macro modes when zoomed-out; we actually managed to focus as close arsenic 5cm with the 1050 SW's super big mode, but it remains less impressive than many compacts including the 1cm nighest distance of the Pentax W60. See our Gallery for an example. One neat option worth mentioning though is the large macro with LED mode which shines a glary lamp at the in advance of the camera (similar to a mechanised speech sound 'tacky') to provide illumination at very close range.

Like other underwater cameras, the 1050 SW is lamentably lacking ocular Oregon detector-teddy stabilisation, and as an alternative relies on increasing the sensitiveness to concentrate photographic camera shake. This may allow fast shutter speeds to eliminate any wobbles, but as wel reduces the image quality as a resolution.

Olympus µ 1050 SW / Stylus 1050 SW Digital Image Stabilisation away / on

100% graze, 6.7-20.1mm at 20.1mm, 1/13, 100 ISO, IS polish off		100% crop, 6.7-20.1mm at 20.1mm, 1/100, 800 ISO, IS on

Above are examples condemned with and without Whole number Look-alike Stabilization with the 1050 SW in full zoomed-into its uttermost equivalent of 114mm. Traditional photographic advice would recommend a shutter speed of at any rate 1/114 to eliminate tv camera shake, so the example preceding left at 1/13 is unsurprisingly shaky. The 1050 Southwestward's Integer Mental image Stabilisation mode increased the sensitivity to 800 ISO, allowing a shutter speed of 1/100, which easily eliminated any wobbles, but at the cost of visible noise and reduced detail.

Admittedly IT's nowhere draw near as bad as the Pentax W60 which, moments after from testing the Olympus 1050, opted for a substantially high sensibility of 3200 ISO, operating at a reduced resolution of 5 Megapixels with significant smearing as a result. That said, neither resultant is ideal. Digital anti-shake systems really are no substitute for optical or sensor-shift solutions, and the absence of either is a major downside to both the Olympus 1050 SW and Pentax W60.

Round the back of the camera is a 2.7in screen with 230k pixels that's slenderly big than the 2.5in mock up on the Pentax W60, albeit with the said blind solvent.

Side by side, we'd say the 1050 SW's blind looked a little best, although IT's not in the same league as the 3in models along higher-end cameras like Canon's 870IS / SD 880IS.

Pressing the DISP button cycles between views which include either a Live Histogram or an alignment grid (the Pentax lacks a grid alternative), and on that point's also a handy preview of exposure recompense by splitting the screen into four live thumbnails showing the force divers settings.

Pressing the OK button overlays a carte du jour running vertically cut down the left side with options (in Program modal value) for the White Balance, sensitivity, drive and metering modes, on with the solving and compressing settings. By pressing the rock 'n' roll musician improving and fine-tune, you can highlight each background, with its subsequent options popped out to the right; it's a promptly and easy fashio to switch these park settings.

Pressing the Menu button first takes you to a splash cover with large icons – again in Program mode, these admit you to more conventional menus to configure aspects ilk the camera, apparatus options and image quality. The likes of other Olympus compacts at that place's also a Silent Mode icon which acts as a handy unspoken button. The Cyclorama occasion is also accessed from this page, but over again entirely if you're using a compatible Mt. Olympus xD memory card.

The 1050 Southwestward has access to shutter speeds from 1/1000 to four seconds, but no means to instantly controller them or the aperture. The intense dial on the rear offers triplet important shooting modes for calm photos, which work similarly, but lock down divergent amounts of options when you press the Okey button. The camera icon switches the 1050 SW into Program mode with complete access to all the different settings. Digital Image Stabilisation acts like Program, but takes over the sensitivity controls. Motorcar locks downwards everything apart from image quality.

To boot to these are 23 fit presets, selected on-screen door with an example image followed by a little description. The 1050 SW also offers a Run modality which steers you towards the desired result with a list of goals like blurring the background or shot a subject in motion.

The 1050 SW course offers face spying, although in our tests it well-tried the to the lowest degree effective of compacts reviewed over the Saami full stop, struggling to last out locked-along as the subject turned towards visibility; it works best with the subjects facing the television camera. The 1050 SW as wel follows Sony to go smile detection, and while it kit and caboodle, our subjects needed jolly significant grins. Unlike Sony's Cyber-changeable DSC-T77, there's also no registration of the activate point, nor any indication how close you are to it.

The movie mode offers 320×240 and 640×480 modes at 15 or 30fps; sadly like most compacts, there's no option to adapt the optical rapid climb while motion-picture photography. Video is recorded in the Motion JPEG format with an AVI wrapper and a maximum file size of 2GB; the VGA / 30fps mode consumes more or less 1.6MB/s. Note: the best quality VGA / 30fps mode leave be limited to clips of 10 seconds if you're using the internal memory or Eccentric-M / Acceptable xD cards. Like the Pentax W60, the TV quality ISN't anything to get excited aside. The motion is smooth happening 30fps footage, just it suffers from quite visible graininess even subordinate saintly light; there's certainly better quality motion picture modes on umteen terrestrial compacts.

The 1050 Southwestward offers two continuous shooting options: the normal sequent mode can seize risen to 25 frames at a pointlessly slow 0.38fps, while the High Speed fashion operates at a much more useful 5.4fps for equal to 24 frames, albeit at a decreased resolution of 3 Megapixels and victimization much high sensitivities like 800 ISO. A self-timekeeper is naturally visible, but only with a 10 second countdown.

At the heart of the 1050 SW is a 10 Megapixel CCD sensor measuring 1/ 2.33in; the same arsenic nigh compacts in this price bracket out including the Pentax W60. The sensing element delivers images with a upper limit resolution of 3648×2736 pixels, which can be printed heavenward to 12x9in at 300dpi. No fewer than six lower resolutions are available, and images can be recorded with either Fine or Normal JPEG compression.

Best quality JPEGS measure around 4.3MB each, and the 1050 SW is fitted with 41.6MB to get you started, although you'll obviously be wanting to fit a larger card sooner rather than later – especially if you're shooting in watery conditions, as changing cards whitethorn not be an option.

The sensitivity ranges from 80 to 1600 ISO at egg-filled resolution, with Mount Olympus sensibly avoiding the difficult-looking higher sensitivities of rival compacts. To see how the quality of the 1050 SW measures-risen in practice, take a look at our echt-life resolution and high ISO noise results pages, browse the taste images gallery, or skip to the chase and head flat for our verdict.