Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Horrible Experience!!?!!
Review: I read all the reviews before I chose to buy this camera. Having three kids, a shockproof and waterproof camera sounded unbelievable and perfect for me. At first it was great. The pictures came out great and the camera was very user friendly. I love to take pictures and had the camera in my purse at all times to never miss a golden opportunity of the perfect picture. Then after using it one day with no problems, two days later when I went to use it again and the camera would not stay on. I tried a new battery, but still nothing. So much for this camera, its was supposed to be shockproof and waterproof yet it broke in its case inside of my purse.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Rock solid adventure/theme park/pool/boat/ companion
Review: After a lot of research we bought the Olympus 770SW to have a camera we could take snorkeling, hiking, and many places/activities where I would not take my Nikon D80 or our beloved Minolta (RIP) point and shoot. I was concerned about reviewers who mentioned soft images and image quality. I'm fairly critical when looking at images, and I believe there is little to worry about for 90%+ of users on that score. We used the camera over a week in Orlando, through swamp boat rides, log flume rides, swimming pools, snorkeling, and pretty much everywhere and are very happy with it and our results.
Pros: Solidly built and appears to stand up to the dropping, submersion, and crushing Olympus claims. Fit easily in velcro pocket of cargo shorts. Good feel in the hand (balance, button placement). Picture quality has been well above expectations (see comments under cons below for caveats). I found the menus to be easily learned and intuitive (some reviewers don't like the menu set-up). Others mentioned battery life, but in fairly heavy use (over 100 exposures per day, many with fill flash, and lots of "power on time" reviewing pictures on the LCD), we never ran the battery to zero (we did charge every night though). The LCD is bright and clear and just excellent.
Cons: There is a notable delay from shutter press to firing, even when pre-focused. The delay is about the same as a 2003 era point and shoot, and we were easily able to overcome this by anticipating most of the time. The only place this was an issue was snorkeling after fish and trying to get them in-frame and in focus. They do not like to stay still, so the delay was a bit tough in that pursuit, but I still got some good shots with persistence. The flash is quite anemic. Very weak. Much much worse than a typical p&S flash these days. There is no viewfinder, which is an issue when trying to shoot using the LCD in bright sun. A few times we'd try to cup our hands over the LCD to try to line up a shot. The lens is in a position where one might inadvertantly have a finger or two in frame, but this is again easily resolved with some practice on hand position. Images tended to lack deep black tones and may appear somewhat washed out. This is easily fixed in Photoshop by hitting control L and bumping up the black level (moving the left-most triangle slider to the right) on images. Image quality with some light Photoshop work was excellent. Even the anemic flash can be somewhat overcome by brightening in the "level" function of Photoshop (moving the right-most slider left). Also, the camera is not buoyant AT ALL, so if you are in deep water, maybe you should get one of those floaty straps. In snorkeling, the included wrist strap worked for me, but I can see how in open water one might want something more floatable or more firmly attached to the diver.
The cons list is long here because I wanted to give a full honest appraisal of the camera, not because I'm trying to be critical. None of these cons stopped us from getting the pictures we hoped for with this camera.
The short version of this review is that this is a seemingly bulletproof camera that has worked great, and helped my family get a lot of great images of things we never would have had otherwise. The joy on our 2 year old's face as she leaps into daddy's arms in the pool (from the splash zone), our ten year old son's snorkeling adventure, the grandparents getting drenched on various log flume rides, a squirt gun fight, everyone getting soaked in a tropical downpour. We look forward to many more years of getting these kinds of shots that we wouldn't have otherwise. Great, tough little companion. I recommend it for any outdoors person.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Does everything it says it will
Review: Bought this camera to be used in extreme conditions. We live by the Atlantic Ocean, ICWW, and the Cape Fear River, and have other higher end digital cameras, which never see much use near, and never "IN" the salty water we boat and play in frequently. The Olympus 770W is to fill that gap, and it does what it claims! Took some guts to go UNDER salt water the first time! Cleaning, by rinsing it out in a bucket of fresh water and by turning the unit on and off "Under Water" was a VERY new and exciting ( Read as "Scary"). Through it all, now 3 months in, it has taken remarkable photos, and performed amazingly well. Half of the photos I have taken have been in or under the water. My only minor criticism is that the large, flat, glossy screen is a bit hard to see underwater in bright sun...this can be tamed somewhat, with a non-glare screen protector. I Love this Camera, and even bought one for a friend ! Oh yeah, "Crush Proof"... I weigh 185 ish and stood on it the first day to test... like I said 3 months and going strong!
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Mediocre at best
Review: We purchased this camera for our honeymoon in Hawaii, and used it on 5 or 6 snorkeling/boating trips. In general the results were very disappointing. The camera is rugged enough to stand up to drops and salt water, but picture quality is poor in my opinion. It is also very slow to take pictures, which made it nearly impossible to catch photos of fish, sea turtles, etc.
Outside of the water, the picture quality is equally disappointing. I am sticking with my 3-year old Canon Digital Elph for normal usage and will just rent a digital camaera for underwater use.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Good on land - floods in water
Review: I bought this camera last Fall for snorkeling. Played with it at home - iked the pictures that I took on land...Loved the small size that I could take anywhere and not worry about the weather.
Took it on a snorkeling trip, took some nice photos and was happy with it until it flooded on the 3rd day.
Returned it to Olympus when I got home, they replaced it right away.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago - I took the new one on another snorkeling trip. First snorkel, IT FLOODS AGAIN! I have returned it to Olympus and am waiting to hear how they deal with this. I have had cameras since I was 15 (lets just say I am a fair bit older than that now!), and have never had a problem with a camera till now. I followed all the instructions for care and cleaning. I am VERY disappointed.
I will not use this camera unless I have the U/w housing for it....the good thing there is if the housing floods, the camera should still be ok, but that is not the issue here.....
All in all I would say it is a decent camera for the outdoors person who wants a tough little camera that is easy to fit in a pocket or backpack but the camera has not held up to the claims for it's abilities underwater.
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