Olympus shock and waterproof P & S cameras

[Tippman]

Looking at getting one of these and wondering if anybody out there has one, and any critisism on it. The durability is the biggest draw to me getting this line of cameras.

[Steve Foss]

Sorry, Tippman, no info from my end.

[Weed Shark]

Tippman-

Sixteen months ago, I bought an Olympus Stylus 770. It's a digital camera waterproof to 33 feet deep, with a stainless steel cover that's shock proof to 5 feet.

I like the size, it fits into my shirt pocket and I bought a small hard plastic case that tosses into my tackle box; those two features have made it easy to keep a camera ready for the kid's fish pictures.

I paint sporting art, and have submerged it or took it swimming on many occasions without a problem.

Like any digital it’s kind of hard to see the screen in the sunlight, and you can't see the screen underwater. I wish it had an eyepiece viewfinder.

[yoppdk]

I don't recall which model I have ... it's a year-old Optima waterproof P&S that I bought for use in the boat/canoe ... it has lots of great features but I'm somewhat disappointed in the sharpness of images. It replaced a 6 year old Kodak (non waterproof) that was limited in resolution but had much sharper images. I'm guessing the Pentax's lens simply isn't as sharp as the Kodak lens, otherwise the Pentax is great.

[yakfisher]

I have had a 770sw for 18 months now and it has worked well for me. I have thrown it into a pocket in my swimsuit and gone for a ducky(inflatable kayak) trip through rapids, kayaking in the ocean, all kinds of fishing excursions, tossed into my pocket pheasant and duck hunting, and just about everywhere else.

I just posted a picture for the August challenge that was taken with my Olympus. I have had no leaks so far, although some sites have given them some bad reviews, it has been durable and I think the images are quite sharp. Several modes from macro to landscape as well as some low light options. It is a little noisy at high iso's but what p&s camera isn't.

The biggest thing I don't like is the lack of a viewfinder, which I don't believe they have added in the latest models. Overall a great camera that has survived some punishment.

[Tippman]

Thanks everyone for the information so far. I would be getting the newer version, hopefully improved from those 700 models. I'm surprised but when I think of it never really used the viewfinder on my p & s now so don't think that would be too big of an issue.

[goblueM]

Hey tippman, all the pics I have posted on here were taking with the Olympus 770 SW - I've taken it scuba diving, its been dropped in various lakes, beat up, been to work, BWCA trips, etc. Takes nice pictures, very durable and is absolutely waterproof. Love it

[yakfisher]

Tippman, I posted some fireworks pictures that were taken with the 770sw. All the shots have some post processing done including noise ninja to reduce some of the noise, but it should give you an indication of what the camera can do in low light. Good luck with your choices. I did see that Olympus does offer a model in this line-up that is only waterproof to 10ft(3m), I would get one that is good to 33ft(10m).