The Olympus Stylus 790SW is the third installment in a line of extra-durable cameras. This 7.1-megapixel camera can survive a 5-foot fall, 10 feet under water, and resist temperatures to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. It has a standard 3x lens and a large 2.5-inch LCD screen. It had a $299 original retail price.
The camera can take a beating, but image quality seems to have been an afterthought when it was designed. We test cameras in our imaging labs to determine color accuracy, the effectiveness of the resolution, and the presence of signal noise from the image sensor. Unfortunately, the Stylus 790SW doesn’t perform well in any of these tests.
Colors are more accurate than its predecessor, the Olympus 770SW, but that’s not saying much because the 770SW performs so poorly. Skin tones have an unflattering greenish hue; the poor colors are partly a result of the inaccurate white balance system. Images are not properly exposed in low light, and resolution isn’t as detailed as it should be. The Olympus 790SW improves upon the 770 in terms of noise and color, but is generally on par with cameras that cost much less.
The 790SW is made of low-quality components. Its small 3x optical zoom lens is the same used on the Olympus 720 and 770, the other waterproof models this manufacturer sells. The low-quality lens causes bright streaks and other artifacts to appear in photos of bright scenes. The flash is also very weak and spotty, leaving corners dark and subjects pale. The 2.5-inch LCD screen isn’t great as a viewfinder, and looks more like a streaky, choppy preview from a bad camera phone. To its credit, the LCD has a wider viewing angle than the older 770SW and the same great 230,000-pixel resolution.
The Olympus 790SW comes in a 3.7 x 2.4 x 0.84-inch body that is slightly larger than its predecessor but a lot lighter. The 790SW weighs 4.8 ounces, down from the 5.5-ounce weight of the 440SW. The difference is in the materials; the 790SW has more plastic and less metal, which makes it slightly less durable than the waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, freezeproof, and crushproof Stylus 770SW. Notice the crushproof? That was omitted on the new model. The old camera can withstand up to 220 pounds of pressure. The 790SW may be slightly less sturdy than the 770SW, but is still sturdier than most digital cameras.
There are 27 Shooting modes, including a host of scenes and a substandard Movie mode. It records 640 x 480-pixel videos at 30 frames per second (fps), but only for 10 seconds at a time. Smaller 320 x 240 and 160 x 120-pixel movies can be recorded for longer periods of time, but they record 15 fps and look horribly choppy. The waterproof Pentax W30 has a 640 x 480 Movie mode that records 30 fps until the memory card is full and also adds shake reduction and has functional optical zoom during movies.
Of the three waterproof Olympus digital cameras, the 790SW is the least expensive at $299. The others have $399 retail tags. Despite the price reduction, the image quality isn’t good enough to justify the cost. Consumers are better off purchasing a decent camera with an underwater housing rather than paying for a durable camera that takes low-quality images.
For a more in-depth review, visit the Olympus Stylus 790SW Review at our partner DigitalCameraInfo.com
