#1 ilona

Nice camera with lots of fun options but image quality very, very poor. 10M pics quality you can compare to 2M.

9:53 pm - Saturday, March 8, 2008

#2 C

I am thinking of buying this camera solely due to the SW factor. But I am worried about image quality. Can anyone else confirm if this camera is worth buying?

8:44 am - Friday, March 21, 2008

#3 Speiler

The poster above who says the image quality is poor is an idiot. Image quality is actually very good on the the SW 1030. A fine point and shoot that I tested today on a 10m dive with no leakage issues. Very bright display.

7:05 pm - Saturday, April 19, 2008

#4 Andy

I have recently purchased an 850 SW and I have found the image quality very poor and variable. I am struggling to establish whether the cause of the poor quality is my doing, or whether its the fault of the camera. There seems to be no apparent reason for the variability in the picture quality. Some of the shots are reasonable in sharpness, but the others are "fuzzy" as if out of focus, over the entire ficture field. I am particularly unhappy with the results and with the camera.

2:47 am - Monday, May 12, 2008

#5 Margie

Yes...the image quality isnt very nice :( i have one as well

12:42 am - Sunday, June 8, 2008

#6 Nick

I concur with the "poor" comments. I would not recommend this camera to anyone. The only selling point would be the water-proofness. The only time it produces decent images is outside in bright sunlight. If you need SW feat. then there probably is no alternative, but if you figure "it's nice to have the SW feat" you dont really need it and should look at another product.

5:50 am - Sunday, June 15, 2008

#7 frankie

The previous blogs appear to be describing the 850. The 1030 appears to be the perfect solution to SW. Any further comments on the 1030 before I purchase

10:09 am - Sunday, June 15, 2008

#8 Sibron

be VERY carefull to clean around the "doors" after opening, they store grit and salt. And before taking it swimming for the first time, put it in a bucket of water for a couple of hours. My first one failed at its first swim, but was replaced with no problems(took a week). The replacement has also failed, but i think it is my fault for not being anal enough about cleaning the seals and sealing faces. I did a visual inspection and it looked good, i was wrong. BE ANAL ABOUT THE SEAL CLEANLINESS. use a cotton-bud or something like it.
Other than that it is a great cammera,starts fast, pics look great, strong flash, love the 28mm, batery lasts ages.

4:29 pm - Friday, July 4, 2008

#9 Natasha Stevens

i am thinking about purchasing the olympus 850 SW, i just dont know of the price, and if it is a good camera. i am willing to pay around 250us dollars. comment back please:)

12:00 am - Thursday, January 29, 2009

#10 sibron

if water proof is all you are after, get a different olympus and a case.
You want something that can take a beating too, get this one.
clean the seals every time you open the covers.
Nick can't have read the instructions. It takes great shots, every time, you just need to change setings now and then.

1:27 pm - Thursday, January 29, 2009

#11 Andy

I posted some comments on this site (May 12, 2008) regarding the very poor image quality I was getting from an Olympus 850SW. I think these problems have now been resolved and if others have had similar bad experience with this model camera I am hoping the following comments will help you get the sort of results you should expect.

After having struggled with the 850SW for many months, sometimes getting acceptable results, but mostly getting exceptionally poor results. I needed to be sure that the problems with my photographs were not my doing, so I persevered and experimented, and experimented. I was finally convinced that the problems were not my doing, and I rang the local Olympus Office and arranged for them to test the camera. I soon found out that the problems I was having were due to faulty firmware. They installed the latest firmware and bingo! the problems seem to have disappeared! I have taken a few trial pics and the camera is behaving completely differently, focus is good, white balance is spot on. I think the problem has been resolved. The Olympus guy told me that they did indeed have "issues" with a certain version of the firmware. I was also advised that only certain batches of the 850SW have the faulty firmware, not all of them.
So Olympus owners out there, if you are having problems with your 850SW go straight to your Olympus dealer and have them fix it. Good luck!

5:41 am - Friday, January 30, 2009

#12 Callard

Forget about this brand! Including myself, I know at least 3 persons who had water leakage problem within 3 months after purchase! Customer service refused to repair! And they blamed me for bring it to the beach! Should I use it only in the pool then? Ridiculous!

2:55 am - Thursday, February 5, 2009

#13 Carol Mortimer

We have now had two Olympus 850 SW cameras failing due to water leakage. Both were replaced without quibble. However one keeps saying there is a card-cover open when there is not and the other one "steams" up for a few hours after being in the sea, now making odd noises from time to time!!

10:17 pm - Friday, March 13, 2009

#14 DD

I also agree about the poor image quality of the 1030sw. Having owned and tested one in detail I I would not recommend this camera to anyone due to the marginal photo quality. I eventually sold mine after a few months despite putting in time to read the manual in full, and I even sent it to Olympus for recalibration and testing,,,to no avail. It's just a poor design.

Despite having many years experience in photography in commercial and personal settings I was not able to get any truly clear 10Meg photo's from this camera. They are 10Meg in size but the actual resolution is about half what it should be and is easily exceeded by pretty much any camera over $89.

I've owned 12 camera's over the years and most of them have worked quite well but this is the only one that I had to retire after a few months.

Olympus needs to resolve many poor design characteristics:
* Dismal battery life, the lowest I have ever seen.
* Weak flash inadequate for average social situations
* Unusually slow f3.5 lens requires long shutter speeds. Very few camera's have a lens this slow.
* poor low light performance due to slow f3.5 lens and CCD sensor issues.
* High CCD noise unless in bright sunlight (caused by too large pixel count for the small sensor size)
* Resolution is barely equal to a 4Meg camera.

It also has some good points listed below.
But ultimately the trade-offs are too significant.

*Lightweight with a small case
*Tough metal construction
*Fully waterproof. But only if you maintain the seals in perfect, clean condition. A single grain of sand across the seal can cause a leak in an underwater camera. Mine worked fine for a week of snorkeling in the tropics up to 2 hours underwater at a time plus shallow dives to 30 feet with no leaks. Although it would not function past 25 feet deep because the LCD screen turned dark starting in the center of the screen as I passed 20 feet. At 30 feet most of the buttons all pushed in at the same time so the camera got confused and shut off. It remained stuck until I came back up to the surface and then it came back online. So it didn't work as deep as it's rated but it held together.

It can take decent macro shots but for some reason can't fully focus past about 20 feet. Anything near infinity (like tree's and buildings) are somewhat out of focus. This happens on bright sunny days even while using a tripod so it's an issue with the camera itself..

I've had excellent results with the new Canon D10 and I recommend that instead..
It's waterproof to 33 feet, drop proof to 4 feet, has 3x the battery life and takes very clear, 12Meg photo's under most condtions. It also has a real optically stabilized lens so you can get the shots, vs the fake stabilization (boost the ISO and noise) on the Olympus.

5:51 am - Wednesday, July 22, 2009

#15 Anna Cha Cha

I have the olympus 850sw digital camera and I have had the same problem from the very first day I bought the camera. Every picture I take people inside a house there seems to be a very big shadow around people heads and bodies. I know it is the cameras problem as I take the same photo with a canon and I do not get the shadows around the people head and bodies. Does anyone else have this problem and can it get fixed. As I have taken it to Olympus to get repaired and they say it is not a problem. Please help. I hate this camera.

7:44 am - Wednesday, August 5, 2009

#16 db

I've had my 850SW for a couple years and am very happy. Just got back from a 3 week drive thru Baja and it took 210 pics and 10 videos all turned out very nicely. 2 pics were slightly out of focus. = 99% excellent.

4:11 pm - Monday, May 3, 2010

#17 Carol Mortimer

My Olympus mju 850 SW has developed a fault on the display. It lights up but no longer shows the pictures. Very occasionally when I switch it on it is back to normal, but that doesn't last, Does anyone know what this problem could be and would it be economical to repair.

10:13 pm - Saturday, November 20, 2010

#18 not waterproof

My 1030 has worked well for 3 years. But having worked with underwater gear for years I was sceptical about the adequacy of the barely-there seals, so I didn't take it snorkelling until a few days ago. I checked both seals thoroughly before use and the camera was fine for about 2 hours, to a depth of about 2 metres maximum. When I got back to the boat it said 'card compartment open error' (it wasn't) and it has not been useable since. There were drops of water in both compartments, but the seals were still clean, not a speck of dust. I'm puzzled why Olympus use such blatently inadequate seals in a camera that is touted as tough- surely it can't be hard to put in something more robust!

2:25 am - Monday, October 24, 2011