Olympus Stylus 770SW 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)

It's a very durable camera with overall good quality - excellent for children/infants who grab the camera when you aren't looking. A little too sophisticated sometimes for simple point and shoot because the default setting upon turning it on makes pictures blurry. Additionally, smack dab in the middle of the screen/lens/memory area is a pixel "dark" spot that doesn't consistently go away no matter what you try. It is a ghost spot that is electronically driven (not dirt driven).

I'm not a professional photographer and I don't have 5 other cameras in my quiver so as far as all of the technical aspects go, I can't give the best review. However, as far as the shock, sand, and waterproof aspects are concerned, I can honestly say that I've put this camera to the test and it has passed with flying colors! I have a small kayak touring company and this camera goes everywhere with me. It has been dropped, exposed to extreme heat and cold, and covered with sand at the beach and still works like a champ. What really won me over though was a 5 minute stint in 3 feet of salty water, lying on a silty muddy bottom while kayaks were unloaded. As soon as I got everyone out of their boats I fished around for the camera. I brought it up, soaked and muddy, and it immediately turned on and was ready to take pictures! For people who are outdoors a lot, you can't find a better camera!

this camera is an excellent camera to take with you when your going in the water (salt or pool) pictures are good enough quality for me even blown up they still look good. i have not played with the video on this yet and am not really intending to but from its 15fps rate the quality will probably be on the choppy side if you really care about the video.
underwater pictures come out good in the pool. i tried getting some in the ocean but our water is too murky and not enough light.
I use this camera in the ocean mostly to get bodyboarding and surfing shots. ive used it about 5 or 6 times in the water, in the month that ive had it. as long as you follow the directions for keeping the water proofing it will hold up. also some water may get in near the connection ports. just dry that off (there is water proofing around the ports) and it will last
PROS: underwater capability up to 33ft( as claimed by olympus)(ive had it 10ft, sequence shots are pretty good for a digital camera. good quality images blown up to screen size
CONS: zoom is limited (3 times optical 5 times digital) (digital zoom not worth using just turn it off)video is shot @ 15fps

i had my choices narrowed down between this camera and pentax optio w30
[...]
i choose the olympus and am not regretting it

picutre taken with the stylus 770sw

this is the site which i am hosting my pictures check them out to see the quality
[...]
*volleyball pictures taken with a different camera all others are the stylus 770sw

I bought this camera for my trip to Key West. I planned to do a number of snorkeling trips, and thought it would be cool to have a underwater camera.

I have now owned the camera for about six months, and have had it in the water over 20 times. I have never had a problem with it and would recommend it to anyone who wants to take a digital camera to the Ocean or Beach and not worry about destroying it.

Excellent Pictures. Although, the flash pictures have a tendency to allows produce red eye.

I puchased this camera to take on a kayaking trip. It lived up to its advertisement. Not only does it take good quality photos; it stands up very well to the adverse conditions found on salt water.

The camera is easy enough to use, and it takes outstanding photographs. It is difficult to see what you are taking a picture of without an eyepiece. I took care of the camera exactly as the instructions, but had to buy 2 new batteries, they would charge, but not register in the camera. I did return the camera and was very quickly fixed. I like olympus products. If you are looking for a cheap, easy underwater camera, I suggest getting the upgrade of this model, the one with the eyepiece, you won't regret the extra money.

Olympus Stylus 790SW 7.1MP Waterproof Digital Camera with Dual Image Stabilized 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)

Well, so far so good. I purchased this camera after I fell in the water while fishing the Watogga River in TN and destroyed my old HP.

I wasn't looking for anything fancy, but I see some great stuff fishing and I wanted a camera tough enough not to think about.

Actually, it's so small, I carry it around all the time in my shirt pocket,
so I can take a picture at a moment's notice . This is a plus!!

Some people have complained about the quality of the photos. I am very pleased with my results so far and see no need to complain .

If you want a basic camera, tough enough to take anywhere, this is probably all you need.

That being said, the video is not all that great. Not that I use it that much.

Hope this helps,
Allen Lipscomb.

This is the best camera I have ever seen! The underwater pictures are great and the regular ones are even better! It is small, looks nice, and is super durable!

I am a college student living near the beach so this camera gets all kinds of use and abuse. I have dropped it, taken it scuba diving (not deeper than about 20 ft) and a million other semi-crazy things with no affect! This camera rocks!! If you are looking for a serious camera that can do it all, buy this one!

You will not get the most user friendly camera or the most easily manipulated controls, and you will not get the best pictures you have ever taken. But here is what you will get with this camera....

You will get an affordable, tough, no worries camera. There are times when it is raining, or I am headed out to do some hiking, and I am afraid that I could damage my camera or get some water on it. I don't have to worry at all with this camera. The battery life is the best of any camera I have used. Overall, this was a great purchase for quality to value. It does quite a lot and I'm satisfied.

I bought this Olympus 770 as a replacement for my last Olympus 770. (Note to self... they are water prrof, but they don't float) I love this camera. I have taken it to Alaska in the cold and rain, fishing in Chile, and out on my jet ski. It takes great pictures. Can't zoom in real close. Can't see in the view finder in the bright sun, but otherwise, it's great for travel and outdoors. Just remember when you're going down a river, have it hooked tightly to you.

Was originally very happy with this camera. Used it in a pool, took it snorkeling and skin diving, played around at the beach, no issues. True, the photo quality could be a bit better, but overall, it gets the job done.

Then just recently, on a very shallow swim, in very calm water, I noticed the LCD crapped out. Got back on land, checked it out, and found that it had flooded. I'm pretty sure I'd done everything right, just as I had on all the previous (successful) forays into the water. Checked the reviews on Amazon and found that a few other people have had the same problem.

I'm based in the Philippines, and so now it's hell trying to get it serviced under warranty. The Olympus International Warranty is not honored here in the Philippines, and to get it repaired here will cost me more than a brand-new camera! Have contacted Olympus America and Olympus Japan to see what can be done (and also to find out what they know about the product -- have they been seeing a lot of these floods?), but they haven't been helpful. Neither has Amazon customer service; they replied a few times but could offer no help, and now have just stopped replying entirely.

I'm tempted to get another one, as I've already invested in accessories, including an U/W housing for when I go deeper (on scuba dives), but would really like to find out once and for all from Olympus if this camera is problematic, so that at least I'll know to never use it again without the housing. But even then, that kind of defeats the purpose of getting a shockproof waterproof camera doesn't it?

Does anybody know how to get in touch with the product managers (not customer service) of the SW line?

All in all, it's a good product, when it works. But the post-sales support has been pretty frustrating.

A lot of settings between the programming for the AUTO or PROG or the SCeeN selections. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs yet. Use the SHQ setting even though it has the same resolution as the HQ. Video shots were all boating (LOTS of background noise) so I can't comment on sound quality. A couple small splashes on the lens left no spots that needed cleaning. Small and slim also means not very easy to grip with one hand while driving boat (not impossible). The battery life was great. We probably took 80 pictures and 4 minutes worth of video clips on vacation and still took another 20 dog pictures when we got home before needing to use the second battery we bought. Not much warning on the battery life like my Sony which estimates the minutes left on the charge. Sunset pictures on the water were grainy using the HQ quality with no flash holding it by hand. A tripod is needed for evening shots or manually adjust the "shutter" speed (I haven't even tried that yet).
Very good for a hack like myself and if I took the time to really learn it I might upgrade my review to great.

I love this camera. It takes great pictures under the water. The only thing is, I think the preprogramed shooting modes don't take the greatest pictures. So I just do the settings manually and it works out great.

I have owned five digital cameras in the past 10 years. I started with the Sony Mavica with the 10X optical zoom with 800,000 pixels that saved to 3.5" floppy disks. At the time, it was a great camera and only cost $1,000! Next I moved to a later generation Mavica with 2.5 megapixels and a 10X zoom that saved to a floppy OR a smart card. It only cost me $650. When that camera was stolen, I moved to a Kodak with 5 megapixels and storage to a mini disk. It also had a 10X zoom and was smaller than the previous Sonys. Cost $420. I also bought my wife a small Sony. I forget the model, but after about 4 months of owning it, the display screen got cracked, rendering the camera useless. The price to repair was as much as the camera cost originally ($200). I came to the conclusion that the design was poor and voiced my concerns to Sony and got no resolution. I probably won't buy another Sony camera based upon that experience. I have been happy with most of these cameras and always felt like I got good value for my dollar. The two drawbacks each of them had were 1) size - too big to conveniently stick in a pocket, and 2) susceptibility to contaminants - didn't do very well in water or sand.

I am a kayak fisherman along with other hobbies. However, fishing from a kayak presents one of the most hostile environments for digital/electronic equipment. None of my previous cameras would have lasted for a week getting the same use I put my Olympus 770 to. I have soaked this camera in salt water for hours fishing in Florida and Texas. The kids have run around on the sandy beaches taking pictures of each other. I've used it underwater in the neighbor's pool. It still works like a champ and constantly impresses me with its functionality, ease of use, and easy clean-up. And, it fits in my pocket. All of this for the low price of $199! I still have the Kodak, but now my wife keeps trying to steal "my camera", the Olympus 770.

I am a little disappointed in this camera. The LCD window is impossible to see in the bright sun.Is there any other time to use an under water camera? If you are swimming and trying to take a picture you have no idea what the camera sees. Your working blind . Theres no viewfinder to look through. I can't recall another camera without this simple feature. Otherwise ,I am satisfied wiht this camera. Maybe I can learn to use it as time goes by.

Camera is excellent for outside use, regardless of the conditions. Couple drawbacks are the
1)proprietary (& expensive) memory cards
2)lack of docking cradle

I shoot 150-250 pictures a day. The camera holds up to one charge just fine. Actually, I was able to go 2 days on one charge and got about 400 pictures total. Only problem is that you get the low battery warning, and then about 20 pictures left before it won't turn on at all. There's a vendor on ebay that sells a car charger and spare battery for about ten bucks shipped....well worth the extra peace of mind if you think your battery's going to run out. Plus it plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car.

I would have preferred a docking cradle, but it seems only low end cameras are coming with these now. My experience with using digitals is that the battery door is the first thing to go, especially if you have to open it every day to charge and remove the card, battery, etc. My last camera was a Casio Exilim that had a cradle which charged and transferred images. That camera lasted twice as long as my others in the past. Since the Olympus is waterproof, I wonder how long the seals will last, opening and closing the door constantly... Had it for a few weeks now and it's excellent overall. Time will tell.

The modes are all fairly easy to use. I only had to reference the manual a couple times, but it's worth reading since there are a lot of extra hidden features. There was a review somewhere maybe cnet, saying that the camera didn't remain in certain modes if you power off/on. That's not the case. If you have it in macro, turn off, etc. It'll be in macro when you turn it back on. Same for underwater, video modes, etc. Just press the button with the camera icon to go back to regular mode. It'll hold whatever specialty mode you leave it on.

Camera also has a cool flashlight feature (hold Menu for 5 sec) the bright white LED stays on for 30sec or so.

Overall awesome. Can't complain. Definitely great for $199. No need to get the 1030SW for $100 more. There weren't many upgrades other than the 10mp if you need that. (I personally don't). Great camera for the $$. Best I've used so far.

I have used the camera for less then a month so far, but in a variety of situations and environments. This is an excellent product, takes good pictures, and has multiple options for various situations, from underwater to extreme close-ups. For the latter, it even provides its own illumination, which is far more desirable than a flash.
The most annoying aspect of the camera is the lack of optical viewfinder. Even though it has a bright and large LCD screen, it is still difficult to use in bright sunlight. It is also heavier than most cameras of its size, but that is necessitated by its shockproof construction. A cord, worn around the neck, while kayaking or diving, will keep it from disappearing into the deep.

This is a great little all-around camera, with the added ability to take pics underwater! Has been dropped by the kids already and still functions beautifully! Would recommend to anyone...

This is a very good product. This camera is small and compact. Takes very good underwater pictures compared to disposable cameras. Takes good pictures overall. Great deal if you can get this camera for under 250 dollars.

I did a lot of search before buying this camera. Opinions were all mixed and had my doubts but decided to purchase it. I bought this camera specifically to use it on water sports and the beach. I took this camera for a seven days cruise on the Caribbean and use it on the river, on the beach, on the air, underwater and for regular pictures. I am very pleased with the results not just on the pictures but for the video too. The picture quality is not like an SLR, but in general are very good especially pictures on sunny days and underwater if the water is as clear as the ones on Grand Cayman Islands. For the price you just can't ask for more.

This camera takes decent photos outside in the daylight and underwater. The images are a little grainy and the colors aren't as vivid as my Canon point and shoot, but I can't take the Canon underwater! Taking photos indoors with the flash didn't overly impress me.

This is a solid four star product, especially at the current price. I use it while snorkelling and in my kayak which it works great for. If you are looking for bright crisp images and don't need the underwater capability, I wouldn't recommend this camera. If you are looking for a camera to fill the niche of being crushproof, shockproof and water resistant while willing to sacrifice some image quality, this is the right choice.

I bought this in kind of a hurry in order to use on a recent charter in the USVI's. I needed a small, high Capacity, waterproof digital Cam to take photos on and off the boat. The photo style settings are fairly "idiot-proof" and once i got it down, it was easy to switch in different light and speed situations. The underwater pics could have been clearer. They look a little foggy to me, but the land shots look just fine.

I like the size and big screen to review with. It uploaded without any software necessary, to my iPhoto like a charm. I recommend it without reservattion

Poor latch on battery compartment will eventually admit water, ruining the camera. Lack of a viewfinder forces you to rely on the LCD screen which washes out completely in sunlight.

I had bought this camera just before my trip to Hawaii. I was quite excited about the price and the features (waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof). The camera takes quality pictures of what you expect out of a point and shoot 7.1 megapixel camera. However the waterproof feature wasn't I had hoped for. I noticed the after first time I took it snorkeling the camera was acting funny turning on and off on its own. I opened the battery compartment and there was a small drop of water on the inside edge of the battery. I dried it out the camera worked normally again, decided to try and take it out again this time I really pushed hard on the battery compartment door to assure that it was closed as tight as possible. As I was snorkeling I saw the biggest sea turtle I had ever seen, went to take a picture, the camera didn't even turn on. This time more water had gone into the battery compartment. When I got back from my trip I quickly went through the customer service at amazon.com they immediatly shipped me another camera------got it the next day, now thats customer service. I'm hoping that the first camera was just a specific defect. I will be using my replacement camera and putting it to the test when I go whitewater kayaking this weekend.

We purchased this camera to send to our son who is serving in Afghanistan. We looked for the features that makes this rugged and dependable under less than ideal conditions. There are not a lot of economical and small cameras with these features.He has sent a few pictures via email and they are very good.

The camera takes a memory card different from our other cameras that use an SD card. That makes the Olympus a little unique but I was able to find an inexpensive 2gb memory card to send with it. Thus far, it seems to be working as advertised. It is easy to carry and has an image stabilization feature that keeps the pictures sharp. Perhaps the next 12 months or so will give us a better idea of how it holds up to adverse conditions.

I reciently purchased this camera from Amazon.com(great price) and took it to Jamaica. It is such a cool experience diving into water with a camera and taking very unique pictures. The camera worked great for the entire 6 days my wife and I were on vacation until it stopped working completely on the last day. We took the camera snorkeling several times for close to an hour. Each time, I rinsed off the camera with fresh water, opened the battery case and removed small beads of water, and left the case open to dry completely.

I am a bit dissappointed in the waterproof performance of this camera, however it did take great pics when it was working. Amazon.com was great about taking the product back and giving me a full refund, and I will try another 770sw. This time, perhaps I will be more carefull and dilligent about caring for it for use under water. Hopefully it will perform better in the future.

good quality product, even do I do not like to take out the battery to charge it, I do not see the reason why take out the battery, it crashed and works great, a few scratches, but good so far

This is a great camera to use anywhere and anytime-snowboarding, scuba diving and pics of fireworks. Compact size, great pictures, easy to use

We were so very pleased with this camera having bought it for its "-proof" factors of shock-proof and water-proof. We used it for the first time on a trip to Puerto Vallarta where it equipped us for amazing pictures of an incredibly beautiful place. It held up great for the underwater snorkeling adventure, and zipline tour in the rainforest, and the accidental fling from my 11 yr old's wrist to the concrete - took a few minor dents from that, but I'll take a little cosmetic blemish over a broken camera anyday! Love this camera and highly recommend it for outdoor adventures. You never know who's really behind product reviews and what you can trust, but I thank everyone who posted great, informative reviews of this camera to influence my purchase because it was well worth the money spent!

This camera takes great stills and videos. The underwater photos are really great! I had my son try it out in our pool during his recent visit here. He and his wife had such fun and we all loved the pool photos! I found only one problem: In my nights shots, there sometimes is a "string" of graduating light spots in the photos. Not always and I haven't yet figured out what causes it. The rest of my experience with the 770SW is all Positive. I've taken so many photos and videos in the few short months I've had it. I love this camera and so does my son. I'm seriously considering buying one for him. His birthday is coming up in November. I recommend this camera to anyone who likes to have fun. It is so easy to use, too.

Do not buy this camera!!!! it is the worse camera ever. We were at the lake and the camera stopped working and you can see some water had entered the camera. I sent the camera in to Olympus and they told me that I have to pay $120 to get fix after I paid $400 for it and they actually told me that I have to send the camera every year to get it refurbish. After complaining about the misleading advertisement, the lady actually told me you can go to the web and express your feelings!!!! EVERY YEAR PAY $120 - IT IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY - AGAIN DO NOT BUY!!!!!

I have taken pictures in the pool and at the beach, both worked great. No problems leaking. Pictures are, in my opionion, good for a P&S camera. The screen is hard to see in sunlight. A viewfinder would be helpful. I still think it is a great deal for a small camera that can fit in your pocket and go in the water with no worries.

I HAVE A 720 SW AND LIKED SO MUCH,i BOUGHT THE 770 SW WHICH HAS MANOMETER AND LED ACESSORIES.
THIS CAMERA IS A PIECE OF WORK,WITH GOOD MATERIALS.
NEVERTHELESS TO PUT IT IN THE WATER.,ON THE WAY BACK IT HAS TO BE CLEANED AND WASHED IN FRESH WATER AND LET IT DRY.
INSPECTION OF THE RINGS IS ALSO A MUST.
THE COLOR QUALITY IS GREAT.
BATTERY LIFE IS MEDIOCRE.
VIDEO IS OK.
IT IS SLIPERRY AND WILL SINK FAST.,SO WHEN I GO SURFING I HANG AROUND THE NECK.NEVER LET IT SINK IN THE SAND SINCE IT WILL RUIN THE LENS CLOSER.
IF I COULD GO BACK IN TIME IN A TIME MACHINE .,I WOULD TAKE 2 OF THOSE.
THE GREENS AND BLUES ARE GREAT.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

Great camera. Love the feature that it can go underwater without a speacial housing. Pictures are good and camera is easy to use.

As per the recommendation from Amazon below
Buy this item with Olympus 202027 2GB M Type Xd Card (Retail Package) by Olympus today!

I bought this camera with the 2GB memory card. Since the Xd card is retail package, it need additional shipping fee. Adding it up, the memory card cost me more than 29USD.

While browsing again after few days because my camera had arrived while the memory card is still pending, I found out that there is a newer model of this memory card 202127 which cost less than what I bought previously.

This newer model has stock in amazon, which mean if i buy it together with my camera, i may already get my stuff with a newer model + slightly cheaper price.

I will be off from USA in few days, just hope I can get the memory card in time.

Next time I won't look for Amazon recommendation anymore.Olympus 2 GB xD Picture Card Type M 202170

Nice size camera! Since I don't like to read manuals and I'm not technically savvy, what I liked most about the camera is that it's very user friendly. Easy to figure out without any reading. Video works great...went whitewater rafting and took some cool pictures. Purchased a mini tripod and the timer is simple to set and takes great pictures. So far the hardest thing is downloading the pictures to the cd that it came with. But I just need to spend time using all the features to the program. I would recommend if you're doing a lot of video recording or recording for long periods of time, to buy an extra battery.

Amazon had a great deal on this camera (Olympus Stylus 770SW 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)) just before our family went on a beach vacation. This seemed like a good purchase for our family because our children like to take pictures and this camera is not only waterproof, but shockproof as well.

Who knew how much the kids would enjoy having their pictures taken underwater? My wife even thought that feature was great. I was happy to carry the camera around in the pocket of my swim trunks without worrying that anything would happen to it. A fellow guest even asked what kind of camera we had that we were able to bring it in the water. I explained it was an Olympus and that Amazon had them on sale. I later heard the woman talking to her husband about the waterproof Olympus she saw.

At 7.1 megapixels, the photo quality is good enough that blow-ups and crops are possible. Underwater shots are very clear even at 6 feet of distance. A 1 gigabyte xD card will store almost 600 photos, which is a good amount. All in all, I could not be happier with this purchase. I look forward to many other vacations with this camera.

I suppose I could easily do a video review and really show off the camera - but I'm in writing mode at the moment. At any rate, we bought the camera to take underwater photos on a snorkeling vacation - where it performed perfectly - but I love it for food blogging. The macro feature takes perfect food porn pictures effortlessly, and if you get a bit of bechamel on your lens, it washes or wipes right off. I'm neither a trained or talented photographer, but I've been very happy with this product, which we've had for a year.

I bought this camera in anticipation of a long planned trip to Hawaii. On my fourth snorkeling trip,(no more than 15 feet deep) the camera quit. Went back to the boat to change the battery and water poured from the inside. Sent Olympus an e-mail seeking help and got no response from them until five weeks later giving me their standard warranty BS.

I had this camera flood once although it may have been user error. Olympus fixed it and returned it. Then the next time I used it anywhere near water the screen stopped working. Well it comes on for a couple seconds but then goes black. This doesn't seem like a water issue but I don't know what else it could be. So I am not sure whether to send it back to Olympus or forget about it. Also, in general while the pictures are OK for what it is, it's really hard to take pictures with. You can't see a thing on the screen in daylight or under water and the screen illuminator feature doesn't seem to do anything. I got lots of pictures of fish going either into or out of the picture, not fish nicely centered on the picture. When the picture does come out it is nice, but it is not easy. Perhaps I am spoiled by DSLR but I was hoping for something a little better and more reliable.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I just got this camera for a trip to Playa del Carmen and it is awesome! This camera really isn't for everyone, but if you like to snorkel or get wet on vacation and have need for a general point and shoot digital camera, then this is a must have.

It's not perfect, and it doesn't have all the latest features that some cheaper point and shoot cameras do, but the benefit it provides to snorkelers and beach goers on vacation is unbelievable. Prior to this camera the choices were something in a bulky underwater case or throw away cameras that provided unusable pictures, in addition to your "regular" digital camera. It was great to have a digital camera that I could take everywhere, not just snorkeling, but even going into the ocean or the pool. I used to have to chose between beach time and picture time. There's nothing I hate more than having to go back to secure things in the hotel room because I'm afraid of valuables getting stolen from my beach bag. The 770 goes where you go which means less worrying and less planning on vacation. You can't beat that.

If you snorkel, or even regularly get wet on vacation and it's time to replace your older point and shoot digital camera, stop reading, you need this camera. The only real decision is whether to pay $100 more for the newer model (1030 SW I believe) with a few more megapixels (10 vs. 7) and a few more of the latest digital camera features like face recognition.

For those wanting some usage details, there are lots of useful scene modes, behind glass and food were two I used that worked out well. I really didn't get to experiment much between the 4 different underwater modes but I found the wide/landscape mode that expected fish movement to work well. I found the screen a bit hard to see underwater depending on the lighting conditions, but it's digital so just point in the general direction and keep snapping. The camera is also a bit slow between shots, although I bought this right before leaving and could only find type M xD cards. If you can, try and get an Olympus type H xD card. I'm not sure what the real world performance would be in this camera, but in general they write 2 - 3 times faster than type M cards.

One thing you will need to do is work with your underwater pictures in a program like Photoshop. It's not a fault of the camera, just the nature of underwater pictures. There are plenty of tutorials online, but adding some red back into the pictures really helps them out.

I've used these 770SW's while traveling since they came out and love them. Most compact digitals break within a year - dropped, rained on, whatever. This is the answer, waterproof and drop-proof while relatively inexpensive. I've used it whitewater rafting on the Chatooga, body surfing in Puerto Escondido, mountianbiking in Moab, and in bars. It takes pretty good snapshots, and the "available light" setting is nice when you would avoid using a flash. Underwater images is not the reason to purchase, durability is.

four out of five stars because, as all compact digitals, the priority is on mexapixel count and not sensor size where it should be. 7 megapixels is good, however a adding a few millimeters to the dimensions of the sensor would do much to improve its performance.

We got this camera as a secondary camera (against my larger more expensive digital SLR) as something that could go places my larger camera shouldn't. This was for a rather active vacation in Costa Rica. Took it snorkeling- great pictures! ( I felt that as great as 10ft depth was , I wanted to have the option to go deeper than that so the 33ft depth was important to me. I did on more than one occasion swim down past 10 ft.) Took it white water rafting on class III/IV rapids ( even fell out acouple of times), great pictures. Zip lining, Horseback riding & hiking in the rainforest- worked perfectly! It was small enough to keep handy all the time, whatever we were doing. I even dropped it, accidently, on the tarmac at the airport, did not affect it at all.

I am pressed by this little camera. It does alot. Even shot video, even more fun!
Here's what accessories I got with it so I'll reccomend this stuff, whether through amazon or not. If you are planning an active vacation / lots of pictures:
2 gb XD card. Plenty of room for pictures and video.
silicone skin- Get this for an active vacation, it's pretty easy to take on and off, gives the camera a better grip and another layer of protection, and guards against scratching the casing.
An extra battery! I highly reccomend this with any camera , but certainly with this one, not that it burns through the battery, but if your in the middle of the costa rica jungle taking lots of great pictures, having an extra battery simply means you can continue to take pictures, and not miss any great shots! Because you will take a lot more pictures wit hthis camera, simply becasue you can do so much with it.
I also got an adjustable neoprene wrist strap as an added measure- just to be safe with all of the bouncing around, I wanted to make sure I didn't lose this nifty little camera! It comes with a little string strap, which in may cases would work, okay.

If I had to give it a gripe, the 3x zoom is a little restricitng, but I am also used to the larger zoom lenes on my SLR.
so here's the bottom line-
It's a great camera! Eaasy to use, glad I got it!

I bought this camera because it is waterproof and shock resistant. It excels in both areas. You can even take a few pictures with out a chip! Not many, but you can. I bought a 2 gig chip and now its almost unlimited shooting on the highest setting.

The one thing you have to do to get great pictures is READ THE MANUAL! When I took it out of the box, snapped some pictures, they came out a little blurry. I got upset. So I played around with the cam, shooting everything I could shoot and changing settings as I go. Soon, almost every picture was crisp. It just took practice.

I was nervous about jumping in my pool with it, but did it anyways. Took some great shots of me with the timer underwater. Even the little bubbles came out crisp.

Great Camera for the price and easy to operate once you learn all the controls. Like I said before.....READ THE MANUAL.

scared from other reviews. perfect for my needs. easy to use functions. only complaint is that i hear the battery doesnt last long so when i go camping and am taking surfin pics i have it shoot mulitple mode to catch a good one, but when i turn it off to save batt i have to reset the function when i turn it back on. Other than that PERFECT
love this camera