Olympus Mju 720 SW
The star for Olympus this year is the Mju 700, a compact 7 megapixel, as its name indicates. It’s rare enough that the name and sensor be associated for this to be pointed out (Ixus 800 = 6 Mpixels, Sony T9 = 8 Mpixels…). Actually, Olympus has released two versions. There is the Mju 700 standard, and the Mju 720 SW that has the same image quality (we tested both) but is water and sand proof. It can go up to 3 meters. You won’t be able to dive deep, but for family and friends pictures or small fishes it is enough.
The 720 SW is more expensive than the “standard” 720 SW but the additional cost is moderate considering the usual cost of a waterproof box. This price can easily reach 200€ if such a box exists for your camera.
Image Stabilization
Olympus doesn’t want to fool consumers. Yes, they speak of stabilization but it is written in the product characteristics that "
Numeric image stabilization reduces the blurred effect". In short, for Casio and Fujifilm, the manufacturer will adjust the sensitivity to compensate for the lack of a flash. The 720 SW can go up to 3200 ISO in candlelight mode according to the instruction book. Unfortunately, we won’t show you examples of this sensitivity as we were never been able to activate it even in candlelight mode. This isn’t too unfortunate as here is the noise level increase:
Images at 64 and 100 ISO are amazing in terms of accuracy. You need to select these sensitivities, have good lighting and not be concerned about a few Jpeg defects in some areas of the picture. The processor strongly accentuates outlines and increases sharpness. Some will appreciate and others will prefer those pictures to the competition’s even if this accentuation exaggerates precision and defects, and it doesn’t look too natural.
Verdict
Unfortunately, indoors without a flash and without a tripod we had to work in 1600 ISO. Below this, it was always blurred because it was too slow. This wasn’t even in the dark. To this we have to add inaccurate colors, overly strong Jpeg compression and video effects (the most exposed areas often were burned out). The video mode also disappointed us. Olympus’ video is in VGA but it’s at 15 images per second instead of 30 for most of its competitors. So it isn’t surprising that video doesn’t run smoothly and the final outcome is rather disappointing. Clearly, this Olympus camera isn’t one our favourites. Even if your first criterion is to have a waterproof camera, we advise you to take a look at the Pentax Optio W10.
