The Stylus 1000's ergonomics are great. Its sturdy metal body has a gentle wedge shape, making the camera extremely comfortable for one-handed use. Controls are well placed and functional, allowing your thumb to fall over them naturally. A simple mode dial lets you switch between automatic still shots, scene modes, the Guide, Movie mode, and playback and can be controlled by your thumb.The FUNCtion button allows you to quickly change settings for Auto or Program, White balance, ISO sensitivity, Drive mode etc., without having to enter the camera menu.

The large 2.5-inch "HyperCrystal" LCD worked well in most lighting conditions except for bright sunlight. Because the display has a reflective surface, there are still many angles that reflect the sun. For indoor shooting, or anytime you're in low-ambient lighting, it "gains up" to help brighten your subject, a helpful tool since there is no optical viewfinder. The LCD screen is prone to fingerprints; (nothing a clean cotton t-shirt can't fix.) As with all Stylus series cameras, the Stylus 1000 features a durable metal exterior and is made water tight by rubber gaskets on the inside to seal gaps and prevent moisture from entering the body. This allows it to be used in a gentle sprinkle or even a torrential downpour, however it can not be submerged.

Shooting performance was a mixed bag. From power up to first image captured measured approx. 1.7 seconds, this includes the time it takes to extend the lens and boot up. Shutter lag was 1/10 of a second when pre-focused and 2/10 of a second including autofocus. Using single exposure mode, the shot to shot delay averaged about 2.1 seconds without the use of the flash and about 3.9 - 4.5 seconds with the flash, depending on subject distance and battery power. The Stylus 1000 offers only one sequential (burst) mode called High-Speed Continuous. When using this mode, the image size is reduced to SQ1. I was able to capture 10 frames in a little under 2 seconds. The LCD briefly displays the last image captured, making it somewhat difficult to follow a moving subject; again, it would be nice to have an optical viewfinder. One annoyance was the time needed for each shot to save to the xD card, on average 4.2 - 5 seconds. Our tests were done using a standard (not High Speed) Olympus 512MB xD-picture card, SHQ quality, preview off, flash off, and all other settings at default (unless otherwise noted.) Times may vary depending on lighting conditions, camera settings, media, etc.

The overall image quality when using the SHQ mode is good for an 10-megapixel model as long as there is good light. When shooting outdoors, it produced pleasing photos that were sharp and well exposed. Image noise was very low when the ISO was set to 200 or lower, becoming more noticeable when the sensitivity was increased. You can see what I mean on our samples page, where we have a sequence of available light shots with the ISO ranging from 64 all the way up to 6400. When you manually set the ISO from 3200 to 6400, the image quality is automatically changed to SQ1 2048x1536 (3- megapixels.) Be careful of using Digital Image Stabilization Mode when in low light conditions, since it will raise the ISO settings to allow faster shutter speeds but noise can make your photos unusable, and when you are using this Image Stabilization mode, the ISO is set automatically by the camera. The Stylus 1000 also uses Bright Capture technology to increase the sensitivity, allowing for higher shutter speeds in marginal lighting.

This model did very well in the portrait department, producing images with sharp facial detail and natural skin tones. Indoor shooting will have to work within the limits of the flash. Olympus claims the flash has a maximum range of 17.1 feet at wide angle (ISO auto.) which is a respectable range for a consumer model. My best indoor portrait shots were from about 6 feet away, using the mid-telephoto end of the zoom range.

The Stylus 1000 also has the ability to record high-quality video at resolutions of 640x480 (30fps), 320x240 (30fps) or 160x120 (15fps), with or without Image stabilization. Be aware that the Image stabilization will help in the shakiness of your videos, but the quality is reduced. Our sample video was without stabilization. The optical zoom is not available while shooting videos so be sure to set your zoom to cover your subject before you start filming.

The Stylus 1000 is powered by a 3.7v 1230mAh LI-12B rechargeable lithium battery, which is charged by the included LI-10C charger. Because it charges the battery out of the camera, it's easy to charge a second battery so you always have a fully charged one ready. You can't power the camera with any other battery type so we strongly recommend the purchase of a second battery. Olympus does not specify the battery life, but our testing revealed it to be quite good. I was able to capture a large majority of our sample images (approx 95 pictures and 10 short movie clips) and conduct our other tests without having to recharge the battery. Exactly how many pictures you can capture is going to vary depending on how many are taken with flash, how often the lens is zoomed in or out and how frequently you review images. Lithium cells hold a charge much longer than NiMH type batteries when sitting idle and can be "topped off" whenever desired without shortening their life span.

Bottom line - the weather-resistant Stylus 1000 has great image quality in good light, is easy to hold, and has many user-friendly exposure modes but it's lacking in performance and has image noise issues in low light. With a MSRP of $399 it falls short of our expectations. Check out our review of the Canon Powershot SD900 for a compact 10-megapixel camera that we feel offers better overall performance.