Ergonomics were good, with the exception of the top-mounted zoom rocker switch that must be operated by your forefinger; I prefer a rear-mounted control that can be operated by your thumb. It's compact enough to be carried in the smallest pocket or handbag, while still large enough to fit fairly comfortably in your hands. The various controls on the back are well placed and functional, with your thumb falling over them naturally. The rear buttons are even illuminated, making the camera more easy to use in dimly lit conditions and at night.

The Menu system is logically organized, and the Function shortcut menu is great for making quick changes to ISO, White balance, Metering, or Drive mode. The large 3-inch LCD worked well outdoors, but it would benefit from an anti-glare coating, there are still many angles that reflect the sun. When shooting in low-ambient lighting it "gains up" to help brighten your subject; this is a very useful feature considering this is the only viewfinder. Because of the way you have to hold the camera and the location of the lens, it is prone to fingerprints and needs to be checked and cleaned frequently.

Shooting performance was average. From power up to first image captured measured 3 seconds. Shutter lag was 1/10 of a second when pre-focused and 1 second including autofocus. Both measurements include the approx. 1/10 second delay in the live image presented on the LCD viewfinder. Using single exposure mode, the shot to shot delay averaged about 3 seconds without the use of the flash and between 3 and 5 seconds with the flash, depending on subject distance and battery condition. The Stylus 730 offers two sequential (burst) modes (Continuous, and High Speed Continuous.) Using the standard mode, I was able to capture 4 frames in about 3.6 seconds. With High Speed mode, the image size is reduced to SQ1, and I was able to capture 7 frames in about 1.6 seconds. Buffer clearing took about 8 seconds in both burst modes. The LCD briefly displays the last image captured in both burst modes, which makes following a moving subject somewhat difficult; this is when an optical viewfinder would come in handy. Our tests were done using an 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.

Image quality was good for a consumer 7-megapixel model. Outdoors, images were consistently well exposed, with pleasing color saturation. Sharpness was good at the center of our test images, but the extreme edges of the frame were very soft. The lens covers a 35mm equivalent range of approx. 38-114mm, favoring the telephoto end of the zoom range. While its 38mm wide angle extreme is not as wide as most of its competitors, it will still allow you to capture nice landscapes and group portraits. Overall, I noticed moderate barrel distortion at full wide angle, but relatively no pincushioning at the telephoto end.

Our indoor portraits were good with proper flash exposure and natural skin tones. Olympus claims the flash has a maximum range of 12.5 feet. This combined with the 38mm maximum wide angle focal length of the lens will limit you to shooting in small rooms and to portraits of small groups. Red eye reduction flash mode worked well at close range, but was ineffective beyond 7 feet or so. The 730's red eye fix mode was effective, however, finding and eliminating those red eyes right in the camera after the shot was captured.

Like many of Olympus' newer models, the Stylus 730 features Digital Image Stabilization, which pushes sensitivity up to an equivalent of ISO 3200. While it is great for capturing images when you just can't use the flash, image quality does suffer. At ISO settings of 80 and 100, images were essentially noiseless. Noise becomes detectable in shadow areas at ISO 200, and in highlights at ISO 400. Noise becomes quite noticeable at ISO 800 and above, and at ISO 3200 image size is limited to SQ1 (2048x1536). That said, you'll be happy with the Stylus 730's high ISO settings when it makes the difference between capturing a blur-free image and not.

But to make most effective use of the 730's Digital Image Stabilization feature, the camera must be able to focus in very dim lighting. Unfortunately, the camera is not equipped with a focus assist lamp, and its ability to achieve autofocus lock in dim lighting suffers as a result.

Movie mode produced average results. You have the ability to record video at resolutions of 640x480 and 320x240 at 30fps, or 160x120 at 15fps; 640x480 movie clips are limited to 15 seconds, while the other resolutions were limited only by the amount of available memory. It is not possible to turn sound recording off, and the 730 prevents changing the optical zoom lens focal length during recording to prevent ruining the audio with lens noises.

The 730 is powered by a small 3.7v 660mAh LI-42B rechargeable lithium battery, which is charged by the LI-40C charger. Because the batteries are charged out of camera, this makes it 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 pack. Battery life is not specified, but our testing revealed it to be quite good. I was able to capture all of our sample images (approx 100 shots) and conduct some of our other tests before the camera posted a low battery warning. 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 batteries 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 Stylus 730 is an attractive competitor in the 7-megapixel class of consumer digicams. It is stylish, weather-resistant, light weight and easy to use, while having enough resolution to make high-quality prints of 13x19 inches or larger. With a street price of about $250 at the time of this review (March 2007), it offers a good value for a 7-megapixel all-weather digicam.