Olympus Stylus Digital 1030 SW Review


Record Modes & Screens
Rotating the Mode dial to the GUIDE position will bring up the built-in Shooting Guide on the LCD screen. It provides a detailed
description of various photographic scenarios, and will also set the camera with the touch of a button. This is a great way to learn
some creative and artistic photographic techniques.
Here you can see the typical record mode screen. The "P" indicates Program (Auto) exposure
mode, in the center are the auto focus target marks, and across the bottom is image quality,
10-megapixel Fine quality and there's enough space on our xD card for 409
pictures.
On the right side you will see the information provided by the manometer, which when set correctly will give you the atmospheric pressure both in and out of the water (1020 hPa).
When you half-press the shutter release it starts the autofocus process and if it locks you'll see the AF targets turn green. If focus
fails, they will turn red and flash on the screen (not shown.) The "red lightning bolt" icon indicates the flash is charged and ready
to fire.
Pressing the 4-way controller Up, Down, Left or Right allows you to quickly change settings for
Macro focus mode, Flash mode, Self-timer, and Exposure compensation.
You can access a variety of Scene modes by rotating the Mode Dial to the SCN position. As you go through the Scene selections an image depicting the mode is shown. A brief text explanation of the mode is presented when you press the DISPlay button (not shown). You can choose from a wide variety of different exposure modes on the dial: Auto, Program Auto, Digital Image Stabilization Mode, Movie, Scene Preset (Portrait, Landscape, Landscape & Portrait, Night Scene, Night & Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self-Portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select1, Shoot & Select2, Beach & Snow, Pre-Capture Movie, Underwater Snapshot, Under Water Wide1, Under Water Wide2, Under Water Macro).
Unlike its Stylus siblings, the 1030 SW can be submerged up to 33 feet, without the use of an
underwater housing.
Digital Image Stabilization Mode is also accessed via the Mode Dial (shaky hand symbol) and uses Olympus' Bright Capture technology,
which boosts the ISO sensitivity. This keeps shutter speeds higher in order to reduce the blurring effects of camera shake or subject
movement during the exposure. Image size is not reduced when using this feature. You can also see we have the Grid Lines display overlay
enabled.
Pressing the OK/FUNC. button will bring up the menu of options shown above. FUNC. Menu Options:
ISO - Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 Drive Mode - Single, Continuous, High-Speed Continuous Metering - ESP or Spot Image Size - 10 megapixel, 5 megapixel, 3 megapixel, 2 megapixel, 1 megapixel,
Press the MENU button to bring up the Record mode Menu. You can use the shortcut menus to quickly change Image resolution, Reset all
settings to factory defaults, enter the Camera or Setup menus, enter Panorama mode, change the Scene mode as well as enter Silent
mode.
ISO - Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 Drive Mode - Single, Continuous, High-Speed Continuous Fine Zoom - On or Off Digital Zoom - On or Off Metering - ESP or Spot AF Mode - Face Detect, iESP or Spot focus modes Voice Memo - Off or On
SETUP Menu Options:
Backup - Save a copy of images on to your PC Menu Language - Choose from one of the 38 languages Power on Setup - Screen and Volume startup controls Menu Color - Normal, Color 1, Color 2, Color 3, My Favorite Sound Settings - Controls the different sounds made by the camera Rec View - On or Off File Name - Reset, Auto Pixel Mapping - Map out bad pixels LCD Brightness - Adjust the LCD Brightness Clock - Set the time and date Dual Time - On or Off Alarm Clock - Off, One Time, Daily Video Out - NTSC, PAL Power Save - On or Off LED Illuminator - On or Off Manometer - Lists atmospheric pressure m/ft - Select between meters and feet
Press the 4-way selector "left" to enable Macro focus mode and take close up shots at a range of 3.9 inches (0.1m) to infinity, or
enable Super Macro mode and get as close as 0.79 inches (2cm). The 1030 SW also feature a S-Macro LED mode, which uses the LED
illuminator to help achieve focus in marginal lighting.
Movie mode lets you capture VGA (640x480) or QVGA (320x240) resolution motion video at 15fps or 30fps with sound. When shooting at highest quality, you are limited to clips of just 10 seconds. Because the Stylus 1030 features a built-in microphone, the optical zoom may not be used during recording. You can preset the desired focal length before starting to record a movie. Note: Olympus has announced a new Firmware Update that, when using a TypeM+ or TypeH xD card, you can now continuously record movies with VGA quality (640x480) 30 fps up to the capacity of the card. |
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