Olympus Stylus 850SW

[thelogiclady]

I was looking for a small point and shoot for caving and ran across this camera, the Olympus Stylus 850SW, which claims to be shock resistant, water resistant, and freeze resistant.

Has anyone used this camera (or any of the others in this line)? Do they take decent pictures in cave?

[wyandottecaver]

no direct experiance with that one. you might try a forum search. there are several camera related threads out there.

[thelogiclady]

I in fact did a forum search before posting, no one mentioned this specific camera at all, its also a relatively new camera.

[pebblepoint]

I have the 790sw. As newer models have come out, the pizels have increased to over 10 at this point. Several members of LEG and SEMO have them. Those who know how to use them have taken some great pictures. I would recommend buying the $18 optional floating wrist strap, or cutting about 2" off a foam swim noodle as a float. One of our cavers lost his in a deep water passage.
My only problem came when I got insect repellant on the dial. The printing disappered, but Best Buy fixed it for free. I would also recommend buying the max. extended warantee if you get it there. It's expensive but coverage includes "running over it with your car", I was told. There is one other "popular" waterproof camera on the market. The Pentax (I think) but I saw one last weekend and the screen is smaller, plus it isn't shockproof like the Olympus.
don
Little Egypt Grotto
SEMO Grotto

[Mark Ostrander]

Sorry to pick this thread up so late, but I bought an Olympus Stylus 850SW a month back and have been trying to get the hang of it in caves. It was to be my backup camera, but after the other one died (and Wolf Camera wouldn't fix it) it's all I have left. I get mixed results. My biggest complaint is that I seem to get a lot of out-of-focus shots. In some transition zone between normal and macro, I could understand, but a nice clear shot across the room? I should probably write down everything on each shot, but that takes time! I've used the Auto, the anti-shaking, and the Night Scene modes so far. Any thoughts on these modes being more or less prone to focusing mis-cues on the part of the camera? This has happened even when the camera is on a tripod and I've used the auto-timer

My dial is also about worn clean.

On the other hand, it sure is a small and rugged little guy.

[Speleomander]

I used the 790 SW for my thesis research in caves which involved maintaining a digital library of salamander pictures so I could identify individuals by their unique pattern aberrations. Obviously I needed clear pictures to accomplish this and overall I'm very pleased with this camera. I did have issues with the autofocus from time to time and some shots had unnatural coloration resulting from the flash, but generally they turned out very well (especially considering the low light in many of my shots from a weak headlamp). Unless I was using the macro settings, I always just shot in the auto mode and 90% or so of my pictures came out acceptable. I would sometimes find a few dozen salamanders in one trip and have to process them quickly to get to others before they escaped, so I was often shooting quickly and recklessly. That said, I would strongly recommend this camera since it did everything I needed and more. Mine has been smacked against rocks, dunked in streams, and generally put through the wringer and it hasn't failed me yet. I'm using the newer model Olympus Stylus Tough at work now, though I haven't had a chance to put it through any real abuse yet (just a co-worker dropping it so far). It feels a little more solid to me though and I'd say either of these cameras are a great choice for cavers who may be putting them through some abuse.

[Chads93GT]

You guys should be treating the olympus camera as a non water proof camera, IE carrying it in a pelican/otter box case to keep mud/grime/water off of it. Unless you have more money than brains............... the guys i cave with have absolutely destroyed their becuase they took the water/shock proof literally.

That being said, you have to be on night mode to take shots in the cave, and you have to use an off camera flash. You start the photo by having your head lamp or someone elses, shining on what you want to take the picture of. You then hold the button down so it will auto focus on the point that is lit up. After you are focused, everyone shuts off their head lamps, you take the photo and signal the flasher to flash while the shutter is open.

doing so will net you better photos; however, no matter how good the photo is with the olympus stylus, I still think its a blurry/fuzzy photograph. My sony cybershot 7.2 takes better photos than the 10.2 mp stylus's, IMO.

[Evan G]

All the Olympus Stylus line have corresponding housing such as this:

http://opticaloceansales.com/olympus-point-shoot-housings-cameras/camera-housing-bundles/olympus-stylus-t-8000/pt-045-bundle/prod_225.html


The housing for the 850 SW is called PT-041 Underwater Housing.