Olympus 770 SW

Dear future Olympus Customer OF THE 770 SW,

I wanted to bring your attention few details for you prior buying the new Olympus 770 SW digital camera ( shock proof / waterproof 10M ). THINK TWICE !!!

I have purchased this product not even two weeks ago and it swallowed water like a frog. The camera was never hit / drop / ding and never brought in water below 2 Meter ( 6 feet ).

I have tried to contact the Olympus service customer care center via email / phone and it just aggravated my issue towards that product. The service is just a catch 22, you will be swung from different location / department and they will tell you ... you need to send your new product for investigation... They are good to believe your money is good to buy it but when it comes to the service / warranty, they don't trust you and service equals to Zero...

The initial though of buying this product was to go scuba diving and capture nice sceneries of the Bali, Indonesia reefs. At the store, no one carries the extra underwater case that would prevent your camera to become a frog. Picture of the frog taken from Panasonic Lumix camera available upon request...

Think twice... DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT... BUY A DIFFERENT BRAND THAT OFFERS A WATER CASE INSTEAD.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT UNLESS YOU ARE FORTUNATE AND WANT TO LOOSE YOUR MONEY.

Best of luck in finding a different digital camera then the Olympus

An upset customer,

I specifically had this camera bought for me because it was waterproof. It appeared to be the only option that was waterproof to a decent depth (10m), and also had a decent resolution (7MP). The low light performance also appeared to be better then my previous camera.

I specifically got the camera for snorkeling. I wasn't sure what the "out of the water" performance was going to be like, and I was pleasantly surprised. I used it in the Maldives and it produced fantastic results in the water, in the evening at sunset, at night in the bar, and again in the morning capturing sunrise.

I've used disposable waterproof cameras in the past and they are a total waste of time. The camera display is clearly visible in the water, framing is easy. Also the shutter lag isn't that great - I was easily able to snap pictures of sharks darting around me.

My only irritation about the camera is that it defaults to standard shooting mode when it's switched on. While swimming with the camera I wanted to switch it off to protect the lens from seabourne junk. Hence switching it on again was irritating if I wanted to take a quick snap, as I'd need to reselect one of the underwater modes.

That irritation was a very small price to pay for a fantastic camera. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone in the market for a camera to use in the sea or pool buy this. I also intend to take it skiing as it claims to work down to -10 degrees - I've had problems with cameras in those types of environments in the past.

Also, I've noticed there's a newer 790 version. This offers a higher resolution, but it only waterproof to 3 metres so I don't think it's worth the upgrade.

This is an amazing camera, I've had mine around 8 weeks now, I'm frequent traveller and the Olympus 770 SW just has to be the most suitable camera ever for travelling as it even goes underwater down to about 30 feet.

The camera is drop, shock and even, amazingly, water proof. You could let it fall from 4 feet, stand on it as long as you weigh less than 100kg and go diving with it down to 30 feet.

I was in Egypt a few weeks ago and every single day I went snorkelling, I spent hours just taking pictures that just kept coming out perfect time after time. It's underwater pictures are just fabulous!

for the functionality on offer this has to be one of the best value for money cameras around, it's not cheap but it's just so bomb proof and function I can't imagine how good the camera I replace it with would have to be (in about 5 years!)

If you are thinking of buying the Olympus 770 SW but not sure and are comparing it against another camera then STOP... just get the 770 SW you seriously WILL NOT regret it.