Digital cameras tend to be delicate. The LCD display and lens on my pricey Canon point-and-shoot were damaged recently because I had the audacity to carry a pocket-size camera, minus a case, in well, my pocket. A second Canon died when I dropped it in a kiddie pool.
Such incidents didn't stop me from rough-housing with yet another pocket-size point-and-shoot, the $300 Olympus Stylus 790 SW. Olympus markets the camera as a durable alternative to rivals from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Kodak.
The Stylus is tough, at least based on my rigorous tests. The camera is waterproof to a depth of just under 10 feet. (Olympus sells a $300 underwater housing for divers who want to plunge a lot deeper.) It's shock-resistant to 5 feet, and dustproof, too. And it can handle temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
To be sure, the Stylus got a little nicked up as I dropped it, kicked it and got it wet. But I could continue to snap and view pictures. That makes it a fine choice for casual shutterbugs who want to snap away while snorkeling, skiing, sledding or engaging in other outdoor activities.
Here's a closer look.
•The torture chamber. OK, Olympus dared me. To gauge the camera's ruggedness, I ran it through a battery of tests. I played catch with a colleague, submerged the Stylus in a bathroom sink and put it in a bucket of ice for a minute or so. Several times I intentionally dropped it onto a hilly San Francisco street.
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And the Stylus survived perhaps the most torturous test of all: I placed it in the hands of a 4-year-old.
Best I can tell, my recklessness didn't void any warranties. But Olympus says you will violate the warranty if you, say, open the battery door underwater or drop the camera from a height much more than 5 feet.
•Body armor. You're likely thinking that a sturdy and resilient camera must weigh a ton or be housed in hideous-looking armor. Stylus is constructed of metal, all right, but it's a decent-looking camera that weighs less than 5 ounces. My test unit was lime green, but it is available in several other colors.
Olympus took several measures to shield the camera from harm. There's a floating internal circuit board. The housing for all internal components was cast from one mold, as opposed to several separate pieces riveted together. That reduces the likelihood, Olympus says, of small breaches or fractures. Seals and gaskets are waterproof. And there's a water-repellant lens coating.
What's more, the lens is less likely to suffer damage because it doesn't protrude, as lenses on many other cameras do. Even so, Olympus oddly sells a $15 optional silicone skin to protect it against bumps and scratches.
•Taking pictures. I snapped several pictures and short video clips, and on that important score, the 7.1-megapixel model produced perfectly fine, if not exceptional, results. The camera did inadvertently snap at least one picture after hitting the ground, but as with any digital camera you can instantly dispose of duds.
Stylus has several useful features common to digital cameras nowadays, including image stabilization (to protect you from the shakes) and face detection (for properly focusing on your subjects' mugs). It also has a fairly standard 3X optical zoom and more than two-dozen different shooting modes.
Still, some features are missing. I wish the camera had an optical viewfinder rather than making me frame the shots on its 2.5-inch LCD display, which is difficult to make out in direct sun. But I can't hammer Olympus too hard, because a lot of other point-and-shoots are designed these days without a viewfinder.
I had other quibbles: I'm not crazy about the placement of the zoom controls on the upper portion of the camera's back side. I'd prefer the controls to be on the top. The onscreen menus could be more intuitive.
And Olympus (along with Fujifilm) continues to use a small proprietary memory card type called xD rather than the more universal Secure Digital, or SD, cards.
I had a slight issue with shutter lag, the time it takes to capture an image after snapping a picture. The lag was a moment longer than on my compact Canon digital camera. That's a problem when you're trying to get your kids to pose.
The battery could also last longer. Olympus says you'll get about 200 pictures on a charge, but my battery pooped out after less than half that. It takes about five hours to charge the battery again.
Overall, the Stylus 790 is an excellent choice for people who tend to be hard on their high-tech gear. Though not bulletproof, it's a good-looking and reasonably priced camera that should more than survive the rigors of an active lifestyle.
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