The ruggedness of the Stylus 720 SW makes it reassuring, and allows the camera to be taken
on a boat without concern for water spray, to a pool, or even
to the beach.
Continuing in the spirit of the Stylus series, the 720 SW
is a fully automatic camera. To operate the 720 SW all one
has to do is turn it on, frame the shot, and press the shutter
release, without any worry about technical details.
Using the 24 Scene modes, the
user can set the camera to capture the scene, be it indoors,
in a museum, at the beach, or even on the ski slopes.
Moreover, the camera integrates Olympus’ BrightCapture
technology, developed to provide a clear view of a subject,
even in a dark environment; a feature used by scene modes
such as Available Light and Candle, which are
not only able to show a clear view of dark subjects to the
user, but also to capture images without flash.
The Program mode is the most advanced,
allowing control over such parameters as ISO sensitivity,
white balance, or — albeit limited — the metering
pattern used by the camera to evaluate the shot.
The 720 SW is equipped with an internal 3X optical zoom,
a design that makes it possible to keep the camera extremely
compact. Images captured throughout the range of the zoom
show no noticeable distortion, either barrelling at the wide
end, or pincushion at the telephoto end. However, the wide
angle end of the lens can reveal a chromatic aberration when
the subject contains strong contrasts, a phenomenon that does
not occur at any other point in the focal length range.
The ESP metering, the default,
generally yields good exposures. However, care should be exercised
when the scene contains strong contrasts, as the metering
appears to privilege mid and dark zones, sometimes resulting
in an overexposure of the highlights, and engendering a loss
of detail in areas such as the sky or light colours.
The white balance, on the other hand, is consistently reliable,
be it using any of its presets or its Auto mode, and the 720 SW produces natural colours with a neutral saturation.
Indeed, as with most cameras, the
Stylus 720 SW produces very pleasing images when it has the
benefit of even, bright light.
Interestingly, even when used
in an entirely automatic way, the 720 SW tends to stick to
low ISO values to avoid any intrusion by noise.
Indeed, the 64 to 100 ISO range, used by the camera to boost
the effectiveness of the flash, is effectively noise-free.
As of the 200 ISO level however, even with photos captured
outdoors in daylight, noise becomes discernible, albeit only
in the darker areas of the image. While at sensitivities of
400 ISO and up, noise is detectable throughout the frame,
including in areas of uniform colour.
Also worth noting, while the Available
Light and Candle scene modes can increase the sensitivity
up to 2500 ISO, they limit the resolution to a 3-megapixel image
size (2048 x 1536 pixels) so as minimize the impact of noise.
Nevertheless, when very high ISO values are used, the resulting
images remain quite grainy.
Aperture: f5, shutter speed: 1/200 sec., 64 ISO.
The Stylus 720 SW offers a wide
selection of 9 image resolutions, covering a range of sizes
that go from those that are ideal for prints, to those that
are best suited for e-mail attachments.
Nevertheless, only the highest resolution, 7.1 megapixel,
offers a couple of compression levels, while all other sizes
are limited to a single level of compression, which can in
turn limit their usefulness.
The compression applied at the highest
image quality — the SHQ format with an image size of 3072
x 2304 pixels — is generally in the 6 or 7:1 range, a
ratio that is commonly associated with an average compression
setting on many other cameras. And indeed, when an SHQ image
is seen at 100% on a monitor, a slight loss of definition can
be observed in the smaller details.
The Stylus 720 SW is a camera
for those with an adventurous spirit. Easily slipped into
a pocket and carried anywhere without fear of damaging it,
it can be used in all sorts of situations, in all types of
weather, and in just about any place. Its 7.1-megapixel resolution
allows photos to be printed out to a 10 x 8 size (26 x 19.5
cm) at 300 dpi, yielding excellent results. Moreover, its
fully automatic modes are reliable, making it possible to
leave the camera in charge of all photographic decisions,
practical when wandering around.
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