Olympus Stylus 800

Reviewed January 2006

Characteristics

The Olympus Stylus 800 uses a 1/1.8 inch CCD with 8.3 million pixels, and when images are captured at the highest resolution, 8 million pixels are effective, yielding an image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels.

Starting with a sensitivity of 64 ISO the CCD can be pushed to 100, 200, 400, 800 and even 1600 ISO manually, or set to Auto allowing the camera to adjust sensitivity as required. Worth noting, sensitivities of 800 and 1600 ISO are limited to a maximum image size of 2048 x 1536 pixels. And, in addition, the Available Light Portrait mode can allow the camera to increase sensitivity up to 2500 ISO.

Composed of 6 elements in 5 groups that includes 3 aspherical surfaces to correct distortions, the zoom lens of the Stylus 800 provides a focal length range of 8 to 24mm, the equivalent of a 38 to 114 mm. Apertures for the zoom start at f2.8 at the wide angle end, becoming f4.9 at the telephoto end, and extending for both to f8.

While the shutter speed range covers from 1/2000 second to 4 seconds, its lower limit is more commonly 1/2 second, or 1/20 second when the camera is set to the Image Blur Reduction Mode. Noise reduction is automatically applied to long exposures, and at higher ISO settings.

The Stylus 800 is able to capture images at any of 9 image sizes and, as is the case with other recent Olympus cameras, the image sizes are linked to JPEG compression levels:

As is common on Olympus cameras, the Stylus 800 starts by showing a Shortcut screen when the MENU button is pressed, and each of the four options offered on the shortcut screen is immediately accessible using the corresponding arrow on the Arrow Pad:

• The up arrow is for exposure compensation offering a range of ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• The left arrow accesses the Image Resolution and Quality settings (see above).
• The down arrow is an access to the White Balance settings: Auto, Sun, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1 (daylight type), Fluorescent 2 (neutral white type), Fluorescent 3 (warm white type).

• The right arrow accesses the full menu, which contains all the other options available in the capture modes.

The Mode Menu is composed of three sections, each identified by a tab shown on the left side of the monitor: Camera, Card and Set. The last two sections are common to all the modes, and the options contained there are detailed in the Interface and Software section of the review.

The first section, Camera, contains the following options:

• ESP/ is to choose the metering method:
  • ESP: is a type of averaging pattern that meters the centre of the frame and the surrounding area separately.
  • is a spot meter, taking into account only what is at the precise centre of the frame, ideal when the subject is backlit.
• Drive controls the rate at which images are captured:
  • Single captures one image at a time.
  • Sequential shooting locks focus, exposure and white balance at the first frame. The frame rate varies according to the image size and format in use.
  • High Speed Sequential Shooting is similar to Sequential shooting but offers a higher speed by limiting the image size and quality to SQ1 or SQ2.

• ISO selects the sensitivity: Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ISO. Note that the 800 and 1600 ISO levels are only available with SQ1 and SQ2. The Auto setting normally covers from 64 to 400 ISO, but when the camera is set to the Image Blur Reduction Mode, sensitivity can go as high as 2000 ISO, while with the camera set to Available Light Portrait, sensitivity can increase up to 2500 ISO.
• Digital Zoom controls the 5X digital zoom. The digital zoom crops the image and then interpolates it to the current image size, lowering the image quality as the apparent magnification increases.

• AF Mode has two settings:
  • iESP: allows the camera to automatically find the focus point using its 9 AF zones.
  • Spot: forces the auto focus to the centre of the frame.
• Sound: On or Off. When On, it allows capturing 4 seconds of audio immediately after an image is captured. The sound recording starts automatically half a second after the image is captured.
• Panorama: is only available when an Olympus brand xD memory card is used. After specifying whether the panoramic image will captured vertically or horizontally, the mode allows capturing a series of images that will be assembled later on a computer into a single panoramic photo.
• 2-in-1: makes it possible to capture two vertical images, one after the other, and assemble them into a single image afterwards.

Set to the Movie mode, the shortcut screen that appears first when the Menu button is pressed is the same as with the still image modes, but the Image Resolution and Quality settings accessed with the left arrow relate to the movie frame size (640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120). However, the options contained in the Camera section of the menu are limited to the metering mode, and the digital zoom.

With the Playback mode, the menu also starts with a shortcut screen:

• The up arrow's function is dependent on what is on the screen when the menu button is pressed.
  
  With a still image displayed, it accesses the options for Slide Shows. It is possible to select whether or not a sound attached to an image is played, and if desired any one of 3 transition effects (Fader, Slide, Zoom) can be used between images.
  
  While with a movie displayed on the monitor when the menu button is pressed, the up arrow serves to play the movie.

• The left arrow is for Album Entry which makes it possible to associate an image currently on screen to an album, or select images by their capture date, or all the images currently in memory and place them in an album. In addition, it is possible to select either still image or movies, or select only those that have been marked as Protected previously.
• The down arrow serves to Protect an image or a movie against an accidental erasure.

• The right arrow accessed the Mode Menu, which contains all the other options available in the Playback mode.

Unlike the capture mode's menu, which is composed of three sections, the Playback mode's menu is composed of four sections. The first section of the Playback menu is called Play and it provides the following options:

• Rotate: serves to rotate an image 90° to the right or 90° to the left.
• Print: serves to choose images for printing using DPOF tags and specifying the number of prints to make of each image. The Stylus 800 is compatible with PictBridge and can be connected directly to a similarly compatible printer to print photos directly.
• Sound: allows adding a 4-second oral annotation to an already captured image.

• Redeye Fix: makes it possible to correct the problem in an image, and then save the corrected image as a new image.
• Black & White: makes it possible to create a black and white copy of an image and save it as a new image.
• Sepia: works the same as the Black and White option, but records a sepia-toned image.
• Resize: allows making a smaller copy of an image at 1280 x 960, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels.

The last two sections, Card and Set, are identical to those of the capture modes, and their contents are detailed in the Interface and Software section of the review.

Unlike many other cameras, the Stylus 800 is equipped with a second playback mode, the Album mode, this one based on the folders that were created through the standard Playback mode. The Album Mode also offers a menu, starting with a shortcut screen as well:

• The up arrow starts a slide show of the images contained in the current album with background music (the music is already in the camera). But, when a movie is on the screen, it simply plays it back.
• The left arrow allows withdrawing one or all images from the current album.
• The down arrow serves to protect the image or movie currently under review.
• The right arrow accesses the full Album Menu which contains additional options.

The Album Menu contains six options, a mix of options specific to this mode and options also found in the Playback and Setup sections of other menus:

• Select album: to select the album to be reviewed. Albums are presented using a thumbnail of one of the photo they contain, making it easy to remember what they contain.
• Rotate: allows changing the orientation of an image 90° to the right or the left.
• Select Title Image: allows selecting the image that will appear as a thumbnail representing the album.
• Print: allows selecting images for printing (see the Playback menu).
• Volume: sets the playback sound volume.
• LCD Screen Brightness: allows adjusting the brightness of the monitor over ±6 levels.
• Video Out: allows selecting either NTSC or PAL in accordance with the television on which a slide show will be played.

The Olympus Stylus 800 has a 32MB internal memory of which 21.3 MB can be used to store images. Retailed without a memory card, the Stylus 800 is compatible with the xD Picture Card memory format.

The memory card is housed in a compartment underneath the camera, in a slot that is covered by a solid plastic door opened with a little slider switch on the back edge of the camera. The card itself is ejected by pressing it on its edge.

As a guide, the chart below shows the approximate number of photos that can be stored in the internal memory, and with an optional 512 MB Olympus xD memory card:

The Stylus 800 is powered by a single Lithium-ion battery (LI-12B) which is housed in a compartment located on the right side of the camera. The compartment is covered by a weather-proof door that must be slid out before it can be opened.

The battery is maintained in place with a reddish spring-loaded catch that prevents it from sliding out when the compartment door is opened to provide access to the Stylus 800's connections.

A battery charger (LI-10C) is included with the camera kit. The charger plugs into a wall outlet with a cable that is compatible with the region where the camera was purchased, but is compatible with 100~240V and 50-60Hz, making it possible to use it world wide. Two hours are needed to fully recharge the battery.

Two connections are also housed in the same compartment. At the top is a DC-IN jack which is intended for the optional AC adapter (D-7AC).

Below is the USB port, the protocol for which is selected in a short menu that appears when the camera is connected to a USB device. Two protocols are available, PC (Mass Storage) when the Stylus 800 is connected to a computer, which shows the camera as a removable hard disk, and PictBridge, which is designed to connect to PictBridge compliant printer and print photos directly through it, by-passing the need for a computer.