Here in North America at least, the arrival
of the Olympus Stylus Verve has been heralded by an advertising
blitz, in print and on television, the scope of which has rarely
been seen before for a digital camera.
The Stylus Verve, sold in Europe
under the name µ[mju:]-mini DIGITAL, comes in 6
colours: orange, black, red, turquoise, silver and white — the
colour of the one shown here — which is in fact more like
a pearl finish.
Just like other Stylus cameras the Stylus Verve is weatherproof, its buttons
designed to resist moisture and its single side door equipped with a gasket
so it too can resist moisture. However weatherproof should not be
confused with waterproof. While a spray of water, or a bit of rain
should not harm the Verve, it cannot be dunked in water, or be washed under
a tap.
Three controls are positioned on the top right: a small power button,
the shutter release and Mode Dial, which has a
shape reminiscent of the adjustment knob of a caliper rule. The
Mode Dial has 3 positions:
Still image capture mode
Movie mode
Playback mode
The Stylus Verve has no optical
viewfinder, but provides the user a high contrast, 1.8 inch LCD
monitor composed of 134,000 pixels. To its left a single button
labeled Quick View serves to quickly access the full playback
mode, avoiding the need to change the Mode Dial position. Pressing
the shutter release lightly returns to the capture mode.
Two other controls are located on the right side of the monitor, and uppermost
is the zoom control.
As usual, the zoom control also doubles
as a way to zoom a image (up to 4X) displayed on the monitor
during playback by
pressing the switch to the T side, and to show thumbnails
(4, 9 or 16 per screen) by
pressing it to the W side.
Similarly, the large 4-direction
control called the Arrow Pad, which serves to navigate
the mode menus and review images in playback, offers additional
functions in the capture mode. The Up arrow is also labeled Scene,
and when pressed in the still image capture mode it displays
the scene menu, which starts with the basic shooting mode of
the Verve:
Program is the basic
shooting mode. The camera sets aperture and shutter speed,
but leaves much control to the user, including critical settings
such as sensitivity and white balance.
All the remaining modes presented
on the Scene menu are subject specific, unlike the Program
mode. Worth noting, all Scene modes allow control
over the sensitivity of the camera, but should it be set to Auto the
camera will adjust it as needed to meet the requirements of the
selected mode:
Portrait is suitable for taking full-frame
portrait shots and is optimized for skin tones.
Landscape optimizes
the image so as to increase the depth of field through
the use of a small aperture.
Landscape + Portrait is
similar to the mode above, optimizing the image for depth
of field.
Night Scene is designed to capture
photos of brightly lit cityscapes. A tripod is necessary
as the shutter speed can be as low as 4 seconds. Noise
reduction is applied automatically.
Cuisine optimizes the
image so that the saturation, sharpness and contrast are
enhanced.
Beach and Snow is designed
to take into account highly reflective subjects such as
snow and water, and boosts the exposure slightly to capture
these subjects correctly.
Self Portrait + Self Timer allows
capturing images with the self-timer while still capturing
the background clearly.
Behind Glass is intended
to photograph objects that are behind a window.
Self Portrait is to
take a self-portrait while hand holding the camera. Depth
of field is not prioritized and the zoom is locked at the
widest angle.
Indoor adjusts the white
balance for artificial light, and forces the image size
to 1280 x 960 pixels, allowing the sensitivity to
go past the maximum of 400 ISO if the camera is set to
Auto ISO (500 ISO maximum).
Candle also forces the
image size to 1280 x 960 pixels to allow for a high ISO
(ISO must be set to Auto), but adjusts the white balance
to record the warmth of candle light accurately.
Sunset boosts the red
tones of a setting sun and the brightness of the scene.
Fireworks forces the
sensitivity to 64 ISO to limit the intrusion of noise,
and can extend the shutter speed down to 4 seconds.
Somewhat like the Scene menus,
the other 3 arrows superimpose short menus on the monitor, and
pressing the arrow repeatedly serves to display each choice in
turn. The camera functions accessed are:
Macro and Super Macro
modes: the standard Macro mode of the Stylus Verve
allows the camera to focus on a subject 20 cm (7.8 inches)
from the front of the lens. The Super Macro mode on the
other hand lets the camera focus on a subject that is 8
cm (3.1 inches) from the front of the lens. (For more
information on the Macro mode see the Test Photos section
of the review.)
Flash Modes: each press
of the arrow cycles through Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Fill-in,
Flash Off.
Self-Timer which offers
a 12 second delay.
Finally, the small round button at the centre of the Arrow Pad is to:
call up the Stylus Verve's menu,
and confirm some selections such as a specific Scene mode. While
the Verve shares the overall menu design of most other Olympus
cameras, what is commonly referred to as a Shortcut screen with
other Olympus cameras, is here referred to as a Top Menu.
Unlike other Olympus cameras, the 4 options of the Top menu are "hard-wired" and
cannot be re-configured by the user to access other parts of the Mode
Menu:
Exposure compensation: allowing adjustment
over ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
Mode Menu: provides access to all the other
options for the Verve, including an access to the Setup
menu.
White Balance: Auto, or Presets which include
Sun, Cloud, Incandescent, Fluorescent.
Resolution: to select the image size and quality (see
the Characteristics section of the review).
The Olympus Stylus Verve offers Point
and Shoot simplicity, and is clearly intended to attract a broad
swath of — possibly younger — consumers, both by
its unusual design, colour choice and very compact size. Interestingly,
the Verve also provides some important user controls, something
which is not all that common with many "point and shoot" cameras.
Ergonomically, the unusual shape of the Verve actually helps
its usability as the fingers find their places and avoid blocking
the lens or the monitor. Still, at a glance, the fact that the
Verve has no optical viewfinder appears to be something of a
drawback. Yet, the monitor is bright and legible, even in daylight,
and the only impracticality some users may discover is that reading
glasses are a necessary accessory...
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Introduction
by
pressing the switch to the T side, and to show thumbnails
(4, 9 or 16 per screen) 
by
pressing it to the W side. 
