The Olympus Stylus 830 is a weatherproof (splashproof) ultra compact
digital camera that can withstand rain and dust. It is encased in a durable metal and plastic composite body with elegant lines, and is
light and compact enough to be easily carried
in a jeans pocket or small fashion purse.
The Olympus 830 is available in five different colours: Black, Silver, Blue, Orange and Green. There is
a bar at the
front to serve as a finger grip. As usual, the use of
the wrist strap is highly recommended. The lens
extends about 19mm (0.75 in.) to 28mm (1.1 in.) outside the body.
Startup is fast at approx. 1 sec. and shot to
shot times average at about 2.2 sec. There is no practical shutter lag.
STYLE
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Colours: Available in 5 colours with chrome accents: Black, Silver, Blue, Orange and Green.
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Looks: elegant
FEEL
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Comfortable to hold and operate, though can be slippery
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Controls & FUNC. menus are easy
to use (once you get used to them)
DIMENSIONS &
WEIGHT
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Ultra Compact: fits in a jeans pocket or
small fashion purse
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Dimensions: 99.6 x 55.1 x 24mm /
3.9 x 2.2 x 0.94 in.
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Weight: 125g / 4.4 oz. without battery
and media card
Included in the box is a rechargeable Li-ion
battery which takes approx. 5 hrs [according
to the manual, though it seems to take me far
less than that] to recharge fully. Olympus does
not rate the battery. A spare battery is highly
recommended.
The flash has a max. range of 3.6m (11.8 ft.) at
wide-angle, which is adequate only for close range.
You can set the flash to Auto, Red-Eye Reduction,
On (Fill-in) or Off.
Controls
The top of the camera has, from left to right, the Power button,
Shutter Release button and the Image Stabilizer button. The buttons are on the small
side but Olympus designers have cleverly made
a "well" around the Power and Image Stabilizer buttons and the Shutter Release button juts out slightly so they are all easy
enough to push down. I have no trouble operating them,
though if you have particularly large fingers,
you may want to give the camera a hands-on try first.
You can record movies with sound at 640x480 at 30fps. You can preset optical zoom before
any movie recording, but cannot use optical zoom
during recording (though digital zoom is available).
No card comes with the camera but there is approx.
14.8MB of Internal Memory. 14.8MB can record only
8 sec. of SHQ movie.
As the above chart shows, at SHQ, only 3 images
can be saved into the 14.8MB of Internal Memory.
We recommend that you purchase at least a 1GB xD-Picture
Card.
The Mode Dial on the back has Favorites, Playback, AUTO/P (set in FUNC), SCN (Scene Modes), GUIDE and Movie. The Mode Dial has just the right stiffness so it's easy to rotate but won't change inadvertently when you place your thumb on it.
Sensor-shift image stabilization compensates for camera shake. Digital Image Stabilization will select a high ISO and favours a fast
shutter speed so as to reduce or eliminate blur
caused by subject movement.
There are 26 shooting modes in all: AUTO, P,
Image Stabilization, 22 scene modes to
cover almost every possible situation, and Movie.
A Silent
Mode is also available in the Menu (now available in all modes) which will immediately turn all beeps and other warning sounds off. It is a very quick and convenient feature for times when you need absolute quiet. Note that in Movie Mode, you can set the camera to Silent Mode but sound will still be recorded. When you play back the movie, simply turn Silent Mode off to listen to the sound.
Almost all the shooting functions are accessible
through the OK/FUNC. button placed in the middle
of the 4-Way Arrows.
FUNCTIONS ACCESSIBLE
BY CONTROL BUTTONS (top to bottom)
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Zoom: It takes about 2 sec. to zoom
from wide-angle to telephoto (I counted
12 steps).
Arrow Pad: UP=Exposure Compensation,
RIGHT=Flash, DOWN=Selftimer, LEFT=Macro,
Super Macro
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OK/FUNC in the middle of Arrow Pad
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DISP (Info, No Info, Info + Grid, Info + Live Histogram) / Help (when in MENU)
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Shadow Adjustment / ERASE
MACRO
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Press the LEFT ARROW key to select
between MACRO and SUPER MACRO.
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MACRO allows you to focus as close
as 20cm (7.9 in.) and SUPER MACRO
at 3cm (1.2 in.).
CONTINUOUS SHOOTING
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Select Drive from the FUNC menu.
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Normal speed: 1.0 fps, up to 6 frames in
HQ mode (3264x2448)
High speed: 3.9 fps, up to 11 frames
in SQ1 mode (2048x1536)
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The drive mode is kept and restored
when the camera is turned off and on
again, so remember to reset it back
to Single Frame. If you usually shoot SHQ mode and selected High speed continuous, image quality will switch to SQ1 mode, so remember to reset back to SHQ mode, too.
EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
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Press the UP ARROW key to select Exposure
compensation
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Once set, the Exposure Compensation
Indicator conveniently stays displayed
on screen until it is reset to "0"
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Range: -2 EV to +2 EV (1/3 EV increments)
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Perfect Shot Preview displays small thumbnails with the range of effects displayed
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Note: the exposure compensation value
selected is retained even when the camera
is turned off (so remember to reset
to "0" after using it or the
next time you turn the camera on, your
shots may be over- or under-exposed.)
DISP/HELP
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Press the DISP/HELP button
when the camera is OFF to display
the Date and Time (and Alarm if you set it in SETUP) for 3 sec. You can set an Alarm with three different rings with Snooze capability and specify whether it is a one-time or daily setting.
Shadow Adjustment / ERASE
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In Shooting mode, automatically brightens shadow areas to reveal details.
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In Playback mode, erase displayed image.
At the bottom of the camera, the tripod mount
thread is plastic. There is a Battery/Card door and the battery has a latch
to keep it from accidentally falling. The Battery/Card door locks tightly. You won't
be able to change battery or card when the camera
is on a tripod.
LCD & Menus
There is no optical viewfinder but a large 2.5
in. LCD monitor with a high 230,000 pixels resolution.
The LCD has a fast enough refresh rate for a smooth
display in both good light and low light. It can
sometimes be difficult to see in bright sunlight,
but you can adjust the brightness in MENU/SETUP.
It is one of the few LCD monitors that gains up
very well in low-light with a smooth image (in extreme low light, the image displays almost monochrome/sepia but is quite clear and smooth).
There is no AF-assist Illuminator and though the AF works well in bright light, it can be challenging in low light situations depending on how contrasty your subject is. Face Detect AF easily detects the face but I find that there seems to be a disconnect with the Face Detect and the AF: too often, the camera will detect the face but when you press the shutter release button, it ignores the face and focuses on something else.
While the FUNC. button gives access to the shooting
settings, the MENU button gives access to the
Menu and Setup settings.
MAIN MENU
- Note the Silent Mode option
MENU 1 of 2
- WB
- ISO
- Drive
- Fine Zoom
- Digital Zoom
MENU 2 of 2
- Light Metering
- AF Mode
- Voice Memo
- Panorama (only with Olympus xD-Picture Card)
- File Name
- Pixel Mapping
- LCD Monitor Brightness
- Clock
- Dual Time
SETUP 4 of 4
- Alarm Clock
- Video Out
- Power Save
- LED Illuminator
LANGUAGE
MENU THEME 1 of 2
- Normal
- Blue
- Black
- Pink
MENU THEME 2 of 2
- My Favorite
ALARM SET
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You can set an Alarm with three different rings with Snooze capability and specify whether it is a one-time or daily setting
ALARM SET
- Time
- Snooze
- Alarm Sound
ALARM DISPLAY
- Year.Month.Day
- Current Time
- Alarm Time
- Press the DISP/HELP/LED Illuminator button when the camera is OFF to display
the Date and Time (and Alarm if you set it in SETUP) for 3 sec.
SCENE MODE 1 of 5
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Landscape + Portrait
- Night Scene
- Night+Portrait
SCENE MODE 2 of 5
- Sport
- Indoor
- Candle
- Self-Portrait
- Available Light
- After approx. 4 sec. a help screen appears
for the selected Scene Mode
SHOOTING GUIDE 1 OF 3
- Shoot w/effects preview
- Brightening subject
- Shooting into backlight
- Set particular lighting
- Blurring background
SHOOTING GUIDE 2 OF 3
- Adjusting area in focus
- Shooting subject in motion
- Targeting with assistance
- Close up photo
- Super close up photo
SHOOTING GUIDE 3 OF 3
- Shooting at night
- Reducing blur
- Reducing red-eye
- Adjusting image quality
FUNC - Shooting Mode
- P (Programmed AE), Auto
- The display is a bit funny but you get used to it real fast: the selection bar is always at the bottom; the selected functions are highlighted
- Turns off operational sound (warning
beeps, shutter sounds, etc.) though Movie sound is still recorded even in Silent Mode
PROGRAM
- Programmed AE
Shooting Mode, Shutter Speed 1/15s, Aperture F3.3, Exposure Compensation
+0.3EV
- Shadow Adjustment, Flash Off
- Image Stabilizer
- Tungsten WB
- High ISO, Super Macro
- Continuous Shooting
- Alarm, xD-Picture Card used
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Image Quality HQ, Image Size 3264x2448, Space left for 497 images
- Grid ON
LIVE HISTOGRAM
- Why can Olympus digicams display a Live Histogram and more expensive models from other companies cannot?
PLAYBACK 1 of 8
PLAYBACK 2 of 8
PLAYBACK 3 of 8
PLAYBACK 4 of 8
PLAYBACK 5 of 8 - EDIT
- Crop
- Color Edit
- Frame
- Label
- Calendar
PLAYBACK 6 of 8 - SLIDESHOW
- BGM
- Type
PLAYBACK 7 of 8 - PERFECT FIX
- All
- Shadow Adjustment
- Redeye Fix
PLAYBACK 8 of 8 - ERASE
- Selected Image
- All Erase
The Olympus Stylus 830 is an easy-to-use
ultra compact digital camera that you can carry in your pocket. Yet it features 5x optical zoom with sensor-shift image stabilization. Best of all, it is weatherproof which means that it is not afraid of a little rain, snow, sand or dust. It is not built as tough as the Stylus 790 SW or Stylus 770 SW, but it is still a digital camera you don't have to hide away when the weather turns wet.
