1050SW...Should I?

[dossymae]

Hi All- I haven't posted here for I while, but I've been looking at a new camera and knew this was the place to go.

I've been looking at the Olympus 1050SW and have been seriously considering buying it. However, when I was speaking with my camera guy at the shop today, he said that the photo quality is not the greatest. I currently have a Canon A520 (new in 2005) and a Canon XSi. My XSi is my main camera, but I still would like to have a P&S for convenience. My A520 is starting to get a little slow and would like to have something a bit newer and smaller. I love the quality of the A520 and it has rarely let me down in quality of photos. I am going on vacation to Mexico next week and would really like the waterproof features of the 1050, but I'm wondering if I want to compromise that for the quality of the A520.

Please help me. I'm pretty torn right now on what I should do. Money is not really an issue and that's not what would sway my decision either way at this point.

Thanks in advance everyone!

[big jc]

I bought the 1030sw last week for my wife. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it but from what I have taken with it turn out very good for a point and shoot. The camera does have a limited zoom range. I am going to post a review of the camera in a few weeks if you can wait.

[inkista]

Go to Mexico in May and get the Canon D10. Not useful, I know.

I hate to say it, but I'd actually advocate getting a disposable waterproof camera this round, and wait. This is the year that everybody's releasing a waterproof/shockproof model into their P&S lineups, and there's actual competition going so that you aren't locked into looking at just the Olympus models. Keep an eye on dpreview. So far, Canon and Fuji have both announced waterproof P&Ses, and between now and PMA there are likely to be one or two more.

[JerInTheBox]

My roommate had a waterproof Olympus, not sure what the model number was. Anyway, it's only good to like 3 feet, and it broke the first time we put it through any kind of abuse on a pretty light day of surfing. While it lasted the image quality was nothing impressive.

In short, it sucks. Just get a little disposable for the water shots and take a better camera for everything else.

[Doug Pardee]

You might consider the 1030SW or one of the new models instead. They're waterproof to 10 feet instead of 3, have more impact resistance and are crush-resistant.

The image quality of any small-sensor digicam is going to be inferior to what you get with your DSLR. After all, that's why people buy DSLRs.

The main limitation of the Oly is at higher ISOs. If you keep the ISO down to 80 or 100, you'll get reasonably good results. The thing is, there's only one mode on these cameras that lets you control the ISO, and that's the Programmed Exposure mode (the camera icon). If you go to any other mode, the camera loves to crank the ISO up to 400 or beyond, making the 1/2.3" sensor produce a ton of noise which the camera tries to reduce but mainly ends up softening the photos.

You won't get DSLR-quality pictures out of this or any other small-sensor digicam. What you will get is photos in places you wouldn't take your DSLR. And if you pay attention to your ISO setting, you should get quite reasonable results.