Stylus 790SW Review

[Nicole]

First, a little back story...

Yesterday I received something I'd been waiting for in the mail. My old point and shoot was starting to show it's age, and the quality was... well, it showed. It worked mostly ok in really bright light where I could use an ISO of 80, but anything over about 200 was really noisy. So, long story short (ok, not really ) I had some frequent flyer miles. And the catalog happened to have the camera that I'd been looking at, and it was right in the range that I was looking for. So, now, I'm the very happy owner of a Stylus 790SW.

This is my the back of my old P&S compared to my new addition (this is one of the most noticeable differences).



The Good...

The entire reason that I wanted this camera was because it's waterproof (up to 3m). Which means that I now have a camera that I don't have to be afraid to take out in the rain. As an added bonus, you can drop it from 5 feet and it's not supposed to hurt the camera. The water thing I've tested, the dropping thing, well... I'm not going to tempt fate since I only got it yesterday. Of course, the first thing I did was stick it under my sink tap. It still works, so I'd say that the waterproof thing works. I'm now looking forward to playing with more water, and today I'll take it out with me in the rain.

Also, one of the reasons I wanted a decent P&S was because I don't have a macro lens. I'm not 100% sure that I want to invest in a dedicated macro lens yet because I'm not sure if that's where I really want to go with my photography and a good lens is a pretty big investment. So, one of the things that I thought could be pretty interesting about this camera was the fact that it has a little LED light that you can use with the Super Macro setting (which gets you about 2" away from the subject). I have to say it's pretty neat, and works pretty well. It doesn't wash the subject out in the way that a flash could, but it provides enough illumination that you can still hold the camera in your hands to take the shot. Here's an example of the super macro mode using the LED (sorry, it's a fake rose, I don't have any real flowers in the house at the moment and it's more interesting than a picture of my keyboard. It's also straight out of the camera, so I haven't done any brightening or sharpening to it, so it gives a decent indication of possible results):



It has 21 different scene modes and lets you use basically an advice mode to do things. Now, I shoot full manual on my D50, but I have to say that this camera has a lot more modes than the 2 that were previously available on my little Canon. So it's kind of interesting to see what the camera decides to do in each of the scene modes. They seem to work relatively well, but sometimes that flash is a killer because of how bright it is. When not using the scene or advice mode, there is a P mode for the camera. That's worked pretty well for me since I've put the ISO at 80 and just let the camera pick the rest. Granted, it's not manual, but there are enough adjustments that it doesn't come out too bad. Besides, it's a P&S lol.

So, overall, the good parts:

• Durable and waterproof, I can drop it or stick it underwater and it's going to work
• Neat little flashlight for the Super Macro Mode (and the mode itself works well).
• Lots of modes to use and advice modes are interesting reading

The Not So Good...

There's not too much negative that I would say about this little camera, but there are 2 points. Both are probably me being a little too fussy.

As I noted before, there is no manual mode, so the best I can do is the P mode. That means the camera will pick my shutter speed and aperture. I don't think that I could have gotten a camera in this price range and size range that would have allowed me to do full manual. So if you're aiming for a P&S that you can have complete control with, this probably isn't it.

Also, in every mode aside from P mode, the camera chooses the ISO. While this might not matter too much with landscapes, it is kind of a problem with the Super Macro mode. ISO 640 isn't too grainy, in fact, the grain is reasonably acceptable for most of the picture, but if you're trying to bring out small details, the noise will be a problem. Obviously, that's an area where I could have been better off with a macro lens, but that's neither here nor there, so as long as I don't start winding up with all my Super Macro shots being at ISO 1000 or anything, it could be worse. The noise is definitely better than my s230.

Overall, the not so goods:

• No manual modes (closest is P mode)
• Auto ISO on almost all modes

Overall:

Overall, I'm really pleased with this little camera. It's a good size, good weight, and it's much nicer than what I'm replacing. I would give it about an 8/10 because overall it works well. I've yet to do much testing underwater, but it's passed it's inaugural stick it under the sink test, so if I get the opportunity, hopefully it will get a better underwater test.

[Darren Rowse]

great review Nicole!