cousin play with it, you can just bring it to the shower and rinse it.

So, despite there being better point and shoot cameras out there, and despite it being a tad expensive, I still give it five stars. It's the best waterproof camera on the market and the first time you bring it into the pool and take some pictures under water I guarantee you'll appreciate how fantastic it is.

Also the ISO-1600 mode is a wonderful bonus, It's perfect for taking pictures of fast moving action from a distance in dim light, when flash just doesn't reach far enough.
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720SW gets 3.5 stars, April 25, 2006
Reviewer: Thomas E. Tweedel

I'd give this camera 3.5 stars for the money.

I arrived at the decision to buy this camera after a bit of circuitous route. Long ago I loved my old Nikon CP-990. Then I had a kid and for the first year or so it was ok. But after he started moving around on his own I found the camera to lacking in focus speed, frames per second and a few other tech specs. Not wanting to spend a fortune shooting him with my F3 Film camera so I got a D-70 and life was good, still is.

However as he gets older and more adventurous we find ourselves in places I dare not take the "nice" camera. The pool, the beach, the sandbox, muddy days, the creek etc. At the same time my wife wanted a pursable camera so that we could have something with us at all times without lugging around a rig.

So a pocket Point and shoot (PNS) seemed to be in the cards. I was all set to get the Pentax Optio WPi when Olympus announced the 720SW. It was good to 10 feet instead of 5 and was shockproof and had a form factor liked better than my wife (bigger LCD). So we held out and bought it. I've had a chance to play with it a couple of weeks and this is my impression.

Pros-
Small - Fits in the pocket/purse without issue.

Faster than yesterdays PNS for turn on, focus and lock time
Easy to use - Has the standard full auto mode and some "scene" modes that are easy enough to figure out. They tell you what they are for and give sample pictures.

Build Quality - I've never seen a point and shoot built like this. You could put this thing on the end of a chain and use it as a weapon and then take pictures of your vanquished foe afterward. Its tough. It has an all metal frame that surround it, the front plate is plastic, the back glass, metal and plastic. It feeds very solid. I haven't tested its robustness yet but its good.

Internally focusing lens - You know those cameras that stick a snoot out when you turn them on? I find that somewhat annoying but more importantly I've seen those die when you get dirt or sand in the snoot. I've lost a couple of film PNS that way and seen a few digitals go down as well. Everything here is internally focusing. Its sealed, nothing to stick out or break off. I let my 2 year old play with the camera, he didn't break it but seems to instinctivally grip it with a sticky finger on top of the lens.

Lenscap - The Pentax WPi does not have a lenscap! This one does. I once heard the salesman say "oh but it has a protective plastic cover in front of the lens so it doesn't need one" Ookkkay, so the lens doesn't get scratch, the cheap non replacable plastic in front of it does. Its still a scratch in front of your picture! The olympus has a more robust wiper type lenscap that can sweep stuff away instead of getting gummed up.

Waterproof - This trick more than anything else is why I got the camera. Take it to the pool, take it IN the pool and get cool pictures. Pay the beach no head, splashing at bathtime, no worries. My son gooped it up pretty good, just ran it under the faucet and dried it off with a soft towel. Don't try that with your normal camera.

High ISO - This camera can go to ISO 1600 which for its class is amazing. Higher ISOs make your sensor more sensitive but increase noise. ISO 800 and above starts looking very noisy and that's not uncommon in many digitals. Most small ones fall apart by ISO 400.

Big Screen, Fast Zoom - It has a very generous 2.5" LCD screen. When you take a picture and review it you can zoom in very quickly. Really great for taking a picture of a tourist map and taking it with you.

Cons-
Too small - Yes, too small. I'm not a big guy, my fingers fit ok but big guys might have some issues. Also the camera is so small and light its kind of hard to hold very steady. It doesn't have the weight to dampen your tremors and you really can get a good two handed grip on it, its always a finger hold.

The "Image stabilization" - It promises no more blurry pictures because of "image stabilization". Well its not really image stabilization. When you kick that feature in it does an ISO boost (makes the sensor more sensitive to light) which lets you reduce the shutter speed so you don't have camera shake as much. The drawback is that you get more noise and less quality in your picture than if it had real image stabilization.

Camera downloads kill the battery - If you plug your camera into the computer to download the pictures plan on charging the battery right after. It sucks it down big time. Get a card reader for $15 at any discount shop.

Stupid XD Card memory format - It uses the "XD" memory format which is neither as cheap or fast as Secure digital or Compact flash. It's the same size as an SD card but different shape. Had to go get a new card reader to deal with it. Dowloaded about 5x faster. Most people don't have those cards laying around so plan on forking out some extra $$$.

Can't zoom on video mode - When you start taking a movie you can't use the optical zoom, it can use the digital zoom be those are not too good.

Review screen isn't all that pretty- Big screen but not great resolution. You can zoom in real close but it lacks sharpness. This might let you think the image is not sharp but it is.

That sums up the pros and cons, but what about image quality? Does it take good pictures? Well I would say it takes ok pictures. I've seen better, I've seen worse. I've gotten somewhat used to Digital SLRs with good lenses so perhaps I'm not the best to judge. My wife thinks they are fine.

For family stapshots of the kids by the pool or at the beach it is fine. Don't expect your photos of opportunity on vacation to far away lands to make the cover of a magazine though. This camera is at its best when getting the shot becomes more of an issue than getting it perfect.

The best camera to use for any shot is the one you have with you. This little thing is a go anywhere do anything kind of camera. You can take it with you to the beach, the pool, on a 3 day hike through the mud and rain, across the desert and into the rainforest and not worry about it when you fall of your mountain bike doing it all..

If it gets dirty or goopy find a bucket of water or a hose and wash it off. If that's important then this is the way to go. If that doesn't really matter there are smaller and cheaper cameras that will serve you just as well.

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