Olympus Stylus 750 Digital Camera First Thoughts

[Ben Stafford]

I'm currently working through a review of the Olympus Stylus 750. This camera was one of four new cameras added to Olympus' weatherproof Stylus line back in August (the others were the 730, 740, and 1000). All of the new Stylus' have their own "slot" in the marketplace, but the thing that sets the 750 apart from the rest is that it's the first Stylus to include an optical image stabilization mechanism. Olympus uses a CCD-shifting mechanism to reduce blur when shooting at slower shutter speeds.

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The Olympus Stylus 750 has a 7.1 megapixel capture resolution, a 5x optical zoom, and a 2.5 inch LCD. The camera is sealed against weather and dust. While this model is not "waterproof", it can handle a rain shower.

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Since we'll be publishing a full review soon, I wanted to give my first thoughts about the camera. The styling and design is pretty much exactly the same as the previously generation of Stylus cameras, with a silver, scratch-resistant finish and slim, tapered design. The Stylus cameras are sturdy and well built.

I'm very happy to see some sort of optical image stabilization in the compact Olympus cameras. While the image stabilization system doesn't have as many options as other cameras, it still does its job. For example, you can't "preview" the image stabilization - the IS only activates when you press the shutter button all the way down.

Having a slightly longer zoom (5x optical) is also a nice feature of this camera. So far, the battery life seems good and camera performance is average to good.

Stay tuned for our full review which we'll have for you soon. If you have any questions about this model, use the "Discuss" link at the top or bottom to post your question and we'll try to address it in our full review.

[alanpgh]

It would be good to highlight the special feature that let's the Stylus 750 take pictures in low light without a flash.

Also, as you mention, the optical image stabilization is interesting.

The 5X optical zoom seems like a very good feature.

My major questions are as follows:
What is the shutter lag time? I am most interested in time for the shutter to operate after focus.
It seems the 740 and 750 are limited to 15fps video. Is this correct?
The Stylus 1000 spec says it can shoot at 30fps.

Looking forward to your review.

Thanks,
Alan
(alanpgh)

[Ben Stafford]

Thanks for posting.

Right, Olympus' Bright Capture Technology lets you easily preview low light scenes and take low light pictures with several of the "scene modes". I'll give a full rundown in the full review.

I will definitely cover shutter lag time. I won't be able to get an exact measurement, but I'll give a feel to how it compares to other cameras.

You are correct about frame rates on the movie captures. (740/750 @15 fps and Stylus 730/1000 @ 30 fps). In my opinion, this 15fps rate is a deal breaker for a lot of people when they're looking around at cameras and have a Stylus on the list.

[Ben Stafford]

Alan, if you see this, I've moved your next couple posts over to the Fujfilm forum to continue the Fuji discussion there.