Olympus Stylus 830 Review Discussion

[David Rasnake]

On paper, the all-weather Olympus Stylus 830 has all the right things: 8 megapixels of resolution, a 5x zoom, image stabilization, and solid construction. But the 830's failure to deliver better than average photographic results has potentially destined it for anonymity in the middle of a crowded compact field.

Read the full content of this Article: Olympus Stylus 830 Review

[Andrew]

Thanks for the review David, bummer on the bad flash and overall image quality this Olympus produces. For the price, it seems there's a lot better out there in this $ range.

[David Rasnake]

Yep, it certainly seems priced a little steeply for what you get to me too. Like I said in the review, the market is so flooded with these kind of cameras that to knock off the couple of dominant devices you really have to build a camera that does everything well, and does some things differently. Not enough of that here.

[kyle5434]

I realize this is way after the fact, but a few comments...

I hadn't seen this review when I picked up the Stylus 830 for $199 at Circuit City in Feb. '08. When pixel peeping I confess to being disappointed with the output from this sensor (especially compared to my DSLRs), so much that I rarely used it. But late in 2008, after comparing the output to other makes and models, I realized that for the sensor size it wasn't that out of line with other ultra-compacts. Other models mostly appeared to apply more noise reduction at the expense of detail. Cramming that many pixels onto that size of a sensor is always going to be problematic, but since I own both Noise Ninja and Neat Image, I discovered I can correct much of the high ISO noise when necessary.

Around the same time, I saw a micro-documentary on CurrenTV about the Lomography movement, along with their "Ten Rules". One of the main rules is that you should take your camera everywhere, and another is that the camera should become a natural part of your day and of your life. Granted, the Lomo movement is all about film, but that doesn't mean I can't apply the spirit of it to the digital realm. The size of the 830, along with the all-weather construction (which keeps pocket lint at bay), makes it a fantastic "take everywhere" camera. The other features (5x zoom, OIS) make it more of a plus.

So since December of 2008, I've been treating the 830 like a virtual Lomo LC-A. I created a settings file in Bibble Pro (the program I use for all of my RAW and most of my JPG processing) to emulate the typical Lomo color shift and introduce corner vignetting, and I've been having a great time with this camera. 5x7 prints look stunning, and don't relay any sensor shortcomings.

In fact, I was having so much fun with this camera that I picked up a backup for around $100 at Circuit City's website just before they announced bankruptcy. And this week I saw that Newegg is clearing out the 830 (in both Silver and Orange colors) for $99.

So while this isn't my main, serious camera, I now love the 830 as a "shoot from the hip" device.

[David Rasnake]

Interesting, Kyle. Thanks for the comments (even if they are somewhat after the fact!).

When I looked at this camera a few years back, one of my big hang-ups was the price, but given how inexpensive they've become, that's no longer the issue it was when the model was new.

dr