The ideal camera for snowboarding and surfing! (Olympus µ[MJU:] 850 SW)

Member Name: Charlotte22

Product:	Olympus µ[MJU:] 850 SW
Date:	12/07/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can survive the sea and the snow and fits neatly in your pocket!

Disadvantages: Image quality sometimes suffers and no viewfinder for sunny days

As avid snowboarders and surfers we were primarily interested in the waterproof/shockproof/cold-proof features of this camera. It is designed to be waterproof to 3 metres, functional to minus 10 and shockproof when you drop it. We've since taken it in the sea, on the mountains in minus 37 degree conditions (yes, really!) and even dropped it a few times for good measure!

Before we got the chance to put it to the test properly, we also took it to a party where we were pleasantly surprised at how well this camera coped. It took some decent pictures on auto (considering this is only a £140 camera and has since been reduced to £80 in Tesco) and we were looking forward to seeing how it fared in more challenging conditions.

Looks-wise this camera is pretty sleek - it fits pretty easily in a coat pocket without being obtrusive which was one of the main reasons we chose it for use on the mountain where carrying around bulky cameras can lead to injury if you are unlucky enough to fall on it. The brushed steel finish does not seem to scratch easily even though we have never used a case. While not in use, the lens is covered automatically so cannot be accidentially scratched.

The first time we visited the mountains to use this camera was in bitter January conditions in Canada - the temperature did not rise above minus 20 (well below what this camera is designed to work in) so we were interested to see how it fared. On the coldest days we did find that when we came to use the camera it would flash low battery even though it was fully charged. However after a few minutes in the pocket it would recover and display full battery again.

The camera coped well with the bright white snow and sunlight, producing pictures that we're very happy to display on the wall! Although you might be able to get slightly better quality pictures, this camera is the most practical for taking up the mountain so we were very pleased with the results.

We also made quite a lot of use of the multiple shot feature to capture action shots. Although this worked well, there was some loss of quality and the colours were less vibrant.

In the water, we attached the camera to our wetsuits and took it for a surf in the sea! The main problem with using the camera in the sea was that the screen is very reflective so you can only see a reflection of yourself not what you are trying to take a picture of! There is no viewfinder so there is a lot of guesswork at this point. Again the pictures came out pretty well, but I've no doubt that there are cameras that will produce better quality images but you just would not be able to take them into this kind of conditions. The camera got pretty bashed about by the waves but again looked as-new when we took it out again. The manual does advise to wash the camera under fresh water after taking it in the sea and I have to admit we have always forgotten to do this but it doesn't seem to have had a negative effect!

Summary: This camera can go where others can't and get good images too!

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