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All Reviews > Hardware > Cameras > Compact cameras

December 12, 2007

Olympus Mju 790 SW 7Mp compact camera

Just breaking the £200 barrier – although it's a safe bet retailers will price it at a more appealing level – is this waterproof (to 3m deep) and 'drop proof' (from heights up to 1.5m) beauty from Olympus, the Olympus Mju 790 SW.

With its mainly metal build, the Olympus Mju 790 SW literally feels like good value from the off.

Although the minimalist front in a range of colours grabs attention, flip the 7mp Olympus Mju 790 SW over and the plastic silver controls to the right of the screen look and feel disappointingly toy town in origin.

The Olympus Mju 790 SW's rocker switch for the 3x optical zoom and mode dial for selecting shooting options are unnecessarily small; although the latter's reasonably firm action means you won't struggle to operate it with wet fingers.

Olympus's rudimentary onscreen menus – shared throughout its range – although legible, now look in need of a more contemporary update too.

Unsurprisingly, given its daredevil credentials, there are several underwater modes included alongside the Olympus Mju 790 SW's standard portrait and nature-orientated scene modes, plus face-detection technology.

Photo-wise, out of the water, the Olympus Mju 790 SW delivers well-saturated evenly exposed pictures with real oomph – the primary colours really make an impact. This is unusual given that Olympus digital images usually suffer from a more washed-out look.

There is, however, an overall softness to the Olympus Mju 790 SW's shots even at the highest resolution and just ISO100 which, although a disappointment, can to an extent be corrected in photo-editing software.

Although most compact cameras opt for Secure Digital as a storage media of choice, Olympus has stuck with the less common xD-Picture Card that it co-developed with Fuji. You'll have to pay extra because there is no card in the Olympus Mju 790 SW's box.

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Independent customer reviews from

Olympus Mju 790 SW scored:
8.8 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 37 reviews:

16 Sep 2007 Debbie, Oxford

10

Good Points

This was an ideal camera purchased by the John Henry Newman School Sailing Club, Oxford., specifically for the club's first adventure holiday this year, as the activities were water based the camera was ideal for use not only by the young sailors ,ease of use but also for when the camera got wet, it still worked as stated. We would recommend this camera to all and especially for water sports - activities.

Bad Points

NONE, we will purchase a second camera for the club for activities when the young sailors are split into teams, each team will have their own camera to record the event.

13 Sep 2007 Elaine, Didcot

10

Good Points

Easy to use, great photos, really hard wearing for out and about.

Bad Points

None

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Total reviews: 4,313

See product specs

expert rating

Build quality

3.5/5

Features

3.5/5

Value for money

4/5

Overall

4/5

expert rating

Olympus Mju 790 SW

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