Olympus Stylus 725 SW (mju 725 SW Digital)

Opinion: I was looking for a camera to complete my DSLR, something light and tough for outdoor activities like cycling, walking, maybe rafting, not especially to go underwater.
Olympus seemed to have the right models with 725SW and 770SW. I read the 770SW opinions here, so I didn't expect miracles from the 725SW, but what came out of the package is really incredible for today camera standard.
Shutter lag, focus delay/lag, image quality and noise are even a lot poorer than my S30 five years ago, my mobile phone takes better photos.

This is camera technology of 6-7 years or about 3-4 generations ago.
You may expect this today in a $79 camera, but the 725SW/770SW are far from that price.
Why can't Olympus or Fuji put something like a F30/31/40 in a lovely case like that???
But so better go for a normal compact one and if you really need it underwater, get an extra underwater housing.

Best regards
Jo

Opinion: Hello,
I tried this one for three weeks snorkling in southern Greece. Build quality is excellent, though a tiny screw inside the USB compartment seemed to be corroded a little bit (after use). It resists several hours underwater, and depths down to 5 metres as advertised. The shutter release is a bit stiff to handle. The plastics of the screen are quite scratch-proof (sand-beach no issue), but be sure that no grains are caught between the lensguard when powering of. Underwater and outside visibility of the screen is poor, the resolution too low for its (nice) size. Focus check and every other sound is audible underwater, if you choose so. Flash is sufficient for closer things underwater, outside it shows the standard range these days.
If the light is bright enough, e.g. early afternoon in Greece, the image quality is good (maybe a little on the red side). Otherwise it gets noisy quickly. To have a zoom underwater is nice, though it desperatly would need image stabilisation (if you are subjected to wave action), but I´m not sure if this would compensate for such largescale movement. Underwater this is no point and shoot in the classical sense, you have to get much practice to get clean shots without a fix point (or a really big XD card). Single fish(es) are dificult to focus on, more often the background is chosen.
Battery life is awfully short, better charge it every evening. The XD card is of (another) special (Olympus) format, so it probably will not fit in your standard card reader. Shooting in and outside the water requires a check of droplets in front of the lens cover. Extensive set of scene modes is provided, best one to chose for all around shooting would be the underwater mode.

Resumée: Best results indeed underwater (though sometimes noisy), for normal point and shoot too expensive for its features. with some tweeking this one could be awsome.

Cheers

Opinion: We use this camera for the quick shooting. It is small and fits in easily in a pocket. We use this camara for outdoor sports (hiking, climbing, swimming). This camera you can take with you when having a wildwater rafting tour!
The image quality isn't that good, but we have a Canon S5 to make the nicer pictures.

Opinion: Our Olympus 725 SW have been with us for quite some years now, and it is a perfect camera for point and shoot while out paddling.

It has by now been superseeded by similar cameras with more pixels, and
more features, but it still works well.