By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
ONLY a few things would make a splash buff blush, and among them is getting a c
amera that can be taken underwater, be frozen down to below five degrees Celsiu
s, and be dropped from a height of 1.5 meters (shoulder length).
This sounds familiar because Olympus already did this with the mju 725 about th
ree years ago. Then it followed up with the mju 750 in 2006 and now, the compan
y has recently introduced the mju 790 SW. So far, the mju 790 is the most high-
tech all-terrain consumer camera from Olympus and it certainly lives up to the
hype of the best underwater camera in the market.
Two months ago, I was able to
test th
e mju 770 by sinking it in a bucket of water and chucking it inside my free
zer. This time the mju 790 SW took a more sustained test when I brought it to M
iniloc island in El Nido, Palawan. Of course, thatâs the juicy part -- and here
's an underwater video I took to show the mju 790 SW in action.
But Iâll have to describe the device first. The mju 790 SW comes from the same
family as the mju 725 and is among the very few waterproof and shockproof digit
al cameras available in the market (other models are the Pentax Optio W30 and t
he Sanyo VPC-E1 Xacti camcorder). Its predecessor was the mju 770 SW and in a l
ot of ways, both models are basically just the same, except for a few aesthetic
and technical differences. The mju 790 SW was redesigned to look more sporty t
han the boxy mju 770 SW and comes in four colors (black, blue, orange and silve
r). It's also smaller and lighter at 136 grams versus the mju 770's 156 grams.
Nevertheless, the mju 790 still has a solid construction with no metal seams th
at would give away its underwater or shockproof capability. It still looks and
feel like an ordinary digital camera.
The features of the mju 790 are still standard as with the mju 770: it uses a 7
.1 megapixel image sensor on a ½.3 CCD sensor. The lens can go up to 3 times o
ptical zoom and 5 times digital zoom. The lens seems completely hidden under a
metallic hood. It's a surprise that unlike most digital cameras with optical zo
om, this one doesn't have any external moving parts since all the lenses (a tot
al of 10) are effectively squeezed beneath the hood.
For the more serious photographer, the mju 790 packs a lot of macro-shooting ca
pabilities. It has automatic and manual ISO film speeds from 100-400 (automatic
) to 80-1600 (manual). It also has six white balance modes for different enviro
nments and at least five shooting modes for its internal flash.
Olympus has added a "Guide" feature on the unit, ostensibly to help point-and-c
lick users to decide what pre-set scene modes will be useful under certain cond
itions. It has a total of 23 scene modes, including basic portrait, night shot,
sunset, document photography, beach and snow, and underwater shots. It's almos
t difficult to actually get confused on how to use the device tanks to the "Gui
de' button.
Still recording will give a user an option from as low as 640x480 pixels to as
high as 3072x2304 (a photo taken in this mode will show up on a 40" screen with
out being stretched or pixellated). Likewise, videos can be recorded in the hig
h-speed 30-frame 640x480, mid-speed 320x240, or low-speed 15-frame 160x120. How
ever, the downside to recording videos is that there are time limits for each o
f the speed quality recordings. For example, the high-speed mode will only give
a user 10 seconds for each recording, 30 minutes for mid-speed and about 1 hou
r for low-speed. The file format is AVI, which has high memory requirements. A
10-second high-definition video will already need at least 20 MB of space on th
e XD card; this points to the need for a higher-capacity XD card and it is reco
mmended that you get the 2-gigabyte XD card instead.
Another problem is that the digital camera could only record sound directly in
front of it. Any small movement and the mic sensitivity will shift to almost qu
iet to compensate for the loss of the sound coming from a source. It should be
handled steadily in one direction if the purpose is recording sound as well.
And so the actual torture test comes in. Despite any initial hesitation to use
the camera under water (in seawater for that matter), I decided to take the mju
790 to the beach where most digital camera users fear to tread due to the corr
oding effects of saltwater on electronic devices, as well as the fine sand that
could clog moving parts. According to Olympus, the mju 790 can be dunked in up
to 10 feet of water. The initial test involved dipping the camera in about two
feet of water; so far the camera worked perfectly, even with loose sand gettin
g into the lens. One method of removing sand from the lens hood is to put it un
der running water and switching the power on and off to make the lens hood open
and close. While this looks straining to the camera it is how it really works.
After its two-feet dip, the camera was sunk in about seven feet of water. The
LCD screen can still be viewed even without the aid of goggles or a snorkeling
mask, as long as the water is clear up to 10 feet. The camera worked smoothly u
nder different water conditions, including overcast (light penetrating below wa
ter surface is reduced) and murky water. It could still take photos and videos
and could even record sound at short distances (about five feet).
The downside, however, is the camera's weight: unless it is attached to a perso
n via the rubber strap, the camera will sink to the bottom so a lot of consider
ation should be taken before bringing the unit out to sea. It's also difficult
to snorkel while holding a digital camera in one hand and it would have been a
treat if it were attached to an armband or a waistband.
And yes, the unit was dropped, albeit accidentally, from about three feet on a
concrete floor. It's still working but did show some scratches on its metal cas
ing.
Overall, the Olympus mju 790 SW is the best waterproof digital camera in the ma
rket and is also one that costs nearly the same as regular digital cameras (at
a suggested retail price of P24,000). Above water, the camera packs a lot of fe
atures that other digital cameras in the same price range have, but its underwa
ter functions can sink the competition -- literally.
It's a portable "capsule" speaker (it actually looks a lot like a mosquito repe
llent device), which sets it apart from the generic, mostly two-speaker types.
It connects via a two-prong cable, one for your USB port and another for your s
tandard 3.5mm stereo jack.
Best of all, no need to plug it because the battery's rechargeable via USB. So
if it doesn't have its own power, what about sound quality then? Not bad at all
, I'd say it's definitely better than those portable speakers you'll find in P8
8 stores. The package did say âHearing is believing.â I tried supporting that
point with this video.
It's a portable "capsule" speaker (it actually looks a lot like a mosquito repe
llent device), which sets it apart from the generic, mostly two-speaker types.
It connects via a two-prong cable, one for your USB port and another for your s
tandard 3.5mm stereo jack.
Best of all, no need to plug it because the battery's rechargeable via USB. So
if it doesn't have its own power, what about sound quality then? Not bad at all
, I'd say it's definitely better than those portable speakers you'll find in P8
8 stores. The package did say âHearing is believing.â I tried supporting that
point with this video.
