Back in Feb. I wrote an article about the Olympus SW1030.  I recently received this review of the Olympus SW 1030 from one of our readers.  If you would like to submit a review of a travel experience, a piece of equipment or anything else scuba or snorkeling related, please submit your review to info@scubaology.com

This is a tough camera, no doubt about it. The bodywork is very solid, including the incredibly bright screen, which is also scratch resistant. Controls are sensibly placed, perhaps a bit on the small side, but feel well made. The ‘folded’ design lens is good quality, focuses very close when asked to and has a 28mm wide angle. There is a decent lens cover built in to keep the dirt and dust out.
 
Here is a practical summary having used an SW 1030 now for two weeks here in Bali, Indonesia.  First of all, it’s a fun camera, encouraging you to take more photos in more places due to its ruggedness. Capable of serious results as long as you don’t need any manual settings, the SW 1030 will make you smile. I’ve used it in the swimming pool, being tossed around in the surf, and took it down to 9.5 meters diving at Pemuteran in North Bali, where there is a beautiful national park with excellent diving and forest trails.
 
I was nervous to take the camera to it’s limits, having just trashed - through ordinary use - a nice but definitely not as well made Pentax W30 (which is another story) I need not have worried, however. The camera has a useful manometer, which seems quite accurate, and gives a visual warning when it reaches close to it’s maximum depth rating of 10 meters. Battery life is very good and it charges impressively fast.
On the negative side, there are things about the SW 1030 that will bring a quizzical look to your face. First of all the top quality movie setting, which produces very good images, is limited to 10-second bursts (other modes are card-limited). Even 20 or 30 seconds would be useable, but 10 seconds at VGA/30 frames is hardly worth including as a feature at all. Also, the zoom is not useable while shooting movies, unless they are underwater movies, in which case you have the zoom but no audio. Bizarre.
Olympus use xD cards, a good quality memory format but one that is currently available up to 2GB only, although cards up to 8GB are technically possible. They have also built in a USB and Video Out combination connector, so you cannot use ordinary USB or video connections with the SW 1030. For this unforgivable sin someone at Olympus’s design centre deserves to be thrown in a rock pool full or stinging jellyfish.
 
Overall I’d like to give this camera 9 out of 10, but the HQ movie limit and proprietary connections being so annoying I’d have to hack two points off to settle on 7 out of 10.
 
About the reviewer.  I am a 40 year old and well-traveled Scotsman, having toured many places around the world as an audio technician for live performances. Currently living out of a suitcase, I am traveling around Indonesia and Malaysia, and attending several music festivals. I am a keen cyclist and also enjoy keeping abreast of politics and environmental issues. I have been photographing seriously for about four years, and have been snorkeling for about the same. Last Saturday was my first diving experience, and what better place to do it than Bali….