The lightweight yet durable all-weather metal out of which it is constructed, shock-absorbing materials and design, rubber gaskets, and o-rings combined make the Olympus Stylus 720 SW a shockproof, waterproof, and dustproof compact digital camera.
The camera can take a drop from a height of 5 feet without damaging the camera casing, lens, or internal mechanisms. It can also be taken to rivers, lakes, or oceans for an underwater photo session. Thanks to its gaskets and o-rings, it can function up to depths of 10 feet. They will also shield the camera from dust even in a sandstorm.
With a 7.1 megapixel CCD image sensor, the minutest details are faithfully reproduced in their true and original colors. A 3x optical zoom allows close up photos while a 5x digital zoom enlarges the images even further. A 2.5-inch color LCD viewfinder with approximately 115,000 pixels provides an excellent view of the photos, both those about to be captured and those already taken. It also gives a clear and distinct display of the camera’s menu items.
The Olympus Stylus 720 SW features 28 shooting modes, including four intended for underwater shooting –Under Water Wide 1 and 2, Under Water Macro, and Under Water Snapshot. It has an onboard editing mechanism that allows, among others, correction of red eye, resizing, cropping, adjustment of saturation and brightness, and the conversion to black-and-white or to sepia.
If the Internal Memory of 19.1MB is insufficient for your photos, an xD-Picture Card of up to 1GB can be installed. Downloading to your PC is easily accomplished with the use of a USB cable. Printing photos is also possible by directly connecting the Stylus 720 SW to any PictBridge-enabled printer.
With measurements of 3.6″ W x 2.3″ H x 0.78″ D, the camera can slide into a shirt pocket without difficulty. And with a weight of 5.3 oz., it may not even be noticed at all.