Olympus Mju 720 SW

Performance
Though it's not the best we've seen, the Mju 720SW performed reasonably well. Powering up the unit took 1.6 seconds while shutting it down took a little longer at under 2 seconds. Time to first shot came in at 3 seconds and we managed to shoot without flash every 2.5 seconds. With flash, the unit took nearly twice as long, and even longer with red-eye reduction.

We didn't fancy the continuous shooting mode, though. Without flash, we could take approximately 40 shots per minute. However, we had to release the shutter after every four frames before we could continue shooting. The only redeeming feature was its ability to take every picture, with flash, in continuous shooting mode, but at a slower rate and a lower resolution (2,048 x 1,536 pixels). During our tests, we took about 35 images with flash.

Shutter lag wasn't that noticeable in our tests and averaged 0.5 seconds in good lighting conditions and twice as long to lock focus in more challenging situations.

Image Quality
We didn't encounter any major issues with image quality. There were occasional purple fringing in some of our backlit pictures and barrel distortions that made our buildings look slightly curved, but overall the images were saturated and provided a good amount of details.

As usual, noise became an issue beyond ISO 400, but at ISO 800 we reckoned this wasn't dire still for small 4 x 6-inch printouts. You can select up to a maximum sensitivity level of ISO 1,600, though you won't be using it much since image quality suffers from a barrage of noise.

Built for the rugged outdoors and family snaps, the Olympus Mju 720SW is a lethal combination for those who want a good mix of features and durability.

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