Olympus SZ-31MR iHS

Bottom Line

Out-zooming many rivals, the Olympus SZ-31MR iHS stuffs a massive 24x zoom into its tiny, pocket-friendly body. Add fun features like "Beauty Fix," a touch screen and silky HD video, and experts say the SZ-31 is a tempting package. Photo quality disappoints, though, relegating the Olympus to runner-up status behind the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS (*Est. $230) .

Ease of Use

Pocket-sized with a touch screen. The Olympus SZ-31 is one of the few pocket zooms with a touch screen. Owners aren't forced to use it, though; Olympus "simply includes the touchscreen for optional functionality like touch shutter, touch focus, etc.," says Christopher Snow at DigitalCameraInfo.com. "Other manufacturers take note, this is the way to integrate a touchscreen."

But the screen isn't sensitive enough, Snow says: "We usually had to make two or three attempts before getting the reaction we were expecting." Doug Harman at WhatDigitalCamera.com finds the screen "frustratingly hard" to see in bright direct sunlight, although it's fine in other light.

Despite its bigger zoom, the Olympus SZ-31 is as tiny as other travel zooms -- about 3 inches by 4 inches -- and about an inch and a half thick. A hefty right-hand grip makes it easy to hold, Snow and Harman say, except for one problem: "the poorly placed video button," Snow says. Olympus stuck it smack in the middle of the rear thumb rest, he says. "It's almost impossible to pick up the SZ-31 without striking this button." After accidentally filming a few videos of your own feet, "you'll find yourself entirely avoiding this area of the body, often at the expense of stability and comfort."

Manual controls are more limited than rivals'. You can manually control ISO and exposure compensation, but not aperture or shutter speed. Like other digital cameras, the Olympus offers a full auto mode where the camera does all the work.

Performance

Photo flaws emerge in tests. Photo quality gets mixed reviews. One top source rates the Olympus SZ-31's photos "very good," and owners at Amazon.com are satisfied, too.

But some experts disagree. "Severe image quality issues" plague the Olympus in Snow's test at DIgitalCameraInfo.com. He blames the long lens for writing checks the tiny 16-megapixel sensor can't cash. "Sharpness suffers, fringing is common, and images become less convincing," he says. Harman at WhatDigitalCamera.com agrees: Photos look soft, with smeared details and a weak flash that infests portraits with redeye. Turn off the flash, and low-light photos "are pale, grey and lack sharpness," say editors at Choice magazine.

It's a shame, Snow says, because otherwise the Olympus performs quite well. It "powers up instantly" in one test, with little shutter delay and snappy burst shooting at 10 frames per second (fps).

Snow also likes the "smooth, gorgeous" videos shot in full 1080p HD, at a silky 60p frame rate. You don't get much manual control over video, but you can shoot full-resolution still photos while filming. Also, "it's possible to combine video work with any scene mode or 'Magic Filter,'" Snow says. "This is quite a rare ability for any camera, and makes for some very unique footage." However, low-light video "lacks sharpness and brightness" in Choice's test, and "audio is unstable and has loud grinding noises when using controls. Poor overall sound quality." Snow hears noise on his videos when he zooms, too.

Olympus doesn't list the SZ-31's battery life. In Harman's test, "after one full charge, I'm still snapping images and video a week later ... that's around 200 shots so far."

Durability

Sturdiness is a question mark. Experts don't comment on the Olympus SZ-31's durability. One good sign: Owners at the retail websites we checked haven't posted any complaints of breakdowns or malfunctions. However, the Olympus gets only a handful of reviews.

Olympus backs the SZ-31 with a one-year warranty against defective materials and workmanship -- a standard warranty for this class.

Features

"The most fun we've had with filters this year." At 24x, the Olympus XZ-31's lens is "incredibly long for a pocket-friendly travel zoom," says Snow at DigitalCameraInfo.com. Digital zoom doubles that reach to 48x; that leads to "rather smeared detail" but is acceptable for small prints, says Harman at WhatDigitalCamera.com.

Olympus does special effects right, testers say. "The most fun we've had with filters this year," Snow says. He particularly enjoys attacking a photo of fellow editor Liam McCabe with the XZ-31's Beauty Fix feature, applying lipstick and eye shadow, bleaching teeth and sculpting cheekbones. The result:  "horrifying."

Pet Detection is another unusual mode that will automatically snap a photo whenever a cat or dog enters the frame. Other features include sweep panorama, 3D image capture and two multishot modes (backlight and hand-held starlight) that layer several exposures to create clear photos in challenging light.

Magic Filters are available in both photo and video mode. Other cameras offer similar special effects (to make your shots look like watercolor or pop art, for example) but the Olympus' are a "real treat ... remarkably convincing," Snow says.

Like other tiny pocket zooms, the Olympus has no RAW image capture or hot shoe (it has a pop-up flash).