Great Features, Fair Picture Quality, Water Proof Not 100% Reliable

This camera is capable of great quality pictures but under limited circumstances.

It does everything a good quality P&S Digital does but at a price premium.

That premium is paid to get the Water Proof (to 33') feature.

This is the reason I am writing this review. The feature works - BUT and it's a big BUT.

There are 2 access doors, one for the battery and xD Card and the second for the USB cable. Each pop door has a rubber seal and a snap latch locking system.

You merely push the doors closed until you hear a light snap. Simple enough - right? WRONG WRONG WRONG

The problem lies in the fact that there is no dead bolt type locking mechanism - just the snap lock. The access doors can accidentally come unlatched as happened to me, when I pulled the camera out of my bathing suit pocket while swimming with my dog in Lake Michigan.

The camera was ruined. Olympus had a great idea but poorly implemented it.

And guess what, Olympus considers this user error and is not covered. $349.00 down the drain, so to speak.

There is a fix and if Olympus has any integrity they will include the fix with the camera. Olympus sells as an accessory a silicon skin that protects the camera from cosmetic dings and scratches.

The more important benefit is that the skin makes it virtually impossible to have the waterproof doors open accidentally since nothing can snag or rub against the serrated surface on the doors causing the doors to snap open.

The skins cost only about $12.00 retail - can't cost Olympus more than a buck or 2. Every SW should come with one of these skins.