The 8-megapixel Olympus Stylus 830 combines an extended 5x optical zoom lens with the slim case of a pocket-friendly point-and-shoot. Few current digital cameras combine the same skinny body with an extended zoom lens.  The Stylus 830 features a 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD, Olympus’ Dual Image Stabilization, face detection, and a weather-proof exterior. The Stylus 830 was released in August and retails for $329.99.

Although it has impressive specs, the Stylus 830 fails to deliver in image quality. Colors are dramatically inaccurate, especially yellows, greens, and blues. This makes photos of blue skies and green foliage look dull. White balance is equally bad, performing poorly in all light when set to Auto and only marginally better when using the included presets.

Noise, the grainy, splotchy patches that appear in photos taken in low light, is low from ISO 64 to 200, but increases sharply at higher ISO speeds. Images taken at higher ISO sensitivities have apparent noise smoothing, which manages to lower noise but often affects the detail and sharpness of the photo. Resolution scored fairly well in testing, although the edges of photos sometimes appear blurry.

The Stylus 830 is unusual in that it combines a 5x optical zoom lens with the slimness of a pocket point-and-shoot. Most cameras this size have 3x optical zoom lenses, while the majority of 5x zoom cameras have much thicker bodies. The Stylus 830 has no viewfinder, but features a standard 2.5-inch LCD screen with 230,000-pixel resolution, providing users with a sharp view for reviewing images. Face detection automatically detects and properly exposes faces in an image, and Olympus’ Dual Image Stabilization combines sensor-shift stabilization with higher ISO settings to counteract camera shake and allow for faster shutter speeds to prevent blur in photos.

The Stylus 830’s Movie mode enables 640 x 480 video at 30 frames per second with audio. Optical zoom is disabled, and although digital zoom can be used, it tends to deteriorate image quality. The major downside of the Movie mode is that only 10 seconds can be recorded continuously at the highest resolutions. Up to 29 minutes can be recorded continuously at lower resolutions, although this produces lower-quality videos.  The comparably-priced Canon Powershot A720 IS can record up to one hour or 4 GB at its top resolution. In addition, the Sony T100, which retails for $70 more than the Stylus 830, has a 5x optical zoom lens that remains fully functional in Movie mode.

The camera features Auto and Program modes along with 23 Scene modes, including the standard Portrait and Landscape modes, as well as three Underwater modes that require the purchase of a separately-purchased underwater housing. The 830 is weather-proof, not waterproof; it can withstand a few drops of rain, but not a dunk in the water. Check out the waterproof Olympus 790SW, 770SW, 720SW or the Pentax W30 if you want to take your camera swimming with you.

The Stylus 830 features a fairly sloth-like Burst mode, snapping up to six images at full resolution at 1 fps in normal mode, and a speedier 3.9 fps for 11 images in high speed mode, but at a reduced resolution.

There are plenty of other cameras in this price range that offer better image quality with longer zoom lenses. Sure, they may not be as pocket-friendly as the Stylus 830, but when it comes down to it, the quality of your pictures is what’s important. If zoom is what you want, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 is offered for $30 less, has a 10x optical zoom lens, and a larger 3-inch LCD, although it’s slightly thicker in form. If you really need the slim form factor, consider the Sony DSC-T100, which is $70 more expensive but has the 5x zoom lens, a bigger, 3-inch LCD, and produces much better photos.  The combination of zoom and slimness is nice, but high quality images are nicer.