The Design: Olympus Stylus Verve
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The front of the Stylus Verve features a 2x optical lens that is protected by a circular sliding door. When the power button is pressed, the lens door slides to the left inside the camera and the lens extends. To the right of the lens are the microphone and the self-timer lamp. Above and to the left of the lens is the built-in flash. Because of the compact size of the camera, the built-in flash has a rather small working range of 0.7' - 9.2' at wide angle and 0.7' - 6.0' at telephoto.
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The back of the Verve features a relatively large 1.8" LCD monitor. To the left are the Quick View button and an indicator lamp. The indicator lamp flashes while the camera accesses the flash card. To the lower left is the Arrow pad, which is used as the navigational tool and to access major camera functions. Above the Arrow pad are the speaker and zoom controllers. The zoom controller operates both the zoom function in Record mode and the magnification of images in Playback mode. It is important to note that the Stylus Verve does not have an optical viewfinder. The user must always rely on the LCD monitor.
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On the top of the Verve are the shutter button, power button, and Mode Dial. The Mode Dial has a textured grip on the right side that makes it very easy to rotate. The open space on the left is designed as a resting place for fingers on your left hand. This helps keep them away from the lens and flash.
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The only thing to see on the bottom of this camera is the metal tripod mount.
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The right side of the camera features a swinging door that snaps into place. It has a rubber gasket that helps protect against water. This door covers the USB/AV-out port, battery compartment, and xD-Picture Card slot. There is a "Card Cover" that covers the xD-Picture Card slot. In order to get the flash card out, the Card Cover must be snapped up. If the Card Cover is left up, the LCD will display the error message, "Card-Cover Open". The "Card Cover" seems a bit superfluous to us, especially considering there is already a large swinging door protecting the card. The Stylus Verve uses a very small LI-30B 3.6V 645mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. There is also a post for the wrist strap on this side of the camera.
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There is nothing to see on the left side of the camera.
The first thing that most people will notice about the Olympus Stylus Verve is its oddly shaped body. Indeed, it is striking and it almost looks aerodynamic. However, it is surprisingly comfortable to hold with either two hands or one. The camera fits very easily into pockets both because of its small size and its shape. For a camera that is mostly metal, it is also pleasingly lightweight. As far as its weather-resistant nature, the User's Guide states that the "Camera is not damaged by water spray from any direction." Let's take a look at its recording features.
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