The market for compact digital cameras is a busy place, and Olympus’s two new 10.1 megapixel models will have to work hard to make an impact. The Olympus Tough mju 1030SW is immediately striking – clad in tough-looking metal and weighing in at a hefty 173g before the battery is installed – it looks hardy.

It’s also waterproof up to 10 metres, and complies with the MIL-STD 810F standard for shockproofing – the same standards met by Panasonic’s incredibly durable range of ToughBook laptops.

Converted to 35mm format, its lens is the equivalent to 28-102mm, or 3.6x. It’s not terribly long, but 28mm is good for wide-angle shots such as landscapes or group photos.

Snowproof, crushproof, waterproof: The Olympus Tough mju 1030SW

The Olympus Tough mju 1030SW up close

If you don’t need a camera that can stand up to some serious abuse, the Olympus mju 1020 weighs in at nearly $100 cheaper and nearly 40g lighter without a battery. It’s a sleek-looking model available in black or silver, but we’re not as keen on its wide-angle capabilities – converted to 35mm format, its lens is at its widest at 37mm. That said, it’s a 7x optical zoom, extending to a 35mm-equivalent of 260mm – great for getting shots of distant wildlife or people.

Both models have the same screen specifications – a 2.7in LCD with 230,000 pixels. Both screens are bright and reproduce colours well, although when panning the action tended to get blurry – these may not be the cameras you need for sporting events.

Side by side:Olympus Tough mju 1030SW (bottom) and Olympus mju 1020

The menu systems are also identical – relatively straightforward if rather unattractive compared to the best efforts of Canon’s Ixus or Nikon’s Coolpix range.

Image quality for both cameras was good; colours are reproduced faithfully and we had to look hard for the kind of JPEG mottling that often distinguishes compact digital cameras.

Performance was impressive for the glossy mju 1020 at around 3fps in continuous shooting mode, with the Tough 1030SW providing an almost identical score. The only problem we had with the mju 1020 was its zoom performance – it took two full seconds for it to go from wide-angle to full zoom, and it’s a rather noisy affair with the lens wheezing its way to full zoom. The Tough 1030W, on the other hand, while not providing any great leaps in zoom performance, was significantly more refined.

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