Olympus SP-320

Viewfinder
There is a real image optical viewfinder positioned on the back of the SP-320, directly above the center-point of the 2.5-inch LCD screen. This viewfinder was hard to use due to both placement and size, making it a viewing option to be reserved for only the direst situations. The viewfinder is unfortunately placed above the LCD, causing the user’s nose to press against the screen during usage. This will likely result in smearing and obstruct the primary viewing device. In addition to this, the viewfinder will not produce an accurate frame, since this is not a TTL system and the viewfinder is placed above and to the left of the lens.

LCD Screen
The LCD on the Olympus SP-320 is positioned to the lower left side on the back and is built off of the back surface by about a quarter of an inch. The LCD has a diagonal of 2.5 inches with a resolution of just 115,000 pixels. The screen has an LCD brightness adjustment feature found within the setup menu. Although solarization wasn’t a huge issue, the 2.5-inch LCD would have greatly benefited from increased resolution to help judge focus on recorded frames.

Flash
The in-camera flash for the SP-320 is positioned off-center from the lens and is placed in the upper right corner. Due to the placement of the flash, subjects will often be draped in shadows cast from right to left. The SP-320’s flash has a range of 12.5 feet when in wide angle and 7.2 feet when in telephoto. Settings for the flash are accessed via the flash button located on the back of the camera body to the right of the viewfinder. By pressing the flash button repeatedly, the user can scan through the following options: auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in, fill-in and red-eye and off modes. Each option is represented via a well sized icon which appears momentarily in the center of the LCD screen. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until we conduct a full review in our studio to properly test it.

Zoom Lens
The zoom lens is positioned on the right side of the front face. The lens extends from the body of the camera when the SP-320 is powered on and retracts into the camera when the camera is powered off. An automatic lens cover snaps quickly over the lens face when the lens barrel is retracting.

The zoom lens for the Olympus SP-320 is an Olympus Zoom Lens with an aperture range of f/2.8 to f/4.9 with a focal length of 8.0 to 24.0 mm with 6 lenses in 5 groups, 3 aspherical lenses and 4 surfaces. When translated into 35mm equivalency, the focal length is approximate to 30 to 114 mm. In addition to this lens, there are also two Olympus accessory lenses can be purchased for wide angle and telephoto shooting.