Auto Mode (7.0)
The auto mode takes over the camera and lets the user worry only about zooming, focusing, and snapping the right moment. Menu options are quite truncated so users will only have access to picture size, self-timer, and macro mode. If users want to use the flash, they must remember to pop it up manually – the flash never pops up automatically. Point-and-Shooters graduating to a longer lens should find the SP-500 will make for a relatively seamless transition.

Movie Mode (7.5)
The SP-500 UZ’s movie mode records QuickTime movies up to the capacity of the memory card. Video clips are recorded at either 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels. The VGA clips have a smooth frame rate of 30 fps while the QVGA size shoots at a choppier – but easier to email – 15 fps. Like a handful of other ultra zoom models from this year, the optical zoom can be used in the movie mode, but there is no image stabilization system to keep telephoto footage from looking like footage of an earthquake. Audio is recorded but subjects must be pretty close for the microphone to pick up their voices. Despite these drawbacks, overall the image quality in movie mode is quite good under optimal conditions.

Drive / Burst Mode (4.5)
The burst mode on the Olympus SP-500 UZ is more representative of such a mode on a compact model. Its high speed mode can take 3 frames at a rate of 1.75 frames per second. The speed is average, but the endurance is really something to laugh at. The mode bursts a bit longer when the resolution is reduced to 2816 x 1880. At that size, the SP-500 can shoot 1.2 frames per second for up to 13 consecutive shots. There is also a bracketing mode that can take either 3 or 5 shots, moving in +/- 0.3, 0.7, or 1 EV increments. Unfortunately the offered burst modes are unavailable when the noise reduction setting is activated and when shooting in RAW file format.

Playback Mode (8.5)
The SP-500’s playback mode, accessible via a convenient shortcut located on the mode dial, is one of the most thorough available. It lets users view pictures with histograms and file info and provides editing and printing options. Users can organize photos into albums or into a calendar – all on the xD card of course. Users can also access several in-camera editing effects. Photos can be resized and cropped as well as adjusted for brightness and saturation. Images can be changed into black and white or sepia copies too.

The playback menu is almost more extensive than the SP-500’s included editing software. There is a red-eye reduction option, but when I used it, oddly enough, only one red eye was fixed. Brightness and saturation can also be tweaked in-camera. The Olympus SP-500 has one of the most elaborate slide show functions of any digital camera. It has nine different transition effects (Normal, Scroll, Fader, Zoom Down, Zoom Up, Checkerboard, Blinds, Swivel, and Random), displaying the obvious influence of their M:Robe.

When individual photos are selected, users can easily make them into birthday cards or postcards with the in-camera frames. This Olympus has 13 frames to choose from and ten text titles that can be custom colored. Congratulations, Thank You, Happy Birthday, Good Luck, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays, Best Wishes, Missing You, Love, and Smile are the text titles available. With these, users can potentially snap a shot, add a frame and title, and print holiday cards directly from the camera. Movie playback isn’t quite as involved, but it does have a VCR-type setup with rewind, fast forward, stop, and play options. Users can also view movie clips frame by frame and even pull frames and make them into still images.

Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The Olympus SP-500 UZ has a lengthy scene mode menu complete with photo examples, text, and explanations if the Disp./ Guide button is pressed. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven recording modes on the camera are scenes. This is more than what is offered on most digital cameras and includes the following options: Portrait, Landscape, Landscape and Portrait, Night Scene, Sport, Night and Portrait, Indoor, Candle, Self-Portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Museum, Behind Glass, Cuisine, Documents, Auction, Shoot and Select 1, Shoot and Select 2, Beach, and Snow. (Phew.) Most of these scenes are self-explanatory. The Shoot and Select 1 mode locks the focus on the first shot, so this would work for portraits and still subjects. The mode takes pictures as long as the user holds down the shutter release button, then displays them onscreen and lets users delete what they don’t want right away. The concept is similar for the second Shoot and Select mode, but the camera refocuses before each frame. Overall, there are plenty of scene modes that are easy to use, and they seem to work well.

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