Olympus SP-510

Auto Mode
The full auto mode seizes control of pretty much every option of the camera: the user only gets access to a limited number of controls, such as image quality and shooting mode. That’s the point of the full auto mode, and it does a good job of turning the camera into a point-and-shoot model.

Movie Mode
The SP-510 UZ records movies as Quicktime files at four resolutions: 640x480 at 30fps and 15fps and 320 x 240 at 30fps or 15fps. Mono audio is recorded with the video, which can be of any length that will fit into the card. Our testing of this feature was limited, but the movies did seem to be of adequate quality

Drive / Burst Mode
The sequential shooting mode of the SP-510 UZ is rather limited: it can shoot only 3 frames at a speed of 1.7 frames per second. A faster shooting mode that can take more frames would be a good addition to the next model, as this can be very useful when shooting fast moving wildlife.

Playback Mode
The SP-510 UZ supports a reasonable selection of playback options: images can be viewed by date, organized into albums and slideshows and rotated within the camera. That’s a pretty average set of features; there are no new or innovative ways to present images offered.

Custom Image Presets
The SP-510 UZ also contains a solid selection of preset shooting modes: 21 in all, including the usual suspects of portrait, landscape, etc. The unusual modes include Behind Glass, Museum and Cuisine. A knife and fork are not included with the latter. Switching between the modes is pretty simple (set the mode dial to SCN, then use the up and down directional buttons), but the number of modes does make it a bit of an exercise to find the one you want. One interesting mode is Shoot & Select, which allows you to shoot a number of images, then scroll through a list and delete the ones you don’t want.

The "My Mode" setting on the mode dial allows a user to create 4 sets of customized settings and quickly switch between them. This is a nice, well executed idea, especially if the pre-defined scene modes don’t work for you. You could, for instance, create a My Mode setting for shooting outdoors at a school football game, and another for shooting in the locker room afterwards.