Olympus SP-510 Digital Camera Review

Olympus SP-510

First Impressions Review

Oct 06, 2006 - By Richard Baguley
The UZ in the Olympus SP-510 UZ stands for Ultra zoom, and with a long 10x zoom lens, it seems appropriate. With a resolution of 7.1 megapixels, the Olympus SP-510 UZ (which is an update to the SP-500 UZ) sounds like a steal at $329.99. Armed with an impressive set of features including image stabilization, a decent movie mode, long battery life and an extremely high maximum ISO setting of 4000, it seems like SP-510 UZ could be a strong value.
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Olympus SP-510 UZ


Front
The biggest feature on the front of the SP-510 UZ is the lens, which extends out two inches when the camera is on. Unlike many other models, there is no built in lens cover, so you’ll need to make sure to use the supplied one to prevent damage to the front end of the camera. Around the lens there is (from the top left, clockwise) the shutter button and zoom control, the microphone and the AF illuminator.

Back
At the back of the SP-510 we have (from top left, clockwise again) the electronic viewfinder, the flash button, the display button (which switches between the viewfinder and the LCD), the display button (which toggles the display of information such as the shutter speed, etc on the screen), the menu button, the self timer/delete button and the directional controls and OK button. Then there’s the LCD screen; a 2.5-inch, 115k pixels model. While it is acceptably bright, it has a rather unpleasant grainy look, presumably caused by the low resolution of the screen.

Left Side
On the left side of the case we have the lanyard loop, the power socket and the cover of the xD-Picture card slot. This can hold a single xD-Picture card with a maximum capacity of 1GB, which should hold at least TK pictures.

Right Side
On the right side we have another lanyard loop (which is good for left or right handed users), a socket for the combined USB and A/V cable and the grille for the small built-in speaker.

Top
The top of the SP-510 UZ is a busy place, with a number of dials and buttons. Above the lens is the flash, then the power button, the anti-shake/power button, the shutter and zoom control, plus the mode dial.

Bottom
The main excitement on the bottom of the camera is the cover to the battery compartment. This has a locking switch, which is a good thing as with cameras that load from the bottom like this: it’s possible to accidentally open an unlocked cover, with the batteries falling out. The SP-510 UZ takes 4 AA batteries of either disposable or Nickel metal Hydroxide type.

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