Olympus SP-550 UZ

Auto Mode (6.75)
The auto mode is the easiest shooting mode on the Olympus SP-550UZ. It automates everything as it should with the exception of a few basic features: macro mode and self-timer. It also allows the flash mode to be changed – but only when the flash unit itself is manually popped open. The auto mode worked well in good lighting and worked even better with static subjects. It still performed decently in low light, but the auto focus system took longer so there was more shutter lag.

Movie Mode (5.5)
I’ll admit that I was really excited to pull this camera from the box and shoot some movies. My son has been picking up interesting words lately, and I wanted to capture a few and listen to them over and over on my hard drive. I switched the mode dial to the video icon and pushed the shutter release button to start shooting.

The first thing I noticed was the delay between the moment I hit the button and when the camera actually started recording. The next thing I noticed was the awful red light on the back of the camera that blinked very quickly while recording. This is right next to the LCD screen, making it hard to view without having a seizure.

I zoomed in and out while my toddler son played with his train set and said things like “bye bye choo-choo” and pseudo-words that perhaps only a parent can appreciate. However, I wasn’t very impressed by the zoom. It moved smoothly in but stuttered when I zoomed out. The optical image stabilization did seem very effective but made some funny electronic noises. When I zoomed around, the auto focus didn’t adjust with it so the close-up of my toddler’s intent face was very fuzzy.

The movie’s recording menu looks like this.

White Balance	Auto, Preset (Daylight, Overcast, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3), Custom (set)
Metering	ESP, Spot, Center-weighted
Digital Zoom	On, Off
Microphone	On, Off
Fulltime AF	On, Off
Image Stabilizer	On, Off
White Balance Fine-tune	+/- 7 toward blue and red
Sharpness	+/- 5
Contrast	+/- 5
Saturation	+/- 5
Conversion Lens	On, Off

Some of the menu options were depicted as icons, such as the microphone that had the same icon as voice memo in the still image recording menu. The conversion lens icon is also a little nonintuitive.

The fulltime auto focus option was turned off, so I turned that on to fix my toddler’s fuzzy face. It only worked about half of the time I zoomed in. It just isn’t very reliable.

A few hours later, I uploaded my movies to my computer and started watching them. I couldn’t hear them though. I fiddled with my computer’s settings. I hooked up the camera to my television and viewed them there just in case. But no, the audio didn’t work on my television either. As a last resort, I dug through the box and found the owner’s manual. Yes, I know this probably shouldn’t be a last resort and somewhere on the box it probably says to read all the instructions in the manual before operating, but who actually does that?

After turning to the section about the movie mode, I discovered that the 18x optical zoom cannot be used when the audio is turned on. And the audio has to be turned on manually with the unlabeled microphone icon in the recording menu. This was very disappointing, as the silent default doesn’t alert users to the fact that no audio is being recorded.

There was other interesting information in the owner’s manual about the movie mode: “When image stabilizer is set to On, continuous movie recording for a long period will cause the camera’s internal temperature to rise and the camera may stop operation automatically. Remove the battery and allow the camera to cool down for some time before you begin shooting again.” This never happened while testing.

Besides the silent movies and possibility of an overheated camera, the movie mode does provide a lot of options. White balance, metering, saturation, sharpness, and contrast can all be adjusted. The resolution options are standard, but fine nonetheless, at 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels and 30 or 15 fps.

In the playback mode, movies can be viewed with the audio (if the zoom was disabled and the audio manually turned on). Users can’t divide files like on some cameras, but can pull still images from them and create index prints.

Overall, the Olympus SP-550UZ records the best silent movies with its 18x optical zoom, image stabilization, and variety of white balance and metering options. But when the audio is turned on, the delicate balance of features is disrupted and the movie mode becomes more like the standard fare from a compact digital camera. If consumers are looking for a true ultra-zoom hybrid, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS is a better choice because it records stereo audio while allowing adjustments to the 12x optical zoom. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 can also zoom and record mono audio in its movie mode.

Drive / Burst Mode (4.5)
Most comparable digital cameras have a designated burst mode button, but the Olympus SP-550UZ chooses to place this option within its recording menu. There are several choices: Single, Continuous, Hi-1 Continuous, Hi-2 Continuous, AF Continuous, and Bracketing.

The Continuous mode is the standard burst setting, but it shoots slower than most digital cameras at 1.2 frames per second. The speed remains constant no matter which image size is chosen, but the burst lengthens as smaller and smaller image sizes are chosen. At full resolution, the Olympus SP-550 can snap 17 pictures continuously before flashing its bright red light on the back for about 8 seconds, indicating that it’s writing to the memory card.

The Hi-1 Continuous mode limits the resolution to 2048 x 1536 pixels, but it snaps 15 frames in about a second. This mode sounds like a machine gun with its speedy flipping of the shutter. The Hi-2 mode records 20 images at 1280 x 960 pixels. This mode doesn’t make any noise at all. Once the shutter is pushed down, the first image taken freezes on the LCD screen. Since there is no noise, it is hard to tell if the camera is still recording or not. These burst modes may be fast, but they are just about useless because they hardly have enough resolution for a wallet print.

The AF Continuous mode is incredibly slow. It takes almost 2 seconds between each picture. It refocuses each time, which makes it similar to the single drive mode – although the single mode takes more than 6 seconds between shots and even displays an annoying “Busy” message on the LCD while flashing the obnoxious red indicator light.

At the bottom of the drive modes is an option for exposure bracketing. This allows users to snap 3 or 5 pictures at intervals of 0.3, 0.7, or 1 EV. This menu item is usually disabled unless the exposure compensation is set to something other than zero.

The self-timer can be activated with the bottom of the multi-selector; it delays the shot by 2 or 12 seconds. There is also a Time Lapse option in the recording menu that can be turned on and off. Once on, users can choose to snap 2-99 pictures at intervals of 1-99 minutes.

Playback Mode (7.25)
Reviewing images on the Olympus SP-550 is enhanced with the high-resolution 2.5-inch LCD screen. Its wide viewing angle makes it possible for a few people to gather around and view photos straight from the camera itself. If there’s too large of a crowd, users can hook up the camera to a television with the included AV cable or to a computer with the included USB cable.

The playback mode has two locations, but it’s the same thing. It can be accessed with the designated button on the back of the camera or the position on the mode dial. It is faster to get in and out of the playback mode using the button, as it takes a little longer to rotate the dial.

The last image snapped is the first to appear in the playback mode. By pushing the wide side of the zoom control, users can view several pictures at a time. Pushing it once will show four images on the screen. Pushing twice shows 16, three times shows 25, and a fourth time will display a calendar view. Pushing the telephoto end of the zoom control magnifies images so users can get a closer look at the focus.

Users can scroll through individual pictures by pushing on the right and left sides of the multi-selector. Pushing on the top and bottom sides skips 10 files at a time, so users can navigate through large numbers of photos.

All of the buttons on the back of the camera serve a purpose in the playback mode. The Display button shows file info or a histogram, or no info at all. The Delete button eliminates only one picture at a time, and the option disappears from the screen after a picture is deleted. This can be tedious if deleting a series of pictures because you have to press and re-press the button. If deleting all of the pictures at once, however, it is much easier to enter the playback menu. This can be done by pushing the Menu button. The first screen that appears has dark gray lines in the background and nine options expressed in text around the screen. Playback Menu is in the center and the following surround it from the top and moving clockwise: Edit, Print Order, Setup, Silent Mode, Erase, Index, Calendar, and Slide Show.

The central Playback Menu isn’t very long and is shown in icons.

Playback Menu
Protect	Off, On
Rotate	+90, 0, -90
Voice Memo	Yes, Cancel

The Edit menu above it provides many more options. It has three numbered tabs on the left that divide the options, but there’s no simple way of telling which option is filed in which tab so there’s a lot of searching that goes on anyway.

Raw Data Edit	Image Quality, White Balance, White Balance Compensation, Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation
Resize	640 x 480, 320 x 240
Crop	OK, Cancel
Red-Eye Fix	OK, Cancel
Black & White	OK, Cancel
Sepia	OK, Cancel
Frame	White rectangular invite, Suitcase cutout, Yellow and pink polka dots, Heart cutout, Frame on clock, Mail frame, Circle on blue, Pink lace, Vertical heart, White rectangle, Sixties icon, Wedding invite, Angel wings
Label	Congratulations, Thank You, Happy Birthday, Good Luck, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays, Best Wishes, Missing You, Love, Smile
Calendar	(8 layouts to choose from)
Layout	(6 layouts to choose from)
Brightness	+/- 5 in full steps
Saturation	+/- 5 in full steps

This menu provides a lot of interesting options, but there is a lot of processing time involved too. Every step in this menu seems to take all energy from the SP-550; it chugs slowly along in this menu with delays between when buttons are pushed and when action is actually taken.

Olympus seems to cater to a wide audience with this menu. Those who are fans of manual control can tweak the picture to their hearts’ content by editing RAW files in the playback mode. Those who want to eliminate hours of work with computers and printers can create calendars and cards from the camera, and can even add text and change its color and font size.

The index and calendar modes are located elsewhere in the camera (by pushing the wide end of the zoom control), so it’s a little strange to see them in the playback menu but perhaps that’s more intuitive to some people.

Movies can be played, fast forwarded, and rewound. The playback menu allows users to create index prints, pull still images from movies, and divide files and save them as new files or to overwrite the old ones.

There is a slide show option that plays pictures and can play background music. The “background music” consists of two phrases that sound like the cool-down music in an exercise video from the 1980s. I wouldn’t want to watch family reunion photos roll by to that tune. The music can be turned off, though, and a host of transitions can be added to infuse some interest into the otherwise dull slide show. Movies cannot be viewed in the slide shows.

The processing delay on the SP-550 is disappointing and the flashing indicator light is annoying, but the interface of the playback mode is still high-quality. The LCD screen is nicely sized, stocked with great resolution, and can be viewed from several angles allowing large groups to gather round and check out the pictures and movies.

Custom Image Presets (6.5)
The SP-550’s main audience may be photo enthusiasts, but Olympus still wants to attract point-and-shooters with the camera’s long list of scene modes. Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self-Portrait, Available Light, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select 1, Shoot & Select 2, Beach, Snow, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2, and Underwater Macro are found in the “SCN” position on the mode dial. The preset menu shows icons of the modes on the left side and a sample image of the selected mode on the right. When users either hold down the Display button or wait for longer than 2 seconds without pushing anything, a description appears of the mode. For instance, the Night + Portrait mode states: “For shooting both main subject and illuminated background in evening or at night. Shutter speed is slowed.” Modes like this are hindered by the flash unit that has to be manually popped open. The present scene mode was designed to work with the flash, but it’s not guaranteed that users will remember to open it. Other low light modes don’t work that well either: Available Light and Candle modes limit the image size to 3 megapixels, which is hardly enough for a 4 x 6-inch print.

Design / Layout	Page 5 of 13		Control Options
Olympus SP-550UZ Digital Camera Review Navigation
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