Olympus SP-550 UZ

Value (6.5)
The Olympus SP-550UZ sets a new precedent with its 18x optical zoom lens. It’s almost a new category of ultra-ultra-zooms. Most competitors have 12x zoom lenses, but Sony just announced a model with 15x. The Olympus still reigns though. It also reigns as one of the priciest ultra-zooms on the market. It has a steep $499 retail price. The SP-550 does snap decent pictures, but its movie mode is disappointingly silent unless the zoom is disabled, and the weight is deceivingly heavy for its relatively small body.

Comparisons

Olympus SP-500UZ - Debuting in August 2005, the Olympus SP-500UZ has 6 megapixels and a 10x optical zoom lens in a cheaply made body. The exposure modes have the same manual to automatic range complete with priority and scene modes. The lens on the SP-500 is much shorter, and it doesn’t have an image stabilization system. Both cameras have a 2.5-inch LCD screen, but the old model doesn’t have as wide a view and has half the resolution. Both cameras have pop-up flash units, but they don’t even look related. The old SP-500 has a rectangular-shaped box that pops out but not very high. It wasn’t very effective and it wasn’t very sturdy either. It didn’t fit nicely into the casing so users had to jiggle it to push it back in. The Olympus SP-500 had a boxy design that wasn’t as pleasant to look at or handle, and its cheap look accurately described the pictures that came out of it. They had inaccurate colors, poor resolution, and lots of noise. It took 2.8 seconds to start up, and it had 0.2 seconds of shutter lag. The Olympus SP-500 originally retailed for $379.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 - Sony is heating up the competition with its recent (Feb. 27, 2007) announcement of the Cyber-shot DSC-H9. This digital camera has a 15x optical zoom lens that is optically stabilized. The 8.1-megapixel model also has a 3-inch LCD screen that can fold up and down from the camera’s body. The flashy components are backed up by solid specs too. The Sony H9 includes the same image processor that is in Sony’s alpha DSLR camera. It has ISO up to 3200 and an auto focus mode that automatically tracks where the action is headed and keeps the focus on it. The H9 has a 9-point auto focus system, new face detection technology, and even HD viewing capabilities. The H9 will be available in a black only for $479 in April. This camera was also announced with a sibling, the Sony H7, which will sell for $399 and have a smaller 2.5-inch LCD screen that doesn’t fold out from the camera body.

Canon PowerShot S3 IS - This digital camera performed well whether shooting pictures for an album or video for the television. The 6.1-megapixel digital camera has a 12x optical zoom lens with an optical image stabilization system that outperformed the Sony H5’s and Panasonic FZ7’s stabilization systems. It keeps pictures steady, colors almost perfectly accurate, and videos shake-free. The hybrid S3 IS shoots television-quality resolution video with stereo audio, and even allows users to adjust the zoom while recording. It has a 2-inch LCD screen that folds out from the camera body and rotates similar to those on camcorders. The Canon PowerShot S3 IS has a few drawbacks. Its ISO sensitivity only reaches 800, and it doesn’t control noise very effectively. Its burst mode isn’t very fast at only 1.6 fps (although still faster than the SP-550), and sometimes the shutter lag can take up to a half-second. Still, the Canon S3’s video capabilities are impressive and the sub-$350 price is very appealing.


Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 - The 6-megapixel Panasonic FZ7 is an ultra-zoom digital camera with a 12x lens and an optical image stabilization system. The 4.4 x 2.8 x 3.1-inch model has a 2.5-inch LCD screen that has less than half the resolution of the SP-550’s equally sized component. Its flash can reach almost 20 feet, and like the Olympus, it does not have a hot shoe. It does have a great auto focus system that performs well whether the lights are on or off. With fast startup, the Panasonic FZ7 can grab spontaneous moments much faster than the Olympus SP-550. The FZ7 has a shorter 12x optical zoom lens that is disabled in the movie mode, but it does record audio and television-quality resolution along with a widescreen-optimized movie mode. The sharp Leica lens is also great for very close-up pictures. The FZ7 is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that gets 320 shots per charge and is much lighter than the hefty four AAs that the SP-550 uses. This digital camera isn’t nearly as nice-looking, but it costs less with its sub-$300 price.

Differences between the pre-production model and the real deal…
We looked at the Olympus SP-550UZ not too long ago, but it was a "pre-production model" meaning that its specs weren’t finalized so we couldn’t grill it through our rigorous testing procedures or provide more than first impressions of it. Now that we’ve seen the production SP-550, we can give you the full review. The two cameras didn’t differ all that much. Here are the differences.

1. In the setup menu, the pre-production model had only Japanese and English menus. The production model does not have a Japanese language, but it adds a few others instead.

2. There wasn’t a user manual with the pre-production model, so we found all kinds of interesting facts (such as the overheating image stabilization system) when we received it with the production camera.

3. The burst mode on the pre-production model shot only 3 full-resolution pictures at a time. This improved to 17 shots on the production SP-550.

Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters – The Guide mode will be especially handy for these users, or perhaps the traditional Auto mode will be just fine. These modes are both easy to use and provide way more zoom than most models.

Budget Consumers – With a $499 retail price, these consumers will have to wait until the price drops, or a competitor tempts them with something cheaper.

Gadget Freaks – The lure of the massive 18x optical zoom lens is there, but there isn’t much else to satisfy the gadget freaks.

Manual Control Freaks – Serious freaks may miss the control dial setup, but manual control can still be found on the Olympus SP-550 with the multi-selector.

Pros/ Serious Hobbyists – The SP-550UZ does pack the most optical zoom into a compact body, so there’s a tiny chance that some pro somewhere will use it as a backup. It’s meant for the consumer market though.