Olympus SP-550UZ First Impressions Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on January 25, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion
Specs

Manual Control Options
Users can choose exactly how much control they want. Auto is the simplest, with scene and Program modes up next with limited control. A little more control is granted in the priority modes, and the full Manual mode has the works. If that isn’t enough, users who access certain manual controls often can save them to four different personalized shooting modes; they can be found on the mode dial at the “My” icon.

Focus
Auto Focus
The Olympus SP-550 has a contrast detection auto focus system that is controlled with iESP, Spot, and Area auto focus modes. The iESP mode is the default and focuses on whatever subject the camera thinks is closest. The Spot mode focuses on the center. The Area mode allows users to move green brackets 13 positions across and 11 positions up and down around the frame to pick a focus area. There is a predictive focus option in the camera menu, along with a full-time auto focus option. These can be turned on and off. The predictive auto focus didn’t look very different from the normal modes, and the full-time choice sure sounded different. It wasn’t loud, but it was noticeably different. In the camera menu, the auto focus illuminator can be turned on too. The lamp is placed to the upper left of the lens and shows up as a bright orange beam. The SP-550 can focus as close as 1 cm in the macro mode, which is quite impressive for this length of lens. Normally, it can focus from 3.94 inches (wide) and 47.24 inches (telephoto).

 

In use, the camera did struggle at times to lock focus at full zoom.

Manual Focus 
In the camera menu, the focus can be set manually. A column appears on the left side of the LCD screen with 1, 2, 5, and 10-meter indicators next to it. The center of the image is magnified, although it was still hard to see because of the LCD screen’s resolution. Despite having 230,000 pixels, I still managed to see lots of stair-step-like edges in pictures.

ISO
The old SP-500 topped out at 400 when it came to ISO sensitivity, so the new camera’s offerings seem very expansive. The following manual ISO settings are available from the OK/Func and standard menus: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 5000. The last two options, 3200 and 5000, automatically shrink the image size to 3 megapixels. The Olympus SP-550 also has a new automatic ISO offering called High ISO Auto; other manufacturers have included similar settings for better photography in low light. There is also a standard Auto ISO mode.

White Balance
The white balance options can be found in the OK/Func and shooting menus. The following options are available: iESP2 Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, and One-Touch (custom). It is better to select the white balance from the OK/Func menu because it shows a live view and gives you a better idea of the color of the lighting. In the shooting menu, there is also a White Balance Compensation setting that is located nowhere near the normal White Balance settings. The compensation adjusts +/- 7 steps toward blue or red. The one-touch manual white balance setting shows a live view when selected. Users must fill the entire frame with something white; on-screen directions explain how to cancel and set the white balance.

Exposure
This digital camera has a lot of ways to monitor and control the exposure. The exposure can be monitored with a live histogram available through the Info/Display button by the multi-selector or through the histogram option in the setup menu. The histogram can be turned on and off, or a “detail” option can be activated. This highlights blown-out areas as red and dark shadows as blue. The exposure settings can be changed in the manual, shutter priority, and aperture priority modes. In the many automated shooting modes, the exposure can be adjusted by pushing the top portion of the multi-selector and moving up and down in 1/3 increments on a +/- 2 scale.

Metering
The metering modes are selectable from the OK/Func and Camera menus, although the live view in the OK/Func menu is much more helpful. Multi-pattern, Spot, and Center-weighted options are offered, which is the typical offering from digital cameras.

Shutter Speed
The Olympus SP-550’s shutter speeds range from 1/2000th of a second to 15 seconds, although the range is somewhat shorter in the manual and shutter speed priority modes. The manual mode extends to 1/1000th of a second, and the shutter speed priority mode truncates the range to ½-1/1000. The shutter speed can be changed by pushing the top of the multi-selector (it has an exposure compensation icon on it) and scrolling up and down. There is a noise reduction mode that can be turned on and off in the shooting menu. When it’s on, it affects pictures taken only with shutter speeds slower than a half-second. Overall, the shutter speeds on the Olympus SP-550UZ are about what they are supposed to be. The specs claim there is a bulb option on this camera, but it wasn’t found on the pre-production model.

Aperture
The SP-550 may have an incredibly long 18x optical zoom lens, but it still gets plenty of light. The aperture at the lens’ widest is f/2.8, and that only shrinks to f/4.5 when the lens is zoomed in. The exposure compensation portion of the multi-selector shows the apertures, and users can scroll right and left to change the apertures. The choices showed up in increments of a third and were available up to f/8.0.