Olympus SP-560 UZ Digital Camera Review

Olympus SP-560 UZ

Digital Camera Review

2.2 The SP-560UZ updates Olympus’ ultra-zoom series with a higher megapixel count and a few new features. The SP-560UZ has 8 megapixels, up from the older SP-550’s 7.1 megapixels. Both have 18x optical zoom lenses and mechanical sensor-shift image stabilization. One of the biggest differences is the new image processor: the SP-560 has a TruePic Turbo III processor and includes face detection.
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Olympus SP-560 UZ


Picture Quality / Size Options (9.0)
The Olympus SP-560UZ upgrades to 8 megapixels from its predecessor’s 7.1 megapixels. The CCD is slightly larger, too, at 1/2.35 inches instead of 1/2.5 inches. The image size can be changed by following the text link on the initial menu screen. The following resolutions are available:
 
RAW (3264 x 2448)
JPEG Duplicate Setting Off, SHQ, HQ, SQ1, SQ2
SHQ
3264 x 2448, 3264 x 2176 (3:2)
HQ
3264 x 2448, 3264 x 2176 (3:2)
SQ1
2560 x 1920 (High, Normal), 2304 x 1728 (High, Normal), 2048 x 1536 (High, Normal)
SQ2
1600 x 1200 (High, Normal), 1280 x 960 (High, Normal), 1024 x 768 (High, Normal), 640 x 480 (High, Normal)
16:9
1920 x 1080

There are plenty of image size options on the Olympus SP-560UZ: everything from RAW to e-mail-sized images. Plenty of formats are here, too, including the standard 4:3, the 4 x 6-inch print-optimized 3:2, and the widescreen television-optimized 16:9.

Unfortunately, the image size is affected by other factors, such as ISO sensitivity and Exposure mode. The manual ISO settings extend to 6400, but anything beyond 1600 automatically shrinks the image size to 3 megapixels. Many of the Scene modes, such as Smile Shot and Available Light, also shrink the image size. Images also shrink in such gimmicky modes as the 15 fps Pre-Capture Burst mode.

If you want to shrink the image, there is a resizing option in the Playback menu that has 640 x 480 and 320 x 240-pixel choices. If you want complete control there is RAW shooting available. The white balance and ISO are the only controls available before shooting in RAW, but there are lots of editing features for RAW images in the Playback menu.
 
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