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Olympus SP-570 UZ

Digital Camera Review

Dec 28, 2008 - By Steve Morgenstern

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Auto Mode (5.50)
The 570UZ offers the typical two-level automated-mode configuration. The full Auto mode sets exposure and locks out control of most other functions. The Camera menu, which includes settings for white balance, ISO, auto focus, metering and drive modes and so on is locked out, so only image size and compression and exposure compensation settings can be changed. For basic exposure automation with the camera control menu functions enabled, Program mode is the way to go. Both mode choices are available via the top dial.

Movie Mode (7.75)
Video can be shot at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 resolution, at 30 or 15 frames per second. Audio recording can be set on or off: with audio turned, off, the optical zoom is available, enabling people very, very far away from the camera to be ready for their close-up. Unfortunately, the zoom movement tends to be herky-jerky, making those dramatic telephoto zoom effects you may envision problematic. If sound recording is turned on, digital zoom is still available. On the plus side, many image capture controls, including white balance, metering mode and sharpness/contrast/saturation adjustment, are available while shooting video.

It would also be helpful if the manual reminded users to turn on full-time auto focus when shooting video: without it, video with zoom or even moving subjects turns into a blurry mess.

Three editing utilities are available during movie playback. Index creates a nine-image composite of thumbnail images drawn from a section of the video you select. Edit lets you save a section of a video you shot, either overwriting the original or saving it as a new file. And Movie Index lets you save a selected video frame as a JPEG image. An unusual playback option we like is Index Play, from the playback menu. Index Play shows thumbnail views of frames taken from the entire span of your stored video and lets you choose where you'd like to start playback, letting you skip the boring parts and get right to the good stuff when you grab your buddy to show off a goofy video you've shot.

Drive / Burst Mode (7.75)
There is a nice variety of burst mode options, starting with normal sequential shooting, which locks the focus when the first frame is shot and fires as fast as it can based on image size. In our lab testing, at full resolution, we got roughly a single shot per second in this mode.

There are two resolution step-down options to speed burst mode performance, Hi 1 mode sets resolution to 5 megapixels and, while Olympus doesn't provide a speed estimate, gave us about 7 frames per second, a nice clip at a resolution that's perfectly fine for most purposes. Continuous shooting in this mode is limited to approximately 20 photos when shooting in Fine compression mode.

Hi 2 cuts resolution to 3 megapixels and promises a blistering 13.5 frames per second – we actually did slightly better, at about 14.3 fps. With Hi 2 you also get the option to turn on pre capture, which keeps 10 frames in a buffer continuously when the shutter is held down halfway, then begins adding to this group when the shutter is pressed down entirely. Total shooting in a burst in Hi 2 mode is limited to approximately 30 shots.

But wait, we're not done yet! There's also a continuous shooting mode that auto focuses between each shot, obviously slower than the other versions, but potentially very useful. And finally, there's exposure bracketing, The user chooses the exposure variation between shots (± 0.3, 0.7 or 1.0 EV) and the number of frames and the camera does the rest.

There is also a self-timer feature, accessed not through the continuous shooting settings but via the bottom button in the four-way controller cluster. The self-timer can be set to 12 seconds or 2 seconds, after which a single photo is taken. Some compact cameras can take multiple photos when the timer goes off, a nice option when you're running like a crazy person to get into position for a group photo and would like a few shots to choose from. Also, the self-timer cancels itself after each shot, so if you're planning to shoot a series of photos using this capability (not uncommon when shooting still life setups, to avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter), you're stuck resetting the self-timer for each photo.

Banished from the other time-oriented settings to the hinterland of the fifth camera menu screen is Time lapse shooting, a distinctly fun extra. You can choose how many photos you'd like to shoot (from 2-99) and the interval between shots (from 1-99 minutes, in 1-minute increments). Pressing the shutter starts the sequence, and then the camera takes care of the rest. In a perfect world, you'd have the option to use this feature to not only take a sequence of stills, but a time lapse movie as well. No such luck, though it's simple enough to drag-and-drop the stills into even a rudimentary video editing program if you're so inclined.

Playback Mode (10.00)
While in playback mode, the control dial is used to enlarge the image in ten steps, up to 10x zoom, which is fine for critically judging focus accuracy. Pressing the OK button while zoomed in returns to full-size display instantly, a handy feature that ought to be standard in the digital camera world, but isn't.

Turn the dial in the opposite direction and you get a series of thumbnail image displays (4, 9, 16 and 25 imagers per screen), followed by a calendar display that sorts the photos on the memory card by date taken.

During playback there four available views, the first of which shows date and time the photo was shot, image size and compression settings, file name and number. Pressing DISP adds aperture and shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO and white balance information. Another press removes the information overlay entirely, while the last display offers basic image information with a thumbnail of the photo and a histogram below it.

The included slideshow utility is peculiar. It offers a choice of eight between-image special effects and two different kinds of background music, but doesn't let you select which photos to include in the show, or how long an interval should pass between photos. Mighty strange.

The play mode menu offers an alternative to the one-at-a-time image erasing procedure accessed via the control buttons. The play mode menu version lets you erase all images at once, or choose a set of images to be erased by browsing on-screen thumbnails. Protect, which prevents images from accidental erase, is also available.

Custom Image Presets (9.00)
Olympus combines two approaches to the task of providing a helping hand to budding photographers interested in venturing beyond auto mode, but still unsure about combining camera settings effectively.

First is the familiar Scene Mode system. Turning the Mode dial to SCN provides access to 23 preset scene modes. Many are self-explanatory – portrait, landscape, fireworks, sports, sunset and so on – but a few bear closer scrutiny.

Scene modes cover a wide range of shooting scenarios.

- Night + Portrait: uses the slow synch flash function to capture subjects in the foreground, then keep the shutter open to expose for the darker background.

- Multi Fireworks: In addition to the usual Fireworks mode, Multi Fireworks allows multiple exposures to produce a composite image of several big bangs and booms.

- Shoot & Select: There are two continuous-shooting scene mode variations. The first lowers the resolution to 5 megapixels and uses the faster Hi 1 burst mode. When you take your finger off the shutter, the camera automatically displays all the shots you just took and allows you to choose which ones to keep and which to discard. The second Shoot & Select variation works basically the same way, but maintains full-resolution and a slower one frame per second burst rate.

- Smile Mode: After selecting this mode, the camera waits until the face recognition system detects a smiling puss in range, then fires off three shots in rapid succession. Pressing the shutter button will still take a photo, in case waiting around for a cheerful expression seems hopeless.

- Quick Shutter: Turns on continuous auto focus, shortening the delay between the shutter being pressed and a photo taken.

On-screen text messages briefly explain scene modes.

The other system used to provide training wheels for the user is Guide mode (available from the mode dial), a series of plain-English prompts that makes advanced features available without a lot of technical understanding. Most of the choices in the 16-choice Guide are simply easy-to-use front ends to basic camera settings. For example, choose "Shooting into backlight" and you get three choices: Set to fill-in flash, Set the metering to spot and Increase the value of exposure compensation. The exception is "Shoot w/ effects preview" which goes a step further, dividing the display into four thumbnail segments and previewing the effect of changes to exposure compensation, white balance, metering mode and movie frame rate settings in each.

A separate shooting mode, located as a top-level choice in the Record menu, is panoramic shooting. There are three available variations. Combine in Camera 1 automates the process. After taking your first photo, a target marker appears on screen to the left or right. Line up an on-screen pointer with this target marker and the camera automatically takes a second shot. Repeat the same procedure one more time and the camera takes charge, combining the images and saving the result. Pressing the Menu button after the second shot lets you take a two- rather than three-image panoramic shot.

Combine in Camera 2 expects you to line up each shot manually. After the first photo is taken, a reference section of the image remains visible at the edge of the frame for you to line up the next shot. After taking the third photo, the camera stitches them together and saves the panoramic result.

Finally, Combine in PC stores separate images to be stitched together on your computer later using the included OLYMPUS Master 2 software. You get more control over the completed panorama here, with the option to combine photos shot by panning vertically as well as horizontally, and joining up to ten photos into a single massive image. You don't get any help lining up consecutive images when shooting in this mode though. You just eyeball the alignment and let the computer software figure out how they all fit together.

Design / Layout	Page 8 of 15		Control Options
Olympus SP-570UZ Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Color and Resolution	Noise and Video
Speed and Timing	Components	Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Sample Photos	Specs / Ratings