Olympus SP-570 UZ

Noise
Enlarge a solid-color area of a digital photo, especially one taken at high ISO settings, and you'll see a sort of visual static, minute imperfections scattered randomly through the image. This is called image noise, and the less of it that appears in your photos, the more freedom you have to crop tightly, blow up tremendously and edit aggressively with computer software. To test for image noise under good conditions, we shoot a color chart under bright studio lighting at the full range of ISO settings supported by the camera and analyze the resulting images using Imatest. We also check noise and color reproduction under challenging low-light conditions, in a separate testing section below.
 

Noise – Manual ISO (8.86)
In our basic noise test we manually set the camera ISO to exmine the full available range. The Olympus 570UZ performed well in this test, starting out just above 1% noise and climbing up to 2% by ISO 400, but then leveling out (thanks no doubt to the unseen machinations of digital noise reduction processing) to keep noise from becoming truly objectionable at any point.
 

The Olympus SP-570UZ stands out from the competition here, including a tremendous improvement over the mediocre noise performance by its brand mate 560UZ.

 

Auto Noise (2.00)
The auto noise test is a kind of hybrid challenge. Here we let the camera's auto ISO system set what it considers an appropriate ISO level for our brightly lit chart, then analyze the noise present in the photos shot at that setting. Since noise inevitably rises as ISO increases, a low ISO both fits the lighting and produces lower-noise results. In this case, the 570UZ chose to shoot at ISO 125, pretty much ideal for the situation, resulting in a low-noise image and a decent score.
 

Low Light (6.56)
Our low light testing has two component parts. First we shoot our GretagMacbeth chart at a high ISO 1600, at four different lighting levels, ranging from 60 lux (roughly standard room lighting) down to 5 lux, which is about what you'd get from a single candle.  The results are then scored for both color accuracy and image noise. The color accuracy charts produced by Imatest for the 570UZ are shown below.

 

The 570UZ performance under low illumination wasn't great. While the camera did very well in our image noise testing under bright illumination, changing the mood lighting and upping the ISO produced a substantial change in results. The color accuracy picture, as shown above, was more impressive, maintaining a reasonable performance even at the meager 5 lux lighting level, with good consistency as the illumination was lowered.
 

Our second low light test measures color accuracy and noise over long exposures. Unfortunately, there was no way to get a truly long exposure from the 570UZ at our ISO 400 testing conditions without causing the image to seriously blow out. We succeeded in running our test at four timings between 1 and 2 seconds, and the result was mediocre.
 

Taking the two tests together for a combined low light score produces a result that's not dramatically different from other cameras in this ultra-zoom class, but still statistically lower than the competition, including the relatively strong 560UZ.
 

Olympus SP-570UZ Low Light Scores

Still Life
To provide a visual comparison between shots taken at the camera's various ISO levels, and a camera-to-camera comparison as well, we shoot the same two still-life setups for each review. These were shots under fluorescent lights, with the camera set for automatic white balance and exposure. Clicking on the thumbnails below will bring up the full-resolution images, though that may take a while if your Internet connection is on the pokey side. 

ISO 64
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200

Video Performance (5.04)
Odds are that when you're out and about, you'll be carrying either a still camera or a camcorder, but not both. Can your camera serve as a video recorder in a pinch?  We put the 570UZ through a battery of tests to find out.
 

 

Low Light - 30 Lux
Dimming the lights to a paltry 30 lux (which you might encounter when trying to grab embarrassing clips of your buddies in a cozy club) brought color accuracy down and more than doubled the image noise in the video. In addition to the saturation being low, the color hue accuracy shows noticeable deterioration here, particularly in the blues and greens. Not a disaster by any means, but the flaws are plainly visible.

 

Resolution (1.62)

When shooting at 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second, the actual resolution maxed out at 513 lw/ph horizontally and 316 lw/ph vertically, producing an unattractive lack of sharpness.

Motion (0.75)

Icy winter cold couldn't keep us indoors when there are cameras to test. We bundled up and trundled over to a fast-moving local road to shoot cars zooming by, then played the resulting video back on a TV screen and looked for visible flaws. We didn't have to look hard. There was very noticeable stuttering as the cars passed our position, as if the back 20% of the car was repeating itself. There were other evident quality flaws, including uneven illumination and streaks where the sunlight glinted off the chrome. Not a pretty picture overall.