Olympus SP-570 UZ Digital Camera Review

Olympus SP-570 UZ

Digital Camera Review

Dec 28, 2008 - By Steve Morgenstern
2.2 If you feel your inner paparazzo yearning to come out and play, consider the Olympus SP-570UZ with its whopping 20x zoom lens – the equivalent of a 28mm-520mm zoom in 35mm photography. We had lots of fun shooting with this camera, which combines plenty of telephoto power with a healthy wide-angle range. Image quality isn't stellar, but it's not bad either, and manual controls and customization options abound. For a detailed rundown on the pros and cons of this 10-megapixel, $450 ultra-zoom, check out the full review.  
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Olympus SP-570 UZ

Speed/Timing
No matter how eagle-eyed you are in finding unexpected photo opportunities, the shot will elude you if your camera isn't ready for fast response. We put the 570UZ through a battery of tests to determine whether its speed and alacrity are up to snuff.
 
 
Startup to First Shot (6.6)
The 570UZ took a long moment to get its digital senses in order and its long lens in position, averaging a none-too-quick 3.4 seconds between turning the power switch to "on" and taking the first photo. 
 

Shot-to-Shot (8.89)
Continuous shooting at full resolution produced mediocre results, firing off roughly 1 frame per second and taking a break after the fourth photo to store the results into memory. It's worth noting that there are several lower-resolution burst modes, not considered in lab testing scores but worth knowing about (see the Burst Mode section below). We were particularly pleased with the option to shoot over 7 frames per second at 5-megapixel resolution, a speedy pace that's fine for sports and action photography at a resolution that will produce a decent print and a fine on-screen display.

Shutter-Shot (2.33)
The delay between the moment you press the shutter and the moment the photo is actually taken can be significant, especially if you're shooting fast-moving subjects. Our testing revealed a shutter-to-shot delay of  about 0.9 second, a considerable stretch.

Processing (2.05)
It takes time after taking a photo for the camera to process the data and store it to the memory card, before you can take the next shot. For the 570UZ, that process takes on average over four seconds, which is a long time indeed when interesting goings-on are going on.
 
 

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