3.9Olympus kicked it up a notch at the Consumer Electronics Show by introducing the most powerful ultra-zoom available, the SP-590UZ, with an extraordinary 26x magnification in a reasonably compact camera. We had the opportunity to work hands-on with a pre-production sample.
Conclusion The only thing better than a great big zoom lens is an even bigger zoom lens, and Olympus is now at the top of the heap in that department (24x is the highest any other manufacturer is offering, which admittedly is not exactly chopped liver). While a buy/don't buy recommendation will clearly have to wait until we get a final production sample into our laboratories for all-important image quality testing, our reaction to the pre-production 590UZ was very positive. It handles well, the zoom control works quickly and smoothly, and there is a nice manual control implementation in addition to effective automatic options.
Likes
- Enormous zoom range
- Good wide-angle coverage - Comfortable camera chassis
Dislikes
- Expensive at $450 - Mediocre full-res burst mode
The only thing better than a great big zoom lens is an even bigger zoom lens, and Olympus is now at the top of the heap in that department (24x is the highest any other manufacturer is offering, which admittedly is not exactly chopped liver). While a buy/don't buy recommendation will clearly have to wait until we get a final production sample into our laboratories for all-important image quality testing, our reaction to the pre-production 590UZ was very positive. It handles well, the zoom control works quickly and smoothly, and there is a nice manual control implementation in addition to effective automatic options.