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Manual Control Options
Manual control is a highlight of the 590UZ, which rivals SLRs in its flexibililty. Exposure can be controlled through aperture-priority, shutter-priority or full manual settings. Manual focus is also available, though the toggle-switch control isn't perfecty smooth.
Focus
Auto Focus
The SP590UZ offers an auto focus mode called iESP that analyzes the scene and sets the focus accordingly. Also available are spot focus and selective spot focus, where you position the focus point using the four-way controller.
The camera can be set for full-time auto focus, which attempts to keep the subject in front of the lens sharp at all times (kind of noisy, and a battery drain, but useful for some situations) or predictive auto focus, which uses computation to figure out where a moving object is likely to be and maintains focus accordingly. Manual focus is available, but given the toggle-swtich control, we don't expect a smooth and pleasing experience with this feature (though it's certainly better than having no manual focus at all).
Face detection mode is also available to set focus based on the heads in the scene ahead.
ISO
The ISO range starts at ISO 80 and tops out at a mediocre ISO 1600; given the long zoom, a higher ISO would help with handheld telephoto shooting in low light. In addition to standard Auto ISO mode, there's also a High Auto setting which favors higher ISO settings to help enable higher shutter speeds.
White Balance
In addition to auto white balance, the 590UZ allows users to take manual white balance readings by shooting a neutral surface under available light, a feature SLR users know and love. There are also six manual white balance presets, for daylight, overcast, tungsten illumination and three different fluorescent settings, along with the option to tweak white balance manually using a sliding scale through the recording menu.
Metering
The default digital ESP metering is a full-frame analytical mode that favors what it perceives to be the subject of the scene within a generally balanced exposure. There are also spot metering and center-weighted metering modes, and face detection exposure metering when the Face Detection Auto Focus is enabled.
Exposure compensation can be set in the usual ±2 EV range.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speeds in manual mode range from 15 seconds to a speedy 1/2000 second, an impressive range on both ends of the spectrum. The auto exposure system is limited to 1/2 second on the long-exposure side, or 4 seconds in the Night Scene custom scene mode..There is also a bulb setting which keeps the exposure going as long as the shutter is depressed.
Aperture
For such a long zoom, the maximum aperture settings for the 590UZ are quite fast, at f/2.8 at the widest setting and f/5.0 at maximum telephoto.
Image Stabilization
The 590UZ is equipped with both optical and electronic image stabilization. The success or failure of these systems are obviously key to squeezing off sharp handheld shots at the extraordinary zoom lengths provided. We were very pleased with the image stabilization performance of the 570UZ in our full testing, and based on our brief shooting experience with the 590UZ, expect comparable results.
Picture Quality / Size Options
The 590UZ is limited to JPEG shooting (there is no RAW file option), at eight image size settings:
- 12MP (3968 x 2976)
- 5MP (2560 x1920)
- 3MP (2048 x 1536)
- 2MP (1600 x 1200)
- 1M (1280 x 960)
- VGA (640 x 480)
- 16:9 (3968 X 2232)
- 16:9 (1920 x 1080)
Picture Effects Mode
In addition to the various options available as custom image presets, there are user-selectable levels for sharpness, contrast and saturation. These settings and others (such as exposure compensation, shooting mode, image quality, etc.,) ISO, etc) can be stored as My Mode choices (four in all) which are then available as an instant-access package of personalization directly from the mode dial.
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Conclusion