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Model Design / Appearance
The 590UZ isn't flashy, instead projecting a professional, restrained appearance.
Size and Handling
The 570UZ is a compact little powerhouse, measuring just 4.3 x 3.5 x 3.9 inches (110mm x 89mm x 98mm) and weighing 13.20 oz. (373g) before batteries and memory card. The light weight is part of what makes the camera feel so good in your hand and move so fluidly while taking photos, but the real key is the deeply indented, textured grip. It offers plenty of room to curl your fingers all the way around, with enough clearance between the grip and the lens for even fat-fingered individuals like your correspondent. The textured thumb pad on the back of the camera adds additional purchase to the package, particularly when shooting in portrait (i.e., vertical) orientation. All told, the holding and shooting experience is first-rate and, while it's obviously far too big to fit in a pocket, a convenient shoulderbag or even a large purse will offer plenty of room for portability purposes.
One of the major differences between the 590UZ and the 570UZ we reviewed recently is in the zoom control. The 570UZ has a zoom ring around its lens, which looks for all the world like an SLR-style control but doesn't behave like one: it actually triggers a motorized system when turned, one that's sloppy, inaccurate and frustrating. The 590UZ takes a more pedestrian approach, using the classic zoom toggle around the shutter button, which turns out to be much more practical in this case. Zooming is fast, easy to access and satisfying.
We found the 590UZ very comfortable.
At first glance veteran Olympus users may think the company has changed its venerable multipart menu system, since an unfamiliar, colorful screen greets you when you press MENU on this camera. Click down one level, though, and you find the familiar dual-shades-of-gray menu system, with a yellow highlight bar indicating your current position. These menus can be a bit long if you just cursor down one item at a time, but once you figure out that moving the four-way eft lets you jump up or down in full-page increments, the system works efficiently.
Our favorite menu feature, though, is found not in the page-by-page approach but instead an L-shaped overlay that appears when you press the OK button while shooting. This menu puts control over white balance, ISO, metering, image size and compression settings just a few 4-way-controller-clicks away.
Ease of Use
The camera's basic button and control scheme is fine, though some of the placements and icons do take some getting used to. Certainly your basic point-and-shooter will be happy leaving that mode dial on Auto and enjoying the camera's zoomability, but more sophisticated photographers will be pleased to find the manual controls are not only readily accessible, but easily adjustable.
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