Although Olympus' SP-500 Ultra Zoom is small for a dSLR-like camera, it has a 6-megapixel CCD and many options for photographers to play around with. Users are able to do street or sports photography with the help of the 10x optical zoom; macro photography with the 3cm Super Macro mode; and landscape photography with the frame assist function. The camera also has 21 scene modes for further versatility.
Design
The Olympus SP-500 Ultra Zoom measures 105 x 74 x 71 and weighs 285g (without batteries and card). Even after you feed in the camera batteries, the unit doesn't feel heavy as the grip design for this unit allows the weight to rest on the hand comfortably. Our main gripe with the shooter is its plastic feel which seems compromising to the camera's sturdiness.
The SP-500 Ultra Zoom allows one-hand operation because of its build -- even though we still recommend using two hands for better support. The camera gains points for the wide ergonomic grip that creates a lot of support for the palm and the textured rubber which gives more stability where the fingers rest. In addition, the area below the dial mode lets the thumb rest comfortably with slight support. Although the shooter has a 2.5-inch LCD monitor that's both appealing and helpful for taking photos, the screen -- which takes up two-thirds of the back of the unit -- is often covered with thumbprints due to the camera's compact design.
The SP-500 Ultra Zoom keeps many of its functions within the menu. There are not a lot of dials and buttons on the camera body, giving the unit a clean and simplified look. However, that also means there will be a lot of navigating to do within the menu itself. To redeem itself, there's an option to set three shortcuts on the menu button.
The camera has a simplified interface design but it can get quite frustrating for a new user to navigate within the menus with the confusing workings of the Ok button. When an option is selected, the user should use the right button (which doubles as Enter), but often the Ok button will be pressed by mistake and the menu will disappear. This annoying but easily made mistake may take some time for a user to adjust to.
Features
The SP-500 Ultra Zoom offers an array of auto and manual modes for both aspiring photographers and advanced photographers. This 6-megapixel shooter provides 21 scene modes (Candle, Indoor, Sports, Sunset, Fireworks, Behind glass, etc.) for the user's convenience. These ready-to-go scene modes assist in shooting most common situations like dining under candlelight or a day at the beach.
With the Olympus xD-Picture Card, the camera allows users to take panoramic photos that can be stitched up with the accompanying Olympus Master Software in the package. However, this feature is available only to users who are using the company's xD-Picture Card. Stitching the individual frames using the software is simple enough.
The megazoomer comes with two macro shooting modes: One allows users to get as close as 7cm to the subject, another lets users stay only 3cm away from the subject, but the position of the optical zoom is fixed automatically and cannot be adjusted. Autofocusing in the macro mode is slower; and the less light there is, the slower it gets. On some occasions, it doesn't even focus at all.
10MB of internal memory isn't an awful lot, but it may just come in handy in some situations. One of its special features is the ability to do simple editing to the images within the camera. That includes red-eye removal, cropping, adding frames, making calendars and adjusting brightness. Making calendars and adding frames to the images can be quite fun especially when you have a portable printer and photos can be printed with the frames right away sans PC.
Performance
The focusing speed on the Olympus SP-500 Ultra Zoom isn't amazing and can be rather slow in low-light environments. Powering up the camera took about 2.5 seconds including the time needed for the lens to be extended. You can shoot thereafter every 2 seconds in JPEG. Taking RAW pictures took slightly longer in between shots, which came in at about 7 seconds.
The pop-up flash, however, is quite remarkable. It provides even lighting in most situations and gives a gentle lighting when taking portrait images. There are a lot of flash options to choose from on this camera, for example: red-eye reduction, fill, fill with red-eye reduction and off. It also comes with various intensity levels to reduce the possibility of having blown-out portraits or subjects.
The zoom speed is relatively decent, but when it zooms in, the image on the LCD will become pixilated due to the resolution of the LCD. The 10x optical zoom, which extends from 38mm to 380mm, came in useful when we were doing street photography and visited the Zoological Gardens. However, the lack of an optical image stabilisation feature cut a few points off our rating.
The SP-500 Ultra Zoom comes with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) that does not have a diopter adjustment. For users who are wearing glasses, that could be a problem. While the EVF presents itself as a good alternative to using the LCD for framing of pictures, we found it hard to determine if the unit was focusing correctly and had to fall back on the screen occasionally.
Image Quality
The auto white balance setting on the SP-500 Ultra Zoom was generally decent and gave us a natural tone most of the time. Overall, image quality from the camera was good with colours saturated, and sharpness and exposure correctly metered.
Noise wasn't an issue at ISO 80 and ISO 100, though at the camera's highest sensitivity level of ISO 400, our pictures exhibited quite a bit of noise and grain. However, that shouldn't be cause for concern as the grains do not pose a threat to the overall image.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
olympus camera
06/06/2008, 04:41 PM
rating
7/10
Great camera with great features. I like this great camera because of its raw capture feature.
Pros: Unique design.
Good quality results.
Cons: Nothing.
Report offensive comment
Morticia's Mum
09/08/2006, 06:18 PM
rating
7/10
Fantastic camera for the price - only gripe is poor focus in low light and ultra zoom
Pros: This is my first digital camera, and all previous cameras were point and shoot film. I am having a lot of fun with all the different options this camera offers -especially with the preset options. I do not think I would have this much control with other point and shoot cameras.
The camera was given to me as a gift, so I had no choice in brand or model. However, I was a little disconcerted with the reviews of the camera from professional people. The whinging about the lack of image stabiliser, the plastic body etc. and that you could do better with another brand. The thing is the other cameras offered as comparison were around $200+ more expensive. The only other camera in this price range with similar zoom was Fuji's .. and this had similar whiny reviews.
Things I love:
- That the recovery rate to take one picture after another is fast .. 1 or 2 secs [other cameras I have used take a lot longer]
- there is the auction option where you can take 3 shots very quickly in succession ... great for moving objects
- all of the preset options [I don't really know anything about photography, but will learn ... until then I have lots to play with]
- macro shooting [this is probably standard on all cameras?? but I just love photographing the flowers in my garden .. and the images look professional [well almost!].
- the camera is very light, and fits into my coat pocket
- large LCD screen
Cons: Annoying aspects:
- The REALLY annoying thing is that it cannot focus indoor light .. you MUST use the flash. However, since most of my indoor shots are of children or dog at birthdays and other celebrations this is not a huge problem.
- I wish the lens cover was built in. A couple of times I have forgotten to place the cap back on. Oh and a cover for the LCD screen.
- If a $200 fuji camera can have an optical view finder rather than electronic, why can't a $450 camera have the same? The electronic viewfinder is not true colour, and very pixilated.
- the LCD screen is very pixilated. Again Fuji $200 camera delivers better LCD.
- when zooming 10X, even outdoors it seems incapable of focusing unless i press the button half way.
- it is nice to have a soft copy manual ... but they were a little scabby with not providing the manual in hard copy.
Report offensive comment