Megazoom shootout: Nikon Coolpix P80 vs Olympus SP-570UZ

These two cameras go head-to-head in a fight to see who the stronger snapper is.

In the world of megazoom shooters, focal length rules. The more powerful the zoom, the longer its reach. For now, the Olympus SP-570 Ultra Zoom dominates the arena with its 20x zoom. But Nikon is snapping at its heels with the Coolpix P80, which wields an 18x zoom lens and small footprint to boot.

Both shooters are about the same size, but their zoom range differs. (Click to enlarge)

Round 1: Design
The Nikon's Coolpix P80 may be smaller, but we cannot fault Olympus for making the SP-570UZ more robust. After all, it houses a 20x optical zoom lens. Both shooters have a sturdy rubberised grip, but for some of us who have big hands, the SP-570UZ fits better.

The P80's button interface looks cleaner with an uncluttered layout, while the SP-570UZ's tends to be a little bit messy and we had some difficulty finding certain functions.

We measured the physical extension of both lenses when the zoom was maxed out. Although the SP-570UZ has a 20x zoom, it looked pretty close in length to the P80 when the lens was fully extended at 18x. Longer reach but shorter lens? Olympus got the formula right.

A flip of the switch changes the focusing mode for the SP-570UZ to manual, but it's confusing to use. (Click to enlarge)

Round 2: Features
Since the P80 has only an 18x zoom, it would be unfair to pit its zoom range against the 20x SP-570UZ. But what sets them apart is the wide-angle lens. For the Nikon, it captures a 27mm view, while the Olympus is looking at more things with a 26mm lens. A difference of 1mm may not sound much, but in dire situations it can come in handy.

Both shooters sport their own image stabiliser system, with the P80 utilising Nikon's optical Vibration Reduction (VR) and the SP-570UZ running a sensor-shift operation to minimise blur caused by handshake. Although it sounds like a tie, we concluded that Nikon's VR worked slightly better in our Lab tests.

The Olympus has a manual focusing mode, while the Nikon relies entirely on autofocus. Having an alternative option is better, but Olympus made it quite confusing to manoeuvre the focus and the controls were not intuitive. In the end, we gave up and flipped the switch back to Auto.

The P80 supports SD format memory media, while the SP-570UZ accepts the less common xD-Picture Card.
(Click to enlarge)

Advanced photographers who use a dSLR will be familiar with the zoom ring around the SP-570UZ. Unlike the P80 which uses a rocker around the shutter button to zoom, the SP-570UZ offers more precise zoom control by turning the ring. While manual focusing function can be mapped to the ring, we preferred using it as it was.

You can fix an external hotshoe strobe on the SP-570UZ (which already has a built-in flash), which gives this shooter more flexibility when taking shots in low light. For the P80, shutterbugs have to contend themselves with the built-in flash.

Expansion slot-wise, the P80 uses the more common SD/SDHC/MMC flash memory, while the SP-570UZ only accepts the xD-Picture Card. As we all know, SD memory media has higher capacities and is more affordable. Also, it is compatible with a lot of gadgets as well.

Lithium-ion or AA-sized batteries? It's a matter of preference and the camera's size. (Click to enlarge)

Round 3: Performance
We tried to find differences in performance between the two shooters, but they came in pretty close to each other. The start-up time was almost indistinguishable at two seconds for both cameras, and the shutter lag measured a measly 0.1-second.

Both cameras were neck-to-neck when it came to shooting speed, with the Olympus clocking a maximum of 13.5 frames per second (fps) and the Nikon just a step behind at 13fps. But to shoot at this speed, both cameras' image resolution had to be reduced to 3 megapixels. We think the 0.5fps wouldn't make much difference. A maximum of 30 shots can be captured on both snappers before the buffer fills up.

The battery life for the SP-570UZ is rated at approximately 390 shots, while the P80 can manage only 250 shots from its juice pack. However, we think the type of AA batteries used in the Olympus would make a difference — the more expensive Lithium cells will be able to provide more power. As consumers, we don't like extra hidden costs just to boost the performance.

The P80 is powered by a Lithium-ion battery, while the SP-570UZ runs off four AA-sized batteries. While we favour the Olympus for the easily available power source, we liked the small form factor that only a Lithium-ion-powered body can have. This boils down to a matter of preference.

Both snappers produced clean shots at low ISO, but ramp the sensitivity up and the winner emerges. (Click to enlarge)

Round 4: Image quality
The white balance on the P80 was more accurate than the SP-570UZ, which didn't quite manage to correct the colour cast from fluorescent lighting. With the flash turned on, both shooters were able to accurately display a more natural-looking picture. For outdoor shots, both snappers captured accurate hues and white balance with ease. Still, the better white balance control for indoor shots gave the P80 an edge.

Noise wasn't present at the minimum ISO of 64 on both shooters. Images looked clean and edges defined with a rich amount of details. However, we pushed the ISO to 1,600 and that's when the victor emerged. Although there were some speckles on the P80, the noise suppression algorithm managed to clean most of this up without smearing away too much detail. The SP-570UZ didn't fare as well in this case — digital artefacts dotted the image and when the noise suppression kicked in, the details were lost, too.

And the overall winner is...
It's pretty clear that those looking for a feature-packed shooter will choose the Olympus SP-570UZ, while the image purist would rather hanker for Nikon's P80.

These two shooters may be the newest kids on the block, but our monthly Top 10 charts showed that Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ18 was the only megazoom that stayed in the list for a few months consecutively. Will these two snappers be able to receive the same attention? Only time will tell.