Price: £235-£380 (Price runner winner on price - Camerabox limited)
Olympusdigital cameras are such a good choice I have had the pleasure of sampling a couple this being one along with the E-510 and again to be honest very similar in deed & the quality of the images is superb so for those of you on a budget (I'm a photographer on a budget (very tight) & this camera is on par with those that cost over a grand - £235 yes please
This is a great camera for both amateur & professional photographers, for those who like quality & variety at a great price then you can't go wrong with this piece of kit which is not only functional but is very easy to use.
You can use this camera straight from the box, it took me about half an hour to become familiar with the many functions & settings but pretty easy to take a great shot every time, you can use it straight from the box but see below at downsides paragraph.
For all of you ebay fanatics this camera has an auction function which automatically saves the picture for use in such a situation as well as giving you the choice of 3 images to choose from (the same image but with differences to the brightness/contrast, tone etc. this can save you hours on
preparing web friendly images.
The camera has 20x zoom & an incredible 1cm macro feature so if it's detail that you want then this camera can handle it for sure, the lens is wider than many other digital cameras thus makes it a great choice for those who also take plenty of group or wide pictures (you can purchase additional lenses if you are looking to incorporate more long range shooting) personally I found that the 1cm macro function such a bonus that I would choose this camera over other cameras that offer an integrated higher zoom capacity. Remember you can add lenses but you can't increase the macro focus.
Lightweight yet durable & the batteries last more than long enough to see you through (make sure you unplug the camera from your pc or other device when you have finished uploading as it's easy to forget, this will drain the batteries. (I'm always doing it!) The camera takes x4 AA both rechargeable & standard, I used none rechargeable LR6 AA Industrial Alkaline batteries which lasted for a good 4 days but obviously it all depends on how you use the camera.
Downside:
downside is that you will have to purchase a memory card (there isn't one included) and unless it is an Olympus XD you will not be able to use the panoramic function which I think is a bit of a shame, no rechargeable batteries are included or a charger (you get x4 industrial disposable batteries in the box) so you will have to purchase rechargeable batteries and a charger in addition to the camera. These sort of things should be included in camera purchase as standard as I was only getting 9 shots in super macro mode before the internal memory was full (not fun having to constantly upload the images)
The list is endless for the modes available 23 different scenic modes to play with along with extensive features that you can manually take control of & produce a totally customisable shot in any given condition.
Easy to use, price is fantastic for product quality & functionality, suitable for most situations & if not you can purchase additional accessories to make it more suitable. Product has lots of life in it for both amateur & professional photographers & can handle dynamic sporting shots as well as a complete wedding should you so wish. Capable of producing high quality images which can be printed upto 40x30" without compromising pixel quality.
Excellent all rounder & Highly Recommendable
More information including manuals can be found at the Olympus website. www.olympus.co.uk
I have included some images taken with this camera ( I also wrote a review on the Kodak DX7590 a while back & will see if I can upload a few images as this is another great camera especially for keen amateur/beginner, you can get some great pro shots using this too and it's only 5MP)
Olympus SP570 UZ• 20x optical wide zoom (26 - 520mm*) - from extreme close ups to stunning scenes • Avoids blur thanks to Dual Image Stabilisation • Don't miss the moment with high-speed 13.5fps sequence shooting** • Face Detection for perfectly focused and exposed faces plus correct exposure of other image areas • Shadow Adjustment Technology to brighten shadowy areas in a composition • P/A/S/M exposure modes for creative freedom • 23 scene modes for best results in different situations • 10.0 Megapixels to make poster-size prints • 6.9cm/2.7"HyperCrystal LCD with a bright display even in brilliant sunlight • Better low light shooting thanks to BrightCapture Technology • Great for shots of flowers and detail from as close as 1cm with Super Macro Mode • Built-in synchro contacts for external flash connection via hot shoe and wireless flash control from the camera body • Achieve the perfect zoom ratio for each shot by using the manual zoom ring • Liven up your memories with movie recording with sound • TruePic III image processor for faster image handling and higher image quality Experience the power of 20x zoom with the SP-570 UZ. This compact 10 Megapixel camera does it all - from wide-angle perspectives to breathtaking close ups. Dual Image Stabilisation even ensures images come out blur free. And for high-action moments, this model shoots at up to a whopping 13.5 frames per second in 3 Megapixel mode!
Equivalent to a 35mm camera
*In 3.0 Megapixels mode
Image Sensor Effective pixels 10 Megapixels Filter array Primary colour filter (RGB) Full resolution 10.7 Megapixels Type 1/2.33 '' CCD sensor Lens Optical zoom Wide 20 x Aspherical glass elements 4 Filter diamater 48.4 mm Use CLA-10 to attach conversion lens. Focal length 4.6 - 92.0 mm Focal length (equiv. 35mm) 26 - 520 mm Structure 14 lenses / 11 groups Maximum aperture 2.8 - 4.5 Digital Zoom Enlargment factor 5.0 x / 100 x combined with optical zoom LCD Pixel number 230000 dots Monitor size 6.9 cm / 2.7 '' LCD type HyperCrystal LCD BrightCapture Yes Focusing System Single AF Yes Method TTL iESP auto focus with contrast detection Spot focusing Yes , 143 AF areas selectable Face Detection AF Yes Predictive AF Yes Manual focus Yes Standard mode 0.1m - ∞ (wide) / 1.2m - ∞ (tele) Macro mode 0.1m - ∞ (wide) / 1.2m - ∞ (tele) Super Macro mode Closest focusing distance: 1 cm AF illuminator Yes Light Metering ESP light metering Yes Spot metering Yes Centre weighted metering Yes Histogram in shooting mode Yes Exposure System My Mode 4 settings storable Shutter speed 1/2 - 1/2000 s / <8 min (Bulb mode) / < 4 s (Night scene) Exposure compensation +/- 2 EV / 1/3 steps Exposure bracketing 5 frames / +/- 1/3 EV steps Exposure Modes Auto Yes Programme automatic Yes Aperture priority Yes Shutter priority Yes Manual Yes Scene Modes Number of scene modes 23 Portrait Yes Landscape Yes Landscape with Portrait Yes Sports Yes Night Scene Yes Night Scene with portrait Yes Indoor Yes Candle Yes Self-portrait Yes Available Light Portrait Yes Sunset Yes Fireworks Yes Multi Fireworks Cuisine Yes Behind Glass Yes Documents Yes Auction Yes Shoot & Select 1 Yes Shoot & Select 2 Yes Smile Shot Yes Beach Snow Yes Shutter Chance Sensitivity Auto Automatically selected Manual ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400* * In reduced pixel mode White Balance AUTO WB system Yes White Balance iESP II Sunlight Yes Overcast Yes Tungsten Yes Flourescent 1 Yes Flourescent 2 Yes Flourescent 3 Yes Manual White balance (One-Touch) Yes White balance adjustment -7 Red +7 Blue Internal Flash Working range (wide) 0.3 - 4.5 m (ISO 200) 6.4 m Working range (tele) 1.2 - 2.8 m (ISO 200) 4.0 m Flash compensation +/- 2 EV AUTO Yes Red-eye reduction Yes Fill-in Yes Off Yes Red-eye reduction & Fill-in Yes Slow synchronisation Yes Sequence Shooting Sequential shooting mode 1.2 fps / 7 frames (Full Image Size) Sequential shooting mode (high speed) 7.2 fps / 30 frames (in 5MP mode) 13.5 fps / 30 frames (in 3MP mode) Interval shooting Yes Image Processing Noise reduction Yes Pixel mapping Yes TruePic III Yes Function Processing Panorama Yes (only with optional Olympus xD-Picture Card) Movie Processing Digital Image Stabilizer Yes Image Editing Black & White Yes Sepia Yes Funny Face Yes Face Focus Yes Resize Yes Trimming No RAW data edit Yes Attach a frame Yes Attach a title Yes Attach a calendar Yes Attach a layout Yes Correction of brightness No Correction of saturation No Correction of colour balance No Red-eye reduction Yes Light fix Yes Movie Edit Edit movie Yes Index Yes View Images Calendar Yes Album Yes Index 4, 9, 16, 25 frames Zoom 1.1 - 10.0 x Slide show Yes Rotation Yes Histogram in playback mode Yes Image protect mode Yes View Movie Frame by frame Yes Fast forward Yes Reverse playback Yes Index jump Yes Voice playback Yes Still Image Recording DCF Yes RAW Yes EXIF 2.21 PIM III DPS PictBridge DPOF Yes Movie Recording System Recording format AVI Motion JPEG® Sound recording Yes , format: WAV Movie quality 640 x 480 / 30 fps Recording time: 10 s 320 x 240 / 15 fps Recording time: 29 min Voice Recording Recording format Wave format Image Size RAW 10M 3648 x 2736 5M 2560 x 1920 3M 2048 x 1536 2M 1600 x 1200 1M 1280 x 960 VGA 640 x 480 16:9 1920 x 1080 Menu Menu languages in camera 38 languages (Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Russian, Czech, Dutch, Danish, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Croatian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Greek, Slovak, Turkish, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Korean, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese,Thai, Arabic, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian, Indonesian, Hebrew, Malay, Vietnamese) Interface DC input Yes Combined A/V & USB output Yes USB 2.0 High Speed Yes Size Dimensions (WxHxD) 118.5 x 84 x 87.5 mm Weight 445 g (without battery and card)
Pictures of
skin taken with macro mode on the olympus SP-570
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May 20th, 2008
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