Digital Camera Blog

If you’re looking for a camera that lets you tweak each and every setting but aren’t ready to start toting around separate lenses, check out the Olympus SP-550 UZ. Its rubberized, gun-metal-gray body looks like a scaled-down DSLR with a large lens and a hand grip. Features include seven-megapixel resolution, an impressive 18X optical zoom, and a 2.5-inch LCD.

The top of the SP-550 UZ houses an image stabilizer, shutter button, and zoom, plus a mode dial for selecting the shooting settings. On the back, you’ll find the menu, review, display, and delete buttons, along with a four-way navigation button to the right of the LCD. Above that is a button that turns the display off and on.

The SP-550 UZ offers a whopping 30 modes, including Cuisine, Snow, and even three underwater settings. In addition to these presets, the camera has Auto, Program Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual modes, plus five flash settings. A few of the most interesting settings include High-Speed Sequential Shooting, which captures several images in a row, and a Pre-Capture mode, which takes five shots before the shutter button is fully pressed to keep you from missing any action. You’ll also find five ISO speeds, ranging from 50 to 5000, but at its highest settings, the resolution drops to 3.2 MP, and a decent amount of noise is apparent.
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If you’re looking for a camera that lets you tweak each and every setting but aren’t ready to start toting around separate lenses, check out the Olympus SP-550 UZ. Its rubberized, gun-metal-gray body looks like a scaled-down DSLR with a large lens and a hand grip. Features include seven-megapixel resolution, an impressive 18X optical zoom, and a 2.5-inch LCD.

The top of the SP-550 UZ houses an image stabilizer, shutter button, and zoom, plus a mode dial for selecting the shooting settings. On the back, you’ll find the menu, review, display, and delete buttons, along with a four-way navigation button to the right of the LCD. Above that is a button that turns the display off and on.
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Olympus has a couple “worlds first” claims to make with their newly announced SP-550 UZ. It is the world’s first 18x optical zoom camera and has the world’s fastest sequential shooting (at a lower resolution though). Not only does the camera’s lens reach out to a 35mm equivalent of 504mm, it can do a wide angle of 28mm (35mm equivalent) and macro shots as close as 1cm. The Olympus SP-550 UZ also features 7.1 megapixel capture resolution, a 2.5 inch LCD, and dual image stabilization. It will be available in March 2007 for $499.

The feature of the SP-550 that is most likely to grab headlines is the f2.8-4.5, 18x optical zoom lens, which blows away the current 12x zoom offerings in the point and shoot, ultra-zoom field. They’ve also managed to allow the long lens to take 28mm wide angle shots and macro shots as close as 1cm. The other very important feature, to help out with blurriness from camera shake, is the dual image stabilization. The SP-550 UZ will utilize a sensor-shifting image stabilization system to counteract camera movement, and high ISO digital image stabilization to counteract subject movement.
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Today, Olympus has announced two additions to its Stylus line of digital cameras. The weatherproof Olympus Stylus 760 offers 7.1 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5 inch LCD and dual image stabilization. The Olympus Stylus 770 SW is shockproof, waterproof (now to 33 feet), and crushproof with a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD and LED illuminator. The Stylus 760 will be available in February for $249 and the Stylus 770SW will be available in March for $379.
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Olympus has updated its entry level FE line of digital cameras with four new models. The FE-210, FE-230, FE-240, and FE-250 will be available in February with prices ranging from $149 to $299. Ease of use and slim, sturdy metal bodies pretty much define the FE line and the new models represent, with bodies as slim as 0.6 inches.

All four of new cameras feature 2.5 inch screens, a built in help guide, digital image stabilization, and several preset shooting modes. With the exception of the FE-210, the new cameras also have Olympus’ Bright Capture technology, a first in this FE line.

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