Compare Prices : Olympus SP-550 UltraZoom - Expert Reviews

Review summary: When Olympus announced its SP550 UZ, the world's first 18x zoom digicam, in late January it attracted considerable attention worldwide but we had to wait until mid-May to get our hands on a review unit. The zoom lens ranges from the equivalent of 28mm ...

Verdict: Pictures taken with the test camera were bright and colourful with a slightly wider than average dynamic range than we've come to expect from small-sensor digicams. In bright sunlight, shots had a warm hue bias, which carried over to cancel out the ...

Review summary: While it's been happily pumping out new DSLRs of late, Olympus hasn't forgotten the enthusiast compact market with its latest headline making SP-550 UZ bridge model. With a 28-504mm equivalent lens, ...

Verdict: With an asking price of 375 in the UK, which is similar to what some retailers are now asking for body-only DSLR deals, potential purchasers of the Olympus SP-550 UZ face a hard choice particularly ...

Review summary: Olympus' latest super-zoom packs a massive 18x zoom range that goes from a wide 28mm to an amazing paparazzi-busting 504mm equivalent, and all with a full spread of manual controls

Pros: Huge 18x zoom lens, Effective image stabilisation, Compact for the features it contains

Cons: Awkward exposure shifts when recording video, Fiddly interface quirks

Verdict: Olympus' super-zooms have most definitely come of age

Review summary: For a compact, the SP-550UZ is satisfyingly solid

Pros: Huge 18x zoom lens, Effective image stabilisation, Compact for the features it contains

Cons: Awkward exposure shifts when recording video, Fiddly interface quirks

Verdict: There are a few irritating quirks, though. For instance, if you're in a menu and half-press or hit the shutter, the camera will show live view only briefly before returning you to the menu. The prim SP-550UZ insists that you exit the menu system ...

Review summary: The banner feature for Olympus' new prosumer model is 18x optical zoom-an incredible engineering feat for a point-and-shoot camera. While the freedom to go from wide (28mm) to super-telephoto (504mm) is swell, this camera also includes dozens of other ...

Pros: Huge zoom and good wide-angle coverage. RAW mode. Bright, informative optical viewfinder. Effective shake-reduction. Good detail at low ISO. Camera seems to say, "I'm a capable, skilled photographer" not "I'm a photo n00b. Please mug me and take my ...

Cons: xD media only. Auto-focus can get confused on what it should be focusing on. No hot shoe for external flash. Olympus Master software (required to process RAW files) has clunky, obtuse UI.