Compare Prices : Olympus SP-550 UltraZoom - Expert Reviews

Review summary: Olympus is pushing superzoom boundaries with its new 7.1-megapixel SP-550 Ultra Zoom, which sports a massive 18x optical zoom lens, great ergonomics and sensor-shift image stabilisation

Pros: Great body design ; high-quality, fast, wide, 18x optical zoom lens ; sensor-shift image stabilisation ; manual exposure controls ; raw image capture

Cons: Very slow ; high noise above ISO 400 ; slightly soft images

Verdict: The Olympus SP-550 UZ has great ergonomics, but disappointingly slow performance and soft, noisy images drag it down

Review summary: Announced just before PMA in January 2007 the SP-550UZ is the first serious attempt by Olympus to take back some ground in the super zoom sector, a sector it almost single-handedly created back in 2000 with the legendary C-2100UZ, but has since ...

Pros: Amazing 18x zoom range, Truly versatile 28-504mm range, with real wideangle, Comprehensive and extensive feature set, Effective Image Stabilization system (good for two stops), Decent resolution, Good, though by no means class-leading results at lower ...

Cons: Images lack biting crispness, some loss of fine detail to noise reduction, Some corner softness at long end of zoom, Distortion throughout the zoom range, Focus slow at long end of zoom and in low light, Occasional focus errors (where the camera says ...

Verdict: You have to be careful when reviewing cameras that you take a realistic view of how the typical buyer will actually use it, and what they can realistically expect it to do.

Review summary: The Olympus SP-550UZ is made for stealing headlines. The most unique and usable feature of this digital camera is its 18X stabilized optical zoom lens. Not only is this the longer range currently available but it also starts at a wide-angle focal ...

Pros: Good exposure and focus accuracy, Impressive lens sharpness

Cons: Above average noise starting at ISO 400, Poor custom white-balance

Review summary: Announced on the 25th of January 07, the Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom is a new 7 megapixel digital camera with an amazing wide-angle 18x optical zoom ED lens complete with 1cm macro mode. The cameras 18x optical zoom lens is equiv. 28 - 504mm on a 35mm ...

Pros: Very good exposure / metering Very good image quality, very good colour Excellent 1cm Super Macro mode Abundance of features, RAW mode, bulb mode, manual focus, time-lapse photography (see lunar eclipse photos). Abundance of picture adjustments, both ...

Cons: Advanced manual is on CD Slightly slow focusing at telephoto in dark conditions High resolution video (640 x 480 30fps) limited to 15 seconds when using M type memory cards You have to choose between sound or optical zoom and image stabilisation when ...

Verdict: The Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom, with it's impressive wide-angle 18x optical zoom lens and CCD-Shift image stabilisation, is an appealing digital camera providing a zoom range of 28mm - 504mm. It feels very comfortable in hand, and produces very good ...

Pros: Great body design ; high-quality, fast, wide, 18x optical zoom lens ; sensor-shift image stabilization ; manual exposure controls ; RAW image capture

Cons: Very slow ; high noise above ISO 400 ; slightly soft images