Olympus SP-560 Ultra Zoom - Expert Reviews

Review summary: First announced in late January, the SP-550UZ comes with a dreamy set of features: 18x optical zoom with 28mm wide-angle lens, dual image stabilization and maximum ISO 5,000 at 3-megapixel...

Review summary: Olympus Super Zoom gets put under the ThinkCamera lens...

Pros: Fast to power up ; Smooth video at 30fps ; Good grip and build ; Extensive ISO range ; Powerful telephoto lens

Cons: Soft pictures ; Hit and miss focusing ; High ISO settings aren't that useful ; Noisy images ; Desaturated colour

Verdict: An upgrade from the predecessor to the Olympus SP-560UZ wouldn't be worthwhile in terms of the extras it affords, but the slightly wider 27mm lens can only be regarded as an asset for anyone in the post-Christmas market for a digital camera who ...

Review summary: Olympus SP-560UZ Review - Two cameras with an 18x zoom arrive in the same week. Truly, the photographically lazy shall inherit the earth. Duncan Evans reports.

Pros: 18x optical zoom!, 27mm wide angle, Shadow enhancement, Optical stabilisation, Great ISO range, 1cm Super macro mode, Program modes, Attractive looks

Cons: ISO6400 reduces resolution, ISO3200 quite messy, Noise is present early on, 15fps burst mode only 1.2Mp

Verdict: With such a short space of time between the 550UZ and the 560UZ there's was a nagging worry that the differences would be so small as to not worth noting, but fortunately, there are. The slightly wider lens won't give you a fresh perspective on ...

Review summary: Introduced in August 2007 as part of massive product intorduction of nine new consumer cameras, the SP-560UZ is the latest in Olympus's "Power & Versatility" class that also includes the SP-510UZ and the SP-560UZ. "UZ" stands or Ultra Zoom and this is ...

Pros: 18X optical zoom!, Dual image stabilization, Bright hi-res 2.5-inch LCD with adjustable backlight, 640 x 480 movies at a full 30 fps, Advanced face detection mode, As close as 0.4 inches in super macro mode, Full manual modes in addition to 33 scene ...

Cons: No voice recording mode, Remains at 8 megapixel, xD-Picture card harder to find and more expensive

Verdict: The SP-560UZ's lens also lets you get very close. Like many Olympus models, it has both a macro mode and a super macro mode. Macro lets you get as close as four inches. With super macro you can get as close as a centimeter, 4/10th of an inch. ...

Review summary: The Olympus SP-560 UltraZoom digital camera features a 1/2.35 inch CCD imager with a resolution of eight megapixels, coupled with an Olympus-branded 18x optical zoom lens with an extremely wide-ranging choice of 35mm equivalent focal lengths from 27 ...

Pros: Elegant design with simple controls and a grip that grabs you ; Natural color ; Minimal shutter lag in a long zoom, especially quick at telephoto focal lengths ; Usable digital zoom takes the range to 100x ; Zoom starts at a true wide angle of 27mm ; ...

Cons: Very high ISO and other high-end features (like Burst mode and Pre-Capture) only available at reduced image size ; High ISO itself is noisy ; High levels of chromatic aberration, especially at telephoto, typical of a long zoom ; High chromatic ...

Verdict: There's a choice of both an electronic viewfinder (specification unknown), plus a 2.5-inch LCD display with a resolution of 230,000 pixels. Autofocus is via contrast detection, and the camera can also be focused manually. ISO sensitivity ranges from ...