Features and Design

The black-bodied SP-500UZ is very compact for an ultra-zoom digicam. Made primarily of plastic, unfortunately it has a chintzy feel. Guess when you’re making these things in Indonesia, it’s hard to ship metal to that Third World country and still keep prices down. The camera measures 4 x 2.9 x 2.8 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 13.4 ounces loaded with four AAs and xD Picture card. It does have a comfortable, sturdy grip. Yet your proof is in the holding—you really have to do a hands-on test with this or any other camera you’re considering.

The front of the camera is dominated by a 10x Olympus ED lens that’s rated 38-380mm in 35mm terms with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. This is good although I wish they leaned a bit more to the wide angle. Olympus has the highly regarded 7MP C-7070 Wide Zoom ($449) with a range of 27-110mm but it’s only 4x. Too bad they didn’t start this one out at 26 or 28mm. Oh, well maybe next year. You’ll also find a built-in mic, an AF Illuminator (or Assist) lamp and various decals promoting lens power and its 6MP resolution. The top has the mode dial, power button, AEL (Auto Exposure Lock)/Custom key and shutter with wide-tele zoom toggle switch. The flash is also here but unfortunately you have to manually open it in dark settings, a dumb move IMHO. The camera does not have a hot shoe either.

The rear of the camera is dominated by a 2.5-inch LCD screen rated a so-so 115K pixels (more on this later). There’s also the typical four-way controller with central OK button. Other buttons include the pop open for the flash, one to switch between the LCD and viewfinder, a Display/Guide, Quick View to check your last shot as well as another to change the flash setting or to delete images. The EVF does not have a diopter adjustment, another bummer.

On the right side are doors for DC in and the xD card slot. The left has the USB out (USB 2.0 full speed) and a speaker. On the bottom is the battery compartment door (it uses four AAs) and a tripod mount.

The camera comes with a decent kit. There’s a lens cap that gets attached to the neck strap and dangles there when you’re shooting, a clunky way to handle this task. On the plus side is a Quick Start guide to get you going from setting the date and time through downloading to the PC. It does the job adequately but Kodak does it better. There’s a three-language Basic Manual (27 pages in English) that really is basic. I know companies are trying to save money but they should scrimp elsewhere and provide a full book since not too many people lug their laptops around so they can read their camera manuals! Of the two CD ROMs one has the full manual and the other has Olympus Master software V1.31 with support for RAW files, a real plus especially since so many companies leave you hanging with these large, high-quality files. No xD picture card is supplied so expect to budget around $50 for a 512MB card that holds around 125 6MP SHQ images (2816 x 2112 pixels) or 57 RAW files. Also plan to purchase a set of NiMH batteries and a charger to save money and the environment.

Popping the batteries and card in, setting up for SHQ JPEGs and RAW files, it was time to take some photographs.

Image Courtesy of Olympus America