The biggest thing about the Olympus SP-500 Ultra Zoom is the lens: It's an impressive 10X model that is significantly longer than those on most point-and-shoot cameras. However, it has no type of image stabilization, so this long zoom can be a mixed blessing. It lets you get close to the action, but in anything other than bright sunlight you may end up with blurry pictures because the long zoom amplifies camera shake, especially with long shutter times.
The long lens also makes the camera too big to easily fit into a pocket: It's 2.8 inches deep when turned off, and the lens expands to a slightly ungainly 3.5 inches deep when it's turned on. Fortunately, it's not too heavy--about 14 ounces with battery and memory card--and the wide grip makes it comfortable to hold while shooting. You can easily shoot, use the zoom, or turn the mode dial with your right hand, but you'll need your other hand to access the on-screen menu. An auto-exposure lock button is conveniently located on the top of the camera.
Although the 2.5-inch LCD screen is viewable in daylight, the electronic viewfinder looks much better in that type of setting, and it also saves battery life. You can switch between the two with a button to the right of the viewfinder.
Battery life should not be a worry, however: Powered by four AA Duracell Ultra batteries, this SP-500 was still going after 500 shots, which is when we stop testing. And its use of standard AA batteries means that you'll have no problem finding replacements.
The SP-500 Ultra Zoom is also well priced: At $380, it is significantly cheaper than most of the other models we've seen with long zooms. The resolution of 6 megapixels is a little behind the 7.2- and 8.4-megapixel models that we are seeing now, but the Olympus's resolution is more than adequate for most people. You can easily blow up the images to 8-by-10-inch size and get photos that will look good on the wall.
There's a pretty good selection of scene modes--21 in all--including "museum" (which turns off the sound and the flash) and the unusual "behind glass." However, there is no way to quickly switch among them; you have to scroll through the list. One workaround is to create saved groups of settings using the My Mode setting on the dial; this allows you to switch among four groups of customizable settings--a nice touch for advanced photographers, who may prefer settings that are different from a default scene mode's setup.
We were impressed with the color in the photos we took with the SP-500, and the camera accurately exposed the images. We did see some slight distortion when using the zoom lens at its widest settings, and the photos also looked rather soft: Details such as small text and fine lines were lost in a blurry haze. However, switching to the document scene mode helped improve sharpness by boosting the contrast.
Upshot: This well-priced model has a long zoom lens that will suit beginners and casual photographers who want to get close to the action.
Richard Baguley
"Olympus SP-500 Ultra Zoom" Comments