Olympus SP-570UZ 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom
Experience the power of 20x zoom with the SP-570 UZ. This compact 10 Megapixel camera does it all - from wide-angle perspectives to breathtaking close ups. Dual Image Stabilization even ensures images come out blur free. And for high-action moments, this model shoots at up to a whopping 13.5 frames per second in 3 Megapixel mode!
Olympus SP-570UZ 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom Accessories
 Olympus 2 GB xD Picture Card Type M 202170
Olympus CASE NYLON ULTRAZOOM
M+2 Gb Xd-picture Card
Olympus 202027 2GB M Type Xd Card (Retail Package)
Olympus B90SU NiMH Quick Battery and Charger Set for Olympus Digital Cameras
Olympus CLA-10 Lens Adapter Tube for Olympus SP-550 UZ
Opteka HD2 Filter Kit for Olympus SP-570 SP-565 SP-560 SP-550 UZ Digital Camera
Olympus Nylon Ultra Zoom Case + Charger with 4 Batteries + Cameta Bonus Accessory Kit for Olympus SP-570 UZ, SP-560 UZ, SP-565 UZ & SP-550 UZ Digital Cameras
Olympus Neoprene Soft Digital Camera Case
2GB Fuji Type-H High Speed xD-Picture Card
Olympus SP-570UZ 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom Reviews
Otherwise, the 560UZ is just about as good. I especially love the crispness of close-ups. I highly recommend both of these models, but if you want the extra flash, get the 570UZ. I got it because it has a hot shoe but have not used the external flash yet. The Olympus SP-570UZ is handy, simple to learn to use and produces terrific results.
I love this camera. I bought it for digital submissions of art work for my Advanced Placement Studio Art students and it takes wonderful images.
and as for the 20X zoom, it really does get you up close fast, and takes a fairly decent picture. Olympus has made some awesome cameras but this is not one of them. The quality of the photos when you do a sports action, or multi frame action mode is horrible. I am not impressed by the quality of the prints this camera takes, I find it very cumbersome to use. I don't think the shoot button is laid out well either it is hard to man this camera with just one hand. I have owned Olympus cameras for over 10 years now and have always had a great experience, so when I was ready to move up to a bigger model I of course looked to them.
I also didn't like how the unit opens to hook up the USB port to download the pictures onto your computer, it is a very tight fit and I am always worried about breaking something. I would have to say the 20X zoom takes much better photos than the standard photo taking mode. So to wrap it up, I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is not camera savvy, (doesn't know what Aperature means etc) or who wants some thing to just point and shoot. I was so quick to focus on things with the little toggle button on my old camera and now I have to use two hands to focus this and for nothing more than show, it really isn't a camera that you have to move the lens cap to focus, it could easily be done with a toggle switch, but the manufacturer wanted it to appear more professional. A few features I do like though, are the scene and guide features where it has "dummy" settings for lighting, specific scenes etc. I need to sit down with someone who knows cameras better than I to see if we can over ride the factory settings on that feature. I am so dissapointed though, not only am I out over $400, I have a camera that is inferior to my old olympus.
If a SLR is out of your budget, or your need a second camera with your SLR, or would like to almost have an SLR but without the steep learning curve, this camera might work for you. One has almost SLR control but there is also some simple settings and guides to just point and shoot photography. Its long zoom (20x) results in very sharp, high quality images. Very sad day.
Using it is pretty simple, but I encourage folks to learn how to use all the extra features. But more like, Think, point and shoot. But I needed a decent camera to take with me on a trip to SE Asia, and I had no time or money to research the new Canon XSi. The image quality and sharpness is outstanding which is what I most require in any camera.
SO I went with a review in some PC magazine and tried the Olympus SP-570UZ, especially appealing with Amazon's price. After about 2000 pictures, lots of experimenting, I am very happy with this camera. This camera is definitely of the highest quality. Loved it. I had my Canon XTi stollen.
The alternative, "silent mode", is so quiet that you can't tell when the shutter has snapped. But I find the images soft and the colors somewhat wan. These include:. Some photographers may be able to adjust to its quirks, but I find them simply unacceptable. The view finder and LCD are great.
- Even when I get the shot, the images, while not terrible, are sub-standard in many ways (and I don't think this is a subjective read on my part, nor do I think I have a defective unit). First and foremost, the zoom does not respond exactly to the turning of the ring. The first questionable thing I noticed is that the camera was making unexpected decisions on which portion of the frame to use for auto-focusing. Don't buy this camera for that. - You must remove the lens cap when the camera is powered on. But as a hard-shooting amateur, I find this camera frustrating in so many ways that I'm already seeking a replacement after just a few months.
This is not my first Olympus UZ. - The so-called "smile detector" feature is worthless. And this camera does feel good in the hand. I think the menu structure is pretty good. - The edge of the lens cap is very close to the surface of the lens. The ring on the 570 essentially forces the use of two hands, and even then cripples your ability to frame a shot as you wish on the fly.
For example, I don't understand why the "Camera Menu" is grayed out and unavailable when the camera is in "Auto" mode. Full-range zoom is not possible when shooting videos. Moving it slowly sometimes results in a slower zoom, but the threshold between slow and fast zooming is hard to find. Some people complain about the menu structure, but there are a lot of features on this camera. That was the Olympus C-2100 2MP Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom, with which I took about 16,000 pictures over the last 6 1/2 years. It may be that this is truly the best camera currently available in this class, but if that is the case, the class has regressed since the C-2100UZ was released in 2001. This also turns out to be the first of several senseless defaults that I discovered as I worked through the menus. The older Olympus had a soft mechanical click, and it was essential.
I'd had such good luck with the Olympus, that I didn't even consider other brands. If you are taking pictures out in the real world, there is just not enough time to decide on and set the correct scene mode before you snap. There are additional modes available, and though I realize there will be times when iESP is a usable feature, it simply should not be the default. I prefer to leave the power on with the lens cap on, then just slip the lens cap off when I'm ready to shoot. - I frequently miss shots with this camera. - The shutter snap sound is artificial, and there is no tactile sense that the shutter has snapped.
In my previous Olympus camera, handheld was always an option even at the 100X end. The simple act of pressing the shutter button is often enough to make it reset, which is very frustrating. Second, though the quality of video clips is acceptable, the zoom range is severely hobbled when in the video mode. I have a whole bunch of early shots with some arbitrary element of the shot often far from the center in focus while everything else is fuzzy. If you are drawn to this camera for some of the gimmicky features I have not mentioned, I recommend that you think twice.
There is a time delay shutter release, but that's just not the same. The ability to save RAW and JPG simultaneously is fabulous, though slow (I don't use it regularly). That would be a shame. Counter-clockwise zooms in, clockwise zooms out. You will see mention in almost every review of the zoom ring on the lens. At a minimum, this triples the boot-up time.
Finger smudges on the lens have become a very real and common problem. Unless you change settings frequently, this is a needless drain on the batteries. On my previous Olympus, I had become accustomed to a quick and perfect focus every time. By the time you get the camera away from your eye to view the captured image, it's gone.
Mine ultimately developed some dead pixels on the sensor which led me into a very quick search for a replacement. Over time, this along with shutter lag have served to differentiate between the professional DSLR class and the amateur UltraZoom. There is no question that this camera is aimed at amateurs (and not even at a "prosumer" class user). It's very, very bad in design and implementation. This camera makes that an especially difficult task. - If you forget to take the lens cap off, you get an error message, the camera locks up, and you must cycle the power off and on. If I had known this, I would not have purchased this camera.
It's slow, frequently inaccurate, and performs especially poorly in anything other than direct sunlight. Viewing pictures is difficult in the viewfinder, and there should be an option to specify that the LCD is always used for reviewing. Among these are:. I also take lots of pictures from the stands at baseball games, and this camera performs very poorly in that type of setting. An additional frustration does creep in with regard to the menus. I've read so many good things about this camera that I almost hate to be a detractor. I assumed that time had improved most of the features, and that the learning curve would be fairly small.
- Movies default to recording without sound. I am forever getting this wrong another reason for missing shots. - When using the viewfinder, by default the control panel is visible on the LCD. But even if you can live with some of the subjective choices made by Olympus on the big things, their choices on many of the little things are pretty frustrating. That should be the default (and only) option on the camera. (I found this out the hard way).
- There are some very subtle differences between the "P" mode and the "Auto" mode of shooting limitations which you may not realize until you look at the pictures later (I used "P" initially, then switched to "Auto" when I discovered some subtle improvements to the results). The latter proved true, the former did not. With this, even a tripod cannot guarantee that the image you see in the view finder will be the image you get. When all is said and done, the usable telephoto zoom on this camera is about the same as the earlier model (though there is definitely more useful range at the wide angle end if you can live with the pin-cushioning). If you are shooting portraits in a studio somewhere, such nuanced options may come in handy (but you probably wouldn't want an ultra-zoom in such a setting anyway).
I want crisp images and accurate colors. Finally, when you get used to all of the quirks on this camera and get ready to take a family picture, you will discover that this camera does not support the use of a remote control. The camera-end connector is not standard, and without that cable there is no way to offload those pictures. As you can tell, the SP-570UZ has been a disappointment to me almost from the moment it came out of the box. That camera was a pioneer in the UZ category, featuring 10X optical zoom (100X digital), the earliest image stabilization and a fabulous lens made by Canon. But I consider these to be mainly toys, and I do not use them. That's not possible with this camera. It is possible to move the ring and get no change whatsoever in the zoom.
After reading a handful of reviews which labeled this camera the best of its class, I didn't even hesitate. It just plain doesn't work unless all the conditions are perfect (a rarity). At 10MP, resolution is not an issue. Its only real downside was the 2.1MP resolution (which was at the low end even as it was introduced). Yes, there are lots of scene modes and image preview/editing options, as well as extensive bracketing and shooting parameters to adjust.
This last piece, the direction to turn the control, is just one of many annoying smaller things found in this camera. These decisions were not good. Once I got the auto-focus mode changed, that's when I began to realize just how poor it is. These problems render the optional digital zoom portion as essentially worthless. - The camera sounds are LOUD, even at their quietest setting. - I frequently get blurry pictures across many lighting conditions. Sometimes it stops before you stop moving your hand, other times it continues zooming after you have stopped moving your hand. But this comes with serious trade-offs.
Though I find their organization to be quite easy to navigate, I find myself frustrated because certain menu options are unavailable based on mode settings. Even after I have adjusted these settings at great length, the image quality remains quite flat. I suppose that none of these things would be deal-breakers if the image quality was as exceptional as I have become used to with Olympus cameras. First, the lens has some serious pin-cushioning problems which even zooming cannot completely alleviate. Even worse, the image stabilization is of very little help. And finally, the zoom ring turns the wrong direction. With the 570, it sometimes takes three or four tries before it can focus, and it almost requires a hard edge somewhere within the AF target mark. - When reviewing photos, they are displayed in either the viewfinder or on the LCD based on which you were using to take photos.
I often have to use my camera to take pictures of images in square frames. That's where the good ends. This turns out to be a "feature" called "iESP" mode in which, according to the manual, "The camera determines which subject within the screen to focus on." I quickly disabled it in favor of the "spot" mode (center of the frame gets the focus). Battery life (with hybrid rechargeables and a few tweaks to the default settings) is superb. I came to discover that there are various menu settings which allow these characteristics to be adjusted (picture mode, sharpness, contrast, and saturation), but that seems ridiculous to me.
As a result, accuracy with the zoom is nearly impossible. - The "record view" (which shows each picture for a second or two immediately after taking it) defaults to ON, but also defaults to the LCD screen even if you're using the viewfinder, rendering it virtually useless. Second, at the telephoto end, autofocus becomes a painful problem. Most reviewers dismiss it as "not too bad." I have to disagree. Though the concept is a throwback to the old SLRs of my childhood, the more modern alternative (a small lever near the shutter release which can be operated by the index finger of your shooting hand) is far superior.
The bottom line:. Some of the big things are OK (build, weight, menu structure, view finder, LCD, battery life, memory) but some of the biggest things are not (auto-focus speed and accuracy, image stabilization, lens, menu defaults, controls, zoom).
This may help explain why iESP is the default: it allows the camera to search for hard edges in the frame and use those to get a quicker focus lock. But there is no such setting.
Two final things: First, the camera contains some internal memory which allows you to take pictures without using the optional xD memory card. The built-in flash is also much more usable than the one in its predecessor.
Unfortunately, it also means weird auto-focus decisions. I appreciate the extended zoom range of this camera, especially at the wide angle end.
But be careful not to lose the USB cable which comes with the camera.
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