Olympus SP-570UZ 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom | 
| Brand: Olympus
List Price: $449.99
Buy New: $379.99
You Save: $70.00 (16%)
New (31) Used (3) from $369.00
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 2248
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
System Memory: 0
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Optical Zoom: 20
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 92
Minimum Focal Length: 4.6
Maximum Resolution: 10
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 3.1 x 4.6 x 3.1
nv:Sensor: 10 Megapixel
Size: 1/2.33
Image Resolution: 3648 x 2736
Movie Resolution: 640x480
Memory Included: 45MB Internal
Storage Media: xD-Picture CardTM (1GB, 2GB)
Compressed Format: JPEG, RAW
Movie File Format: AVI motion JPEG
Optical Zoom: 20x
Digital Zoom: 5x
Combined Zoom: 100x
Focal Length: f= 4.60 - 92.0mm
Focus Mode: Manual
Focus Mode: Full-time AF
Focus Mode: Spot AF
Focus Mode: iESP auto
Focus Mode: AF
Focus Mode: Selective AF Target
Focus Mode: Face-Detection
Focus Mode: Predictive AF
MPN: 226355
Model: 226355
UPC: 050332162976
EAN: 0050332162976
ASIN: B0011E67VA
Release Date: April 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | 10-megapixel image sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 18 x 24-inch prints | | • | 20x optical dual image-stabilized zoom | | • | 2.7-inch HyperCrystal LCD | | • | Perfect Fix in-camera editing; includes Olympus Master 2 software | | • | Stores images on xD Picture Cards (not included) |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
With superior optics, power and portability, the SP-570 UZ provides a wealth of creative control without the expense of an SLR. Whether you're looking for 20x optical zoom or 13.5fps sequential shooting, this all-in-one, versatile, compact camera is great for outdoor, travel and sports photography. The powerful, ultra-compact lens gives you unmatched shooting versatility with its amazing 20x optical zoom to bring you close to the action, and the wide-angle lens that lets you easily capture more of your scene. By featuring the TruePic III Image Processor, your images will come through with true-to-life color, sharper detail, and less noise. As if all that wasn't enough, the SP-570 UZ also sports the new Face Detection technology, which recognizes and tracks faces within the frame to help you capture sharp, brilliant portrait photos. Focus Range Normal mode - Wide - 0.1m - infinity, Tele - 1.2m - infinity, Macro Mode - Wide - 0.1m - infinity, Tele - 1.2m - infinity, Super Macro mode - 1cm - infinity Auto - 1/2000 -1/2 sec. (up to 4 Sec. In Night Scene mode) Shutter Speed Manual - 1/2000 - 15 sec. Shutter Speed Auto, High Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 ISO 45MB Internal Memory (additional memory recommended to store more photos and video) Media Card Slot - xD-Picture Card (1GB,2GB) Built-in Flash with Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill-in + Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Synchro1, Slow1 + Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Synchro2, Off Flash modes Flash Working Range - 0.3m - 6.4m @ ISO 400 Wide, 1.2m - 4m @ ISO 400 Tele USB Connector, Audio/Video Output, DC Input Approximate Unit Dimensions - 4.7(W) x 3.3(H) x 3.4(D) Approximate Unit Weight - 15.7oz (without battery & media card)
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
 Good improvements but questionable design April 30, 2008
lordhoot (Anchorage, Alaska USA)
159 out of 178 found this review helpful
As a pretty happy owner of Olympus SP550UZ, I borrowed this latest version, SP570UZ to tested it out for several days under various conditions. I immediately saw few similarity and few non-similarity with this camera to the SP550UZ that I owned. From now on, I am dropping the SP and UZ reference and just calling them "550" and "570".
Let me hit the good points first. First of all, I thought the capture speed and the write speed of 570 have definitely improved over my 550 camera. Of course, this is still not lighting fast but its an improvement. I think the weak xD card is the blame anyway as I was using their "H" card all the way. Second, you definitely see the difference between 28mm wide for 550 and 26mm wide for 570. Only 2mm difference but you can see it. Not much difference between the 18x and 20x though. Like the 550, the 570 is very easy to hold, handled and grip. The 570 is slighter larger but the weight felt the same. Major improvement I really like in control for the 570 lies in the fact that you can make certain adjustments like flash compensation right off the back LCD menu now instead of going through the menu system in the 550. The shadow adjustment mode does work pretty well under ideal condition. But not all that well depending on the extreme cases. Face detection system works well although I am not really a great fan of this. Still for both features, it better then not having one at all. Photos came out looking very good under most condition and I think they improved the color capture for red which was somewhat of a problem for the 550. The dual image stabilizer proves to be excellent once again and capturing at extreme zoom proves to be quite good as long as there is enough light. But those are the highlights of the good things about this camera. I am not going to bother going down the specs since Amazon have been so kind to provide it for all to read. One of the previous reviewers wrote that the battery life quite excellent and I do concur with that. But there is a reason for that in my next paragraph.
The bad things about this cameras lies in three elements. One is that the electronic viewfinder is harder to use thanks to the increase reliance on the LCD that is almost on all the time. I like using the viewfinder as an old film SLR guy but if needed, I can adjust to this. Second element lies in the zooming...there is no auto-zoom. All the zooming are done by hand - your hand that is and to be honest, it is not an exact science here. While you still got the auto-focus, you have to manually zoom up and down. The lens control actually feel pretty "rubbery" to borrowed another person's term. Worst, with my 550, I can zoom and fire away one handed. There is no way I can do that with 570 since one hand is on the shutter while other hand have to adjust the zoom. Unless you got super long fingers, most normal folks would have to do it two handed. The lack of the feel of a firm control in zooming is quite puzzling and I supposed anyone can get a handled on it with enough practice but still felt pretty weak. A whole star was taken from the review on this feature. I wasn't too impressed. By the way, this is why the battery life have improve...camera no longer have to zoom, you have to do it yourself. (And they save weight by not adding the auto-zoom device into the camera.) Finally, Olympus totally failed to improved their camcorder system for the UZ series. Like the 550, 570 is light-years behind...let say Canon S5 IS in terms of taking video. The videos taken by Olympus 570 is okay if the camera cost $150 but totally unacceptable for $450 plus camera. It can be pretty grainy and sound was pretty weak. Another star gone for that.
I supposed I could go on but I wrote enough. I am sure a more professional reviews on the Internet is forth coming and anyone interested can continue to investigate. I am not sure if this camera is really right for inexperience photographer or even for a casual one. It quite advanced piece of digital camera but its not really well designed. Manual zooming is nice as an option but not as a permanent condition. And the video recording for a camera of this price range is really pathetic. Personally, I can live without the video but zooming feature is a step backward to the 20th century...not a step forward for the 21st.
 Great camera for soccer moms! April 19, 2008
Heather M. Williamson (Arlington, Tn USA)
126 out of 135 found this review helpful
I bought this camera early in April, from another vendor. I didn't want to wait until Amazon's April 15 release date! My newfound hobby is photographing high school rugby games, so I am by no means a professional and truly don't know much at all about photography at all. I had been using a Kodak Easyshare with 12x zoom with good results, but I wanted to get closer and I wanted faster sequential shooting. Yet, I didn't want to buy a $1,000 plus SLR camera. After all, I'm not trying to win a Pulitzer. I'm not frantically concerned with crisp color, and I don't have time to learn a million functions. I just want to get the "money shot" - a player with ball in hand, hair flying, face in grimace, muscles straining, dirt clods and sweat droplets spraying around - you know what I mean. After some research I discover that my Easyshare, and this Olympus, are in a class of camera called point-and-shoot super zoom - yeah! That's exactly what I wanted! And THIS camera, at 20x zoom gets you closer than any other out there. So I was sold. And wow, are my pictures with this camera GREAT! I started with the pre-programmed sports mode, but found that my best action shots were in the "P" mode, at a speed of H1 (and that's not even the fastest speed!), with image quality = fine. I saved these settings as a "my mode" and can adjust brightness/exposure with the dial at the top of the camera if I need to. Other than the great money shots I am getting with this camera, I like the battery life. I have taken up to 1,500 pictures at a time without having to change the battery, and I use the screen a lot. I also like that I am not bound to a monopod - it's light, it's point and shoot, I can move around and adjust things quickly and catch just about all the action. The only thing I don't like is the amount of time it takes for sequentially shot pictures to "save". It can be frustrating to wait on the camera to save while action is going on that you can't capture. This was a problem with my Easyshare, too, and I suspect is a problem with any point and shoot with sequential shooting capabilities. The only reason I'd ever upgrade to an SLR is that this does not appear to be an issue with those types of cameras. If my fascination with sports photography continues to grow, I imagine someday I will buy an SLR. But for now, I am really satisfied with this Olympus and it's 20x zoom and dozens fps shooting speed!
 Good solid camera April 28, 2008
E. Soon (Mercer Island, Washington United States)
46 out of 47 found this review helpful
Tried the camera out for the past 4-5 days, under various conditions. All and all, for the price and the functions/ability this camera offers, it is a solid camera.
First of all, this is obviously no SLR camera. The aperture and the shutter speed are more limited than I would prefer. As such, it probably might turn off people that are looking for a SLR styled camera. While the high ISO values allow you to take pictures in low light conditions, the noise reduction is simply not enough to make those pictures look presentable. Image stabilization was no match for my cat in those low light situations, even with high ISO values. Fast shutter speed remains the key against blurry pictures.
The selling point of this camera, the 20X zoom, works as advertised. The zooming ring works fine, but it might not be sensitive enough if you are trying to zoom meticulously. There are 4 AF modes to choose from, ranging from giving the camera total control of choosing the object to focus on (not as "smart" as I like), face recognition, center focusing, to basically using the arrow keys to manually point at the area you want to focus. Also, there is a manual focus option, though not very practical to use, IMO.
The "High-Speed Sequential Shooting" I think is handicapped by the slow writing speed of the XD-Card. Perhaps the H XD card might make a different, but the M XD card was simply too slow. I have yet to try the pre-capture mode.
The LCD is big and clear, and you have the option of using the viewfinder window to take pictures, though it is not a "real" viewfinder window.
The battery life on this thing is amazing. It would take some heavy shooting to drain the battery out in one day (of course, that depends on the kind battery you use).
All in all, there are goods and bads to this camera, but for the price and the functions that you got, I think it is a good camera for what it is designed for.
EXCELLENT CHOICE April 17, 2008
John E. Hetsch (LOUISVILLE, KY USA)
30 out of 53 found this review helpful
I PURCHASED THIS CAMERA ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF A FRIEND WHO HAD ONE AND I AM SO HAPPY HE CONVINCED ME TO GET IT. I'VE HAD TWO KODAK CAMERAS WHICH ARE SIMILAR IN FEATURES AND APPEARANCE, BUT THIS ONE OUTSHINES EVEN THE KODAK CAMERAS. IT WILL BE MANY MONTHS, IF EVER, THAT I LEARN TO USE ALL THE FEATHRES OF THIS CAMERA, BUT JUST KNOWING I CAN GO INTO THE MENUS AND BRING UP THE FEATURES MAKES ME FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE CAMERA. MOST OF MY PHOTOGRAPHY WILL BE USING THE "P" MODE, BUT JUST KNOWING I HAVE AVAILABLE COMPLETE MANUAL CONTROL MAKES ME LIKE THIS CAMERA. SO FAR, THE PICTURES I HAVE MADE ARE SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL, SHARP, COLORFUL AND EVERYTHING I EXPCECTED. I HAVE ONLY HAD IT FOR ABOUT TEN DAYS, BUT EVERY DAY, I LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT IT AND I LOVE IT. I RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE THINKING ABOUT A DIGITAL CAMERA.
Flexible yet superbly easy to use, only weakness is low-light color noise June 6, 2008
James J. Horning (Palo Alto, CA USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Hands down, this is the most flexible of the dozen or so (film and digital) cameras that I have owned.
But it is also the easiest to use over a wide variety of situations. And the 20x optical zoom is just amazing, equivalent of 26mm to 520mm on a classical 35mm camera. For 3-megapixel shots, there's a 30x "soft zoom" mode that combines 1.5x digital zoom with the optical zoom, without loss of resolution.
The one downside is that the small (1/2.33") sensor does exhibit quite a bit of color noise in low-light situations. To be fair, it takes usable pictures in lighting, and at distances, where none of my previous cameras would have gotten anything at all.
Turn the mode dial to Auto, and you have the consummate point and shoot camera. The things you need to master to take good snapshots in most situations are: taking off the lens cap, turning on the power switch, pointing the camera, and pressing the shutter button.
From there, you can mix and match other features and controls wherever your photographic needs, sophistication, and interests take you. One button to enable the flash. One ring to control the zoom. One switch for manual focus. Program, Aperture, or Shutter priority modes. Exposure compensation. Over 20 specialized "scene" modes, such as Portrait, Smile Shot, Fireworks, Candlelight, ... One button to switch to Macro or SuperMacro (1cm) focusing.
Flash metering is through the lens and there is a hot shoe that interfaces with external Olympus flashes for TTL metering, which seems quite accurate.
The camera has enough buttons (and a multi-purpose "setting" dial) to provide an efficient interface for all the common controls an advanced amateur is likely to want. And it also provides a very general menu interface that provides direct control of even more camera parameters for users who need it, without having to remember which button controls what. Exposure and flash exposure compensation. Bracketing (3 or 5 shots, with 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 steps). Drive: single shot, bracket, continuous, high speed (13.5 frames/sec.), time lapse. Sharpness, contrast, and saturation adjustment. Metering "intelligent," spot, or area mode. Autofocus face, "intelligent," spot, or area mode. Fulltime or predictive auto-focus. And so on.
An Olympus feature I like is MyMode, where I can pre-establish four combinations of settings that I expect to use a lot, and get to them just by selecting one of my four modes.
No wonder the "Quick Start Guide" is 100 pages.
NB: Don't be fooled: The $10.00 "Instruction Manual" that can be purchased separately from Olympus is just the "Quick Start Guide" in plastic covers. There does not seem to be ANY official source for the rest of the information an owner might want.
Shooting pictures at 5 megapixels, image quality under all conditions seems to meet or exceed that of my older Olympus C-750. (And it's dramatically better in every single dimension than the Olympus C-2100 I reviewed back in 2001.) I expect to be able to crop pictures normally and still make 8"x10" prints without any visible digital artifacts. As with all my digital cameras, I'll use Photoshop to fix up pictures to my taste; I've played with, but don't expect to seriously use, the 570UZ's in-camera editing facilities.
Oh, yes, the 570UZ is also a pretty decent little camcorder. Just turn the mode dial to Video, and you can shoot videos at VGA (640x480) or qVGA (320x240) resolution at either 15 or 30 frames per second. Everything the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder can do, in a package that's only a little larger, with 20x optical instead of 2x digital zoom, and only one button you have to understand. But with the potential of using most of the camera controls described above, if you want to. Because it records to a flash memory card (and the maximum xD card is 2GB), video chews up memory pretty fast: Less than 19 minutes/2GB at full resolution and frame rate, just over 50 minutes/2GB at minimum res and rate.
|
|
|
