Been testing out a semi-new Olympus SP-500UZ, which I’ve observed to sorta belong to a new subclass of prosumer cameras. Although technically I’d still consider this a point and shoot device with some advanced features. Why? because it’s cheap! (relatively)
They’ve lowered the price of this class of cameras to about P30,000.00, made them much lighter and damn well portable. This particular model is equipped with 10x optical zoom and 6.0MP. Now the Sony equivalent is capable of 5.1MP and 12x optical. It’s also got this shake correction mechanism for those of us who do not possess the talent of holding a camera with the fine motor skills of a doctor. The Olympus claims to have advanced red eye correction and Turbo image processing. Hmm, okay. Cool. It still shakes though so that sucks.
I really thought the camera wasn’t so great after reviewing some shots. This is one of those weird instances where the images viewed in the viewfinder aren’t as good as when they get imported to iPhoto. Maybe it is due to the huge 2.5 inch LCD viewer. Or maybe not. Whatever.
One thing I love about Olympus is the super macro mode of 2cm distance which not too many cameras have. I needed to use a tripod to steady my hands for most of the shots came out blurry in S-macro. I am an Olympus D-540 owner so the premise was the same, except that I was holding something slightly heavier.
So my verdict? Well, all I need to do is grab myself a set of rechargeables and I’d give this baby a 4/5. I really love how easy it is for the flash to be manually released and closed to take those careful macros.
I wrote this mini preview as an excuse to show off my cute dog pic on top. Ain’t he cute!
