Olympus SP-550 UZ review

What you need to know

Reviewed by: Philip Ryan

Reviewed on: 27 March 2007

Tags: Olympus, Olympus SP-550 UZ, prints, lighting conditions, shutter speed

We like:

Great body design; high-quality, fast, wide, 18x optical zoom lens; sensor-shift image stabilisation; manual exposure controls; raw image capture

We don't like:

Very slow; high noise above ISO 400; slightly soft images

CNET UK judgement:

The Olympus SP-550 UZ has great ergonomics, but disappointingly slow performance and soft, noisy images drag it down

Full review:

With one or two exceptions, superzoom cameras have only gone up to 12x optical zoom lenses in recent years. Olympus is pushing that boundary, however, with its new 7.1-megapixel SP-550 UZ, which sports an 18x optical zoom lens. The camera marks a shift back toward the company's older wide-zoom models since, like those, its lens' zoom range starts at a wide 28mm equivalent, which should help when you try to squeeze those last few friends or relatives into a group photo. Continue Reading...