Just a bit dissapointing (Olympus SP-510 UZ)

Member Name: Nibblewood

Product:	Olympus SP-510 UZ
Date:	31/07/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant zoom, good macro

Disadvantages: Poor, noisy picture quality, shutter lag.

For me, this camera leaves a lot to be desired.

It creates a very noisy image at any ISO, and falls foul to many picture quality checks. For example, it does that fringing thing, where edges of something against light appear purple.

The camera also suffers shutter lag. Many other similar grade cameras do, but it is still a problem, and can ruin an action image that you want. On top of this, i found that it takes a fair amount of time between turning it on and taking the photo.

However, it is not without it's good points. The macro setting(s) are very effective, and allow the user to get very close up to the subject. It is also relatively easy to use. You can change settings quickly, however, there are some buttons that double up for two uses, which can be confusing. The best thing about the camera is overwhelmingly the zoom. A 10x optical zoom is very impressive, and allows the user to get an equivalent focal length of 380mm. On the other hand, the digital zoom is awful, and compromises a lot of the picture quality to get a little bit closer.

Compared to other cameras in the price range, I think that the olympus under performs, in most categories. It creates bad picture quality, theres shutter lag, and there are a lot fewer settings than there could be. I think that this camera would leave even the most amateur photographer unfulfilled.

Summary: Underperforms on what is most important.

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