Olympus SZ-20 Review

May 19, 2011 | Gavin Stoker | Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

The Olympus SZ-20 is a new super-slim travel-zoom compact camera, offering a 16 megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, Full 1080p HD movies, 3 inch LCD screen, 9fps high-speed continuous shooting, and 3D photo shooting mode. There are eight Magic Filters, including Sparkle and Watercolour options, a Pet Detection mode, Hand-held Starlight mode, Eye-Fi card compatibility and Smart Panoramas. The Olympus SZ-20 is available now for £199.

Ease of Use

The 'travel zoom' camera sector has been experiencing a boom of late, not just in the volume of available units from nearly all the major photographic and electronics manufacturers, but also in variety.

It's seemingly no longer enough just to shoehorn a long lens into a slender shell that will fit in your pocket; a few extra gimmicks thrown into the mix are what's needed. Olympus has responded with the 24x optical zoom SZ-30, which includes GPS, and this, the SZ-20, a more modest 12.5x zoom offering without GPS but with an affordable price tag. Fittingly, the Olympus' 'SZ' prefix stands for 'Super Zoom'.

The extra gimmicks on the SZ-20 include Olympus' integral 'digital darkroom' of Magic Filters digital effects (applied at the point of capture), an increasingly ubiquitous auto stitch panorama option, plus 3D image creation mode (stereoscopic results saved as an MPO file viewable only on a 3D TV). Aside from Fujifilm with its W3 compact, Olympus is the first non-electronics manufacturer (we're thinking Sony, Panasonic) to offer 3D image creation.

Retailing for just under £200, the Olympus SZ-20 looks the part too, a glossy champagne-silver exterior in the case of our review sample, retro futurist styling and something approaching an actual handgrip – an essential in our view that most pocket zoom rivals omit. Official build dimensions for the SZ-20 are closely comparable to its 18x zoom rival in the Nikon S9100 at 102.4x64x30.4mm, while it weighs a marginally lighter 186g, something that's reflected, unfortunately, in the larger proportion of plastic in the build. Although well disguised by its exterior, the budget build is immediately noticeable upon picking the camera up.

With available shutter speeds ranging from 1/4 to 1/2000 sec, bear in mind that like the rest of its super zoom/travel zoom ilk, the SZ-20 wouldn't claim to be a camera for the photo enthusiast. Look to the impressive if inevitably pricier Olympus XZ-1 high performance compact for that.

Current rivals for the SZ-20 include the aforementioned Coolpix S9100 and previously reviewed Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20, along with the Canon PowerShot SX220HS and SX230HS, Casio Exilims EX-H30 and EX-H20G, Fuji FinePix F550EXR, plus the Samsung WB600 and Samsung WB650.

Olympus SZ-20 Olympus SZ-20
Front Rear

Clearing having its work cut out in such a competitive class, Olympus has responded by fielding a best-in-class 16-megapixel resolution derived from an 16.8MP 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, its focal range extending from a wide angle 24mm to 300mm at the telephoto end (35mm equivalents), supported by mechanical image stabilisation.

Photos and Full HD 1920x1080 pixels video are committed to SD, SDHC or SDXC card. As with most recent compacts, compatibility with Eye-Fi media cards is additionally offered. So while there's the ability to go wireless with the SZ-20 and Olympus trumpets the fact in its press blurb, it's by no means unique in that respect. For those hoping to shoot in lower light, ISO ranges from a lower than most ISO80 through ISO3200, which is respectable enough. Closest focus distance is 1cm in macro mode, which about as good as one could hope for.

With the Olympus deploying contrast detection auto focus, stills and moving footage are framed and reviewed via 3-inch, 4:3 aspect ratio LCD boasting a better than average 460k-dot resolution. As expected there's no alternative viewfinder.

Also missing is a standard mains charger. As with the Nikon S9100, the Olympus' lithium battery is charged in camera, an adapter plug and USB lead provided for the purpose. Alternatively if you're in transit but you happen to have a laptop handy, the SZ-20 can be charged from a USB socket.

The front of the Olympus is unsurprisingly dominated by its relative whopper of a lens, a manually raised pop up flash located directly above. The lens is, surprisingly given the budget asking price, flanked by stereo microphones, and there's an AF assist/self timer lamp nestling top right of the front plate. The rounded grip to the other side of the faceplate is of just about sufficient size to curl three fingers around.

A press of the top plate on/off button and, providing date and time have already been set out of the box, the camera powers up from cold in around two seconds, again a respectable if standard timing. Press the shutter release button down halfway and, thanks to that contrast AF, pleasingly focus and exposure is determined nigh instantly however, square AF point highlighted in green accompanied by a beep of confirmation.

Olympus SZ-20 Olympus SZ-20
Front Top

Press down fully to take a picture and, with minimal shutter lag, a full quality JPEG is committed to memory in approximately three seconds. The LCD display briefly blacks out and out then freezes to showcase the captured image. Again this is a standard timing for its travel zoom class.

Nudge the SZ-20's zoom lever with a forefinger and the Olympus' optical zoom travels from 24mm wide angle setting to maximum 300mm equivalent telephoto in approximately three seconds: again, fairly standard and no slouch in that respect.

Top right of the backplate on the SZ-20, tucked just beneath a rudimentary thumb rest, we additionally get an increasingly familiar red record button for commencing 'movie' capture. And fortunately the full extent of the optical zoom can be accessed when shooting video. Its adjustments are noticeably slower and smoother than when toggling back and forth to frame stills - no bad thing as it avoids lurching transitions. There is a low mechanical buzz however that is inevitably transferred to the audio in quieter environments. HDMI connectivity for flat panel TV owners is provided courtesy of a port sitting under a side flap along with combined USB/AV output.

One thing that struck us as odd on the Olympus is that there's no standard shooting model dial presented – and not even a button marked 'mode'. Instead, selectable shooting modes sit at the top of a toolbar that runs down the right hand side of the SZ-20's back screen when in capture mode. It's here the program, subject recognising iAuto, scene modes, panorama, 3D mode, and Magic Filters options are to be found via tabbing left and right through the selectable options.

In terms of 3D shooting, unlike say the 'true 3D' Fuji FinePix W3, which features two lenses and two sensors with which to produce its single stereoscopic image, the Olympus here merely takes two separate images and automatically combines them.

After taking the first shot a ghostly outline remains on the screen whilst the user lines up the second shot; keeping things as simple as possible the camera then automatically fires its shutter when it deems the two images sufficiently in sync. As noted at the outset, this process generates an MPO image file that is only viewable on a 3D TV or monitor, though a low resolution 2D JPEG is also produced alongside as a reference tool. This can be viewed on the camera's LCD as normal.

Alternatively, here the Magic Filters are eight in number, seven of which will work with video as well as stills. They comprise colour boosting 'pop art', corner darkening pin hole camera, perspective warping fisheye, 'drawing' which deconstructs an image so only scratchy black outlines on white background remain, plus soft focus, 'punk' (lending subjects a heavy photocopied-style outline against a pink/purple background), the photos-only sparkle (a sprinkling of visual fairy dust) and watercolour. The effect of applying latter to our eyes more closely a poster painting that's been dipped in the bath so that everything smudges.

Olympus SZ-20 Olympus SZ-20
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The other option worth mentioning here is that 'Smart Panorama' mode. Here the camera automatically generates an elongated image. All the photographer has to do is sweep the camera through an arc, though, as the result looks distinctly low resolution, you probably won't want to place it on the mantelpiece.

All of the above shooting options are tabbed through and selected via use of the Olympus's backplate control pad come scroll wheel, sitting in the bottom right hand corner of the backplate. We're not big fans of scroll wheels, though they are also included on the Nikon S9100 and Canon PowerShot SX220HS competitors, as we think the slightly quicker access they provide (when compared to finger presses on a control pad) is somewhat negated by scroll wheels simply being a bit fiddly to operate. It's very easy to 'slip' onto a setting you didn't actually want, and particularly so on the SZ-20 where it is very responsive to any slight rotation and where the options are ranged top to bottom and further extend out into the middle of the screen when alighted on. Basically there's a lot of back and forth involved to get where you want, which quickly frustrates.

Also included on the same toolbar and located via the same scroll dial are flash, self-timer, macro focus, exposure compensation, white balance, ISO and drive mode options. Again, good that these aren't alternatively buried within dense menu screens, but shame that they're more awkward to access than needs be.

In the centre of the control/pad scroll wheel sits the familiar 'OK' button for effecting setting changes, and just above this a dedicated playback button. Always useful, as it allows the user to jump back to capture mode with a half press of the shutter release button rather than having to flick a switch to otherwise toggle between both modes.

Directly beneath the scroll/wheel command pad combo, so parallel to this, is a further pair of buttons. One is the self explanatory 'menu', whilst its neighbour is, like a Batman villain, identified with an enigmatic question mark. Press this and the user is presented with what is basically a built in manual for the beginner, and surprisingly comprehensive it is too, with searchable terms governing how to shoot, view and edit pictures, as well as flagging up which are the best modes to use for a given scene or subject. The suggested options can then be directly selected from this mode, which is neat – being both user friendly and a time saver to boot.

The bottom of the camera features an off-centre screwthread for attaching a tripod, and catch operated cover protecting the joint battery and card compartment. Battery life is good for 300 shots from a full charge, which betters most immediate rivals with the exception of the 1,000 shot battery life of the Casio Exilim EX-H30.

So, whilst the SZ-20 is a strange mix of user friendliness with its built-in user guide and fun Magic Filters, 3D and panorama modes, and unnecessary obstructive nature largely thanks to that scroll wheel, does all come good with regard to the images the SZ-20 produces? Read on to find out…

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

Travel zoom cameras are all about the quality of the performance at maximum wideangle and extreme telephoto; does the camera maintain edge-to-edge sharpness and avoid obvious barrel distortion as regards the former, and steer clear of repeated soft shots when shooting handheld as regards the latter?

At maximum (300mm equivalent) optical zoom range on the Olympus SZ-20 we noticeably struggled to achieve a sharp image shooting handheld, even in broad daylight, which although not unheard of on a travel zoom was also far from ideal and partly defeats the purpose.

The solution was to take two or three shots of the same subject to achieve one sharp enough to justify keeping; fine with relatively static objects and if you've both the time and patience.

At the other 24mm end of the zoom, some corner softening was also noticeable, if only on very close inspection. To nitpick further the familiar Olympus bugbear of the results from auto white balance shifting shot-to-shot even when shooting the same subject rears its head.

On a more positive note, the Magic Filters are readily to hand to achieve added visual pep when required. The likes of pop art prove useful in accenting a particular colour scheme or you're faced with an otherwise dull day. That said the watercolour and drawing Magic Filters were less impressive, so it's worth some initial experimentation.

Happily too, any concerns about a sensor over-loaded with a high pixel count can be largely dismissed. Though detail softens slightly at ISO 800 and upwards, we'd be happy keeping the results of images shot up to ISO 1600.

So, in summary, a better than expected low light performance makes up in part from hit and miss results when attempting shots at the SZ-20's extreme telephoto setting.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Olympus SZ-20. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 80 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

 
 

Focal Range

The Olympus SZ-20's 12.5x lens offers a versatile focal range, as demonstrated by the examples below.

24mm

300mm

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately you can't change the in-camera sharpening level.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Chromatic Aberrations

The Olympus SZ-20 handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, with limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Olympus SZ-20 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot

100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Olympus SZ-20 are Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Off - Wide Angle (24mm)

Fill-in - Wide Angle (24mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Off - Telephoto (300mm)

Fill-in - Telephoto (300mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. Both the Flash On and the Auto/Red-eye Reduction settings caused a tiny amount of red-eye.

Fill-in

Fill-in (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Olympus SZ-20's maximum shutter speed is 4 seconds in the Night scene mode, which is not great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 4 seconds at ISO 160.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Olympus SZ-20 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1920x1280 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 23 second movie is 53.8Mb in size.

Product Images

Olympus SZ-20

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

 
Olympus SZ-20

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Isometric View

 
Olympus SZ-20

Isometric View

 
Olympus SZ-20

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

 
Olympus SZ-20

Top of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Bottom of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Side of the Camera

 

Olympus SZ-20

Side of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus SZ-20

Memory Card Slot

 
Olympus SZ-20

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

In summing up our impressions of the camera, the positives with the SZ-20 are a best in class resolution, better than average (but not class leading) 12.5x optical zoom range, decent feature set, best in class pricing and that striking retro/futurist design. The negatives are that horribly irksome scroll wheel on the Olympus' backplate instead of a proper shooting mode dial or button (or simply better implementation), the variable white balance performance, corner softening at extreme wide-angle, plus generally soft shots at maximum telephoto.

Of course the SZ-20 provides other sweeteners, including its fun and for the most part effective Magic Filters (if choosing carefully and appropriately from the available options), stereoscopic shooting, and automatic panorama generation. If the 12.5x optical zoom here isn't enough for your needs, look to the equally new SZ-30 model, also from Olympus. We've yet to test it, but on paper it fields a veritable whopper at 24x, but with an inevitable price hike to match.

Ultimately whilst the Olympus SZ-20 gets an above average from us, unless you need a travel zoom and you're on a particularly tight budget it falls short of being unequivocally recommended simply because there are better options for a few pounds more.

3.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4
Ease-of-use 3
Image quality 3.5
Value for money 4

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Olympus SZ-20 from around the web.

ephotozine.com »

The Olympus SZ-20 fits strangely in the middle of the new Olympus SZ range, the SZ stands for Super Zoom and the SZ has the least zoom of the three cameras in this range, with a 12.5x optical zoom lens, the SZ-10 features an 18x optical zoom lens, while the SZ-30MR features a huge 24x optical zoom lens.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Image Sensor
Effective pixels 16 Megapixels
Filter array Primary colour filter (RGB)
Full resolution 16.8 Megapixels
Type 1/2.3 '' CMOS
Lens
Optical zoom 12.5 x (WIDE)
Focal length 4.2 - 52.5 mm
Focal length (equiv. 35mm) 24 - 300 mm
Maximum aperture 3.0 - 5.9
Structure 9 lenses / 8 groups
Aspherical glass elements 4
ED glass elements 2
Digital Zoom
Enlargement factor 4 x / 50 x combined with optical zoom
Monitor
Resolution 460000 dots
Monitor size 7.6 cm / 3.0 ''
Monitor type TFT
Frame assistance Yes
Brightness adjustment +/- 2 levels
Protection panel Yes
Focusing System
Method TTL iESP auto focus with contrast detection
Modes iESP, Face Detection AF, Spot, AF Tracking
Standard mode 0.1m - ∞ (wide) / 0.9m - ∞ (tele)
Makro mode 0.1m - ∞ (wide) / 0.9m - ∞ (tele)
Super Macro mode Closest focusing distance: 1 cm
AF illuminator Yes
Light Metering
Modes ESP light metering, Spot metering
Histogram in shooting mode Yes
Exposure System
Modes i-Auto, Programme automatic, Scene Modes, Magic Filter, Panorama, Movie, 3D Photos
Shutter speed 1/4 - 1/2000 s / < 4 s (Night scene)
Exposure compensation +/- 2 EV / 1/3 steps
Enhancement function Mechanical Image Stabilizer
Shadow Adjustment Technology
Advanced Face Detection Technology
Pet Detection
Scene Modes
Number of scene modes 16
Modes Portrait, Beauty, Landscape, Night Scene, Night Scene with portrait, Hand-held Starlight, Sports, Indoor, Self-portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Documents, Beach and Snow, Pet (cat), Pet (dog)
Magic Filter
Types Pop Art, Pin Hole, Fisheye, Drawing, Soft Focus, Punk, Sparkle, Water color
Sensitivity
Auto AUTO / High AUTO
Manual ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
White Balance
AUTO WB system Yes
Preset values Overcast, Sunlight, Tungsten, Flourescent 1
Internal Flash
Modes AUTO, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Off
Working range (wide) 0.1 - 5.7 m (ISO 1250)
Working range (tele) 0.6 - 2.9 m (ISO 1250)
Sequence Shooting
Sequential shooting mode (high speed) 15 fps / 34 frames (in 5MP mode)
7.0 fps / 3 frames (Full Image Size)
Sequential shooting mode 1.5 fps / 18 frames (Full Image Size)
Image Processing
Noise reduction Yes
Pixel mapping Yes
Engine TruePic III+
Shading compensation Yes
Distortion compensation Yes
Image Editing
Resize Yes
Trimming Yes
Correction of saturation Yes
Beauty Fix Yes
View Images
Modes Single, Index, Zoom, Slide show, Event, Photo Surfing
Index 4x3 / 6x5 frames
Zoom 1.1 - 10 x
Auto rotation Yes
Image protect mode Yes
Histogram in playback mode Yes
View Movie
Modes Frame by frame, Fast forward, Reverse playback
Still Image Recording
DCF Yes
RAW No
EXIF 2.21
PIM III
DPS PictBridge
DPOF Yes
Movie Recording System
Image Stabilisation Mode Digital Image Stabilisation
Recording format MPEG-4
Magic Filter Pop Art, Pin Hole, Fisheye, Drawing, Soft Focus, Punk, Water color
HD Movie quality 1080P Recording time: 29min.
720P Recording time: 29min.
VGA Recording time: no limit
Note: maximum file size 4GB
Sound Recording System
Sound recording Yes , format: AAC
Internal microphone Stereo
Image footage 4 s
Voice playback Yes
Speaker Yes
Memory
Removable Media SD / SDHC / SDXC
Internal memory 59 MB
Eye-Fi Card compatible Yes
Image Size
16M 4608 x 3456
8M 3264 x 2448
5M 2560 x 1920
3M 2048 x 1536
2M 1600 x 1200
1M 1280 x 960
VGA 640 x 480
16:9 4608 x 2592
1920 x 1080
Menu
Menu languages in camera 39
Other Features
Self timer 2 / 12 s Pet auto shutter
Perfect Shot Preview Yes
Menu guide Yes
In-camera Manual Yes
Panorama function Smart Panorama
Photo Surfing Yes
Date imprint Yes
Power Supply
Battery LI-50B Lithium-Ion Battery
Internal Charging Yes
Interface
DC input Yes
Combined A/V & USB output Yes
USB 2.0 High Speed Yes
HDMI™ Yes Type D *
* "HDMI", the HDMI logo and "High-Definition Multimedia Interface" are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC.
Size
Dimensions (W x H x D) 102.4 x 64.0 x 30.4 mm
Weight 186 g

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