Olympus SP-550 UZ Review
Review Date: April 30th 2007
Author: Gavin Stoker
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were captured using the 7MP, SHQ 3072 x 2304 JPEG setting, producing a file that is between 3.5-4Mb.
Noise
The Olympus SP-550 UZ has 8 ISO settings from 50-5000. Noise starts to appear very visibly upwards of ISO 800, and at ISO 1600 detail is noticeably being lost and images take on an impressionistic, painterly appearance. Why then Olympus has gone on to shoehorn in even higher ISO 3200 and ISO 5000 options � with a resultant drop in resolution � mystifies, though the suspicion is that it�s only to beef up the spec list. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
ISO 50 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 5000 (100% Crop) |
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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 at the default setting are a little soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Olympus SP-550 UZ handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, with just a little purple fringing present around the edges of the frame in particularly high-contrast situations. Here are some 100% crops which show the typical chromatic aberrations that you can expect:
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Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop)
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Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Olympus SP-550 UZ offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 1cm away from the camera. 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.
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Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Olympus SP-550 UZ are Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill in, Off, Red-eye reduction & fill-in and Slow synchronization. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (504mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (504mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, both the Flash On and Red-eye reduction settings caused a small amount of red-eye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye reduction |
Red-eye reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Olympus SP-550 UZ's maximum shutter speed is up to 8 minutes in the Bulb mode, which is great news if you're interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 1/160th second, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 50. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Overall Image Quality
The Olympus SP-550 UZ is unarguably great for candid, reportage style snaps. I was lucky enough to take the camera along to take some behind-the-scenes photos of an advertising shoot based on a burlesque performance theme. To start on a positive note, although a lot of noise is introduced in low light, its anti shake mechanism works pretty well in avoiding image blur at the extreme telephoto end of the zoom � indeed much better than expected given my initial impression that Olympus was perhaps over-reaching itself here. Though there's the ability to boost saturation in camera if you switch to one of the creative shooting modes, I found that images followed the familiar Olympus trait of colours being a tad washed out straight out of the camera, which had the effect of making skin appear ever more porcelain-like. The aforementioned noise starts to appear very visibly upwards of ISO800, and at ISO1600 detail is noticeably being lost and images take on an impressionistic, painterly appearance. Why then Olympus has gone on to shoehorn in even higher ISO3200 and ISO5000 options � with a resultant drop in resolution � mystifies, though the suspicion is that it�s only to beef up the spec list.
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