Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

The Olympus SP-800UZ's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise. Even at base ISO, the effect of noise reduction is evident in the form of detail smearing, while noise itself takes over in the images at the higher settings. This means that despite the high resolution, the images do not really stand up to being printed at large sizes. The Olympus SP-800UZ dealt with chromatic aberrations a little better, with purple fringing effects appearing only in high-contrast situations. The po-up flash worked well indoors, with a little red-eye that was effectively removed through the use of the proper flash setting, and good overall exposure. Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to fill the frame with a subject that is significantly smaller than a standard Compact Flash card. The camera is not particularly well suited to night photography as you cannot dial in the necessary slow shutter speed yourself, but the Night Scene mode does its job all right in an urban setting. The Magic Filters are fun, though of limited actual use.

Noise

The Olympus SP-800UZ offers 6 sensitivity settings at full resolution, ranging from ISO 50 to ISO 1600, and there is also an ISO 3200 setting available at reduced resolution. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 50 (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 30x lens has an extremely versatile focal range, as demonstrated by the examples below.

28mm	840mm

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 a little bit soft at the default sharpening setting, and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Olympus SP-800UZ has two file quality settings, Fine and Normal. Here are a couple of 100% crops which show the quality of the two options.

14M Fine (100% Crop)	14M Normal (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The 30x zoom lens of the SP-800UZ handled chromatic aberrations pretty well for such a long zoom, but in some cases, coloured fringes were in evidence along contrasty edges.

Example 1 (100% Crop)	Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Olympus SP-800UZ has both a Macro and a Supermacro mode, albeit the zoom can only be used in the former. 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 camera has a pop-up flash that has to be raised manually. The available flash settings include auto, redeye reduction, fill in, redeye + fill in and slow. In our test, the redeye effect was quite successfully removed through the use of the redeye removal function.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red Eye Reduction	Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Olympus SP-800UZ is not very well suited to night photography, as you cannot use very slow shutter speeds. The photo below was taken in the Night Scene mode at a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds, aperture of f3 at ISO 100, with all parameters chosen by the camera at its own discretion.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Magic Filters

The Olympus SP-800UZ has four Magic Filters, including Pop Art, Pinhole, Fish-eye and Drawing. These examples demonstrate what each filter does.

Pop-Art	Pinhole
Fisheye	Drawing

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Olympus SP-800UZ camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Movie Displayed

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera / Lens Extended

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Olympus SP-800UZ is the latest in a long series of ultra-zoom cameras from Olympus, and one of only two digicams in the world to offer a 30x optical zoom. That immediately makes it special, and worthy of anyone's attention. Being able to photograph everything from wide vistas to extreme close-ups of distant subjects without having to change lenses is something that has to be experienced in order to be fully appreciated. Having said that, we must also note that the difference in angle of view between the Olympus SP-800UZ's 840mm equivalent telephoto lens and the 624...676mm of its closest rivals is not nearly as huge as one might expect.

The camera is remarkably lightweight, but that's not necessarily 100% positive news. For lightweight cameras have little physical inertia, and are therefore hard to hold steady, which can cause problems when shooting at the long end of the zoom range. Having mechanical image stabilisation on board helps, but the only surefire way to avoid motion blur in hand-held use is to use a fast shutter speed. Given that the Olympus SP-800UZ has no shutter priority or manual mode, the only way to ensure that is to use a high ISO speed or select the Sports scene mode, which will likely do the same thing. That's where the problems begin - the tiny and pixel-packed sensor of the SP-800UZ is inherently noisy, and upping the ISO can lead to considerable loss of fine detail, as seen in some of our sample images. Mounting the camera on a tripod and dialling in a relatively low ISO sensitivity setting is a viable solution, but only if your subject cares to stand still.

We were not fully pleased with the Olympus SP-800UZ's user interface either. The camera's operation is almost entirely menu based, which means that accessing important settings like exposure compensation or ISO speed requires just a little too much time and effort, which could have been saved through the use of more hard buttons and other external controls. Therefore this camera is best suited to those users who appreciate the long zoom, but do not want to fiddle much with camera settings.

Overall, we have found the Olympus SP-800UZ a unique camera with a remarkable lens that caters mostly to the needs of the point-and-shoot brigade. Experienced photographers might find it a bit limiting, but then they are probably not the target group anyway.

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

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Olympus SP-800UZ from around the web.

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