The Olympus SP-550UZ is made for stealing headlines. The most unique and usable feature of this digital camera is its 18X stabilized optical zoom lens. Not only is this the longer range currently available but it also starts at a wide-angle focal-length equivalent to 28mm in 35mm terms. The SP-550UZ also has ISO settings from 80 to 5000, although only 1600 can be achieved at the maximum resolution. Speaking of ISO, noise levels are just below average for this type of camera. Specifically, noise increases though out the ISO range and becomes quite disturbing starting at ISO 800. Another headline catching feature is a 15 FPS continuous drive. Although this is only available at 1.2 MP (1280x960), it is better than the movie-mode of any other digital camera. The previous champions could achieved 1024x768 @ 15 FPS. It also has a 7 FPS drive which works at 3 megapixels of resolution. At its full-resolution, the continuous drive does not count because it only takes 3 images at 1.2 FPS, that is not very continuous.

 

The image quality of the Olympus SP-550 UZ is fairly good with generally good color, impressive sharpness for such a lens, good exposure and good focusing accuracy. Noise levels are not much higher than other ultra-zoom cameras. The custom white-balance is not that accurate, but the automatic white-balance is. Go figure, normally it is the other way around! The SP-550UZ is equipped with an effective image stabilization system which significantly contributes to the usability of this long zoom lens. Another good points of this digital camera is its excellent battery life using standard AA batteries.

On the negative side, this camera is noticeable slower than average. It takes long to startup, shot-down, focus in low-light and focus near telephoto . Shot-to-shot speeds were decent though. There are a couple of other minor feature limitation already mentioned in the list of cons above.

 

Overall, the Olympus SP-550UZ turns out a good performance and earns its spot among other ultra-zoom cameras. Of course, the reason to get this one is its extreme zoom-range. For this who need the wide-angle but not the telephoto reach, the Fuji Finepix S6000fd is a superior choice. Other alternatives without the wide-angle lens but with 12X optical zoom range include the Sony Cybershot DSC-H5 and the Canon Powershot S3 IS. Both of these are fairly good with the H5 having the edge on image quality and the S3 being praised for its advanced movie-mode with stereo sound.