Olympus Adds Three Compact Ultra-Zooms

2013.01.07

Olympus has always pushed for big zooms in small cameras and this CES 2013 they do not disappoint. Today, they took the wraps of three relatively compact ultra-zoom cameras all with stabilized 24X optical zoom lenses equivalent to 25-600mm.

The all-new Stylus SH-50 promises to be the most effective with a 5-way image-stabilization mechanism inherited from the highly acclaimed Olympus OM-D E-M5 reviewed here. This one is based on a 16 megapixels high-speed CMOS sensor with an ISO range from 100 to 6400 and capable of full 1080p HD video capture.

A more-traditional Stylus SZ-16 uses the same sensor and lens but with a standard 2-way stabilization mechanism. These two cameras are otherwise almost identical, both capable of HDR capture and sporting a 3" LCD with 460K pixels.

The near-twin of the SZ-16 is the Olympus Stylus SZ-15 which share its lens and body but uses a 16 megapixels CCD instead. This limits its ISO range to 1600 and video capture to 720p but gives it a more affordable price.

All these digital cameras will be available in March with suggested prices as follows: $299 USD for the SH-50, $230 USD for the SZ-16 and $199 USD for the SZ-15. Given the price difference between the SH-50 and SZ-16, expect the 5-way stabilization to make a significant difference towards the long end of the zoom!

• Digital Camera
• CES