Posts Tagged ‘Ultra Zoom’
Olympus SP-590 Ultra Zoom Review
Olympus has done a respectable job of outfitting the rest of the SP-590 all the same. The 12 megapixel SP uses a 2.7 inch HyperCrystal II LCD for shot composition duties, and offers Olympus’s trademark Shadow Adjustment Technology as well. Other features include face detection, compatibility with Olympus’s range of wireless-ready external flash units, and a high-speed TruePic III processor that claims to provide faster sequential shooting and better high ISO performance.
In addition to its generous flash control options, the SP-590 should appeal to advanced and advancing photographers with a full complement of manual exposure controls that includes aperture and shutter priority modes. Twenty-nine total shooting modes also encompass several “artistic” scene modes inspired by the Olympus E-30, including a multiple exposure mode (for compositing two or more shots into a single frame) and a setting for softening backgrounds.
Of course, Dual Image Stabilization (using both mechanical and ISO boost methods) is essentially a must for a camera with this kind of zoom range.
All things considered, while Olympus is unquestionably a masterful builder of zoom lenses, the SP-590′s lens does raise some obvious questions about performance and image quality. Built around 14 lenses in 11 groups – including 4 aspherical lenses and 3 ED elements – the lens’s compact design will no doubt appeal to space-saving shooters. But with nearly 700mm of reach at the long end and an extremely wide 26mm at the other, the optical compromises are almost certain to manifest themselves in the images to some degree. Just how much, though, is the open question at this point.
Pentax X70
Pentax has dipped its toes into the ultra-zoom category with the X70, which offers an impressive 24x zoom, shoots at 12-megapixel resolution and uses CCD-shfit stabilization to help prevent camera shake.
Viewfinder
As you’ll find in most ultra-zooms, the Pentax X70 uses an electronic viewfinder, known as an EVF, which mirrors the controls and information that can be provided by LCD. The EVF provides 200,000-dot resolution. In our brief use the colors seemed quite washed out, but this was a pre-production sample.
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| The EVF was slightly underwhelming |
LCD
The X70′s LCD is a 2.7 inch, 230,000 dot display, with an anti-reflective coating to help against glare in the sun. Of course, being stuck in a conference center, we didn’t get to see how well this worked in actual outdoor conditions.
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| We’ll wait to get the screen into the sun to judge the claimed anti-reflective abilities. |
Flash
The flash unit is located above the lens, and mechanically restrained most of the time. The advantage of having this sort of pop-up flash is that it’s further from the lens, which reduces red-eye, and you probably won’t ever block it with your fingers. The disadvantage to having it held down by a latch, rather than being raised and lowered electronically, is that the camera’s automatic exposure system can’t spring the flash itself in low light situations.
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| The flash poised and ready for action |
Lens
For an ultra-zoom of this magnitude, it’s all about the lens. When fully extended, the X70′s lens pokes out rather impressively, in order to get that full 24x zoom. The lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 26 to 624mm, which is a decent wide-angle spec. At the lens’ widest setting the aperture runs from f/2.8 to f/8, and at maximum zoom, it’s f/5 to f/8, which is pretty speedy.
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| Quite a snout on this beast |
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
The Pentax uses what looks to be a standard USB port for computer connections and video out, as well as a DC in plug, if you want to invest in an optional AC power adapter..
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| USB and DC in |
Battery
Many other manufacturers tuck four AA batteries into the grip of their ultra-zooms, but Pentax opted for a lithium ion rechargeable instead, which is rated at an exceedingly low 170 images. If this rating is correct, it would behoove users of this camera to keep a second battery on hand for days of heavy use.
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| We hope the battery does better than the official rating |