Olympus SP-800UZ 14MP Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD
by Olympus
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: OlympusModel: SP-800UZ
Color: black
Product features:
- 14-megapixel resolution for high-quality, poster-size prints
- 30x wide-angle dual image stabilized zoom
- HD Movie 720p; one-touch button allows you to record movies in high-definition
- 3-inch LCD features an extra-wide viewing angle and anti-glare technology
- 2 GB internal memory; capture images and video to SD/SDHC memory (not included)
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Old Version]
- Serif PhotoPlus X3
- Aperture 3
- Manfrotto 7302YB M-Y Tripod with Ball - Replaces 725B
- Pixelmator [Old Version]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Olympus SP-800UZ 14MP Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD
Customer Review: Avoid this Camera
Summary: 2 Stars
I have been using Olympus SP cameras for over a decade. I started with a 2 megapixel model and each year or two bought a new one, usually to coincide with a trip I was taking abroad which I wished to document and would probably never be able to repeat. I have taken thousands and thousands of photographs with Olympus SP cameras, and have been especially impressed by and eager for extensions of the optical zooms as I am often at some distance from the subject of my photos (eagles nesting in Alaska, Penguins ashore in Antarctica, statues at the top of some very tall column in Barcelona, a painting high on a wall in Eureka, my dog frisking in the field at home). You can imagine then how I looked forward to getting the SP-800UZ with both an increase in zoom (from 26-30) and megapixels. I expected to be able to get better photos of the same type of subjects as I had been shooting, and with the 15% increase in zoom, some new subjects which had been previously out of my reach. I got the SP-800UZ for a cruise trip from London across the North Atlantic to Nova Scotia and then Florida. We had two stops in Iceland and I was determined to see the great waterfalls, get some shots of the scenery sailing into and out of the ports, and take in the London scenes.
I was disappointed in this camera almost from the outset. I had to give up and stop using it a few days into the cruise and substitute my older SP which I had brought along as a backup in case something happened to the SP 800UZ. Here are the problems: the new camera has been redesigned. It is smaller, and lighter, than its predecessors. Being also rated at higher megapixels and optical zoom this sounds like a win-win-win-win. But the redesign has made the handle - that protrusion at the front right of the camera- smaller. When you grip the camera your palm tends to rest on the control panel of the device, which is at the right rear. Your palm resets the controls, sometimes while you are shooting. I am not a power user. I want automatic focus and stability controls on and I'm happy. I have had to stop and manually adjust the settings back to those settings virtually every shot I have taken. This means no more fast shots - no more seeing something interesting and whipping the camera round to get it. Or rather it means more blurry shots of something which might have been a good photo (see focus below, too). These "bus window" shots are vital to those of us who can travel, but can't hire a private vehicle in each port.
Moreover the auto-focus is at the same time poor, and slow. You have to wait much longer than with the prior cameras in this line before the camera is satisfied that it has a focus. And even then it is usually wrong. You won't notice this until you load the photos onto your computer and see them at screen size. They may look ok in the display on the camera back but they won't on the computer, especially if you crop or enlarge them (the point of having 14 megapixels). if you want to be sure of your shot as you take it, shoot, then set the camera to display so you can see the shots you have taken. Pick one, then zoom in on the photo. It will likely tend to blur out quick early in the zoom. If you have a stationary target and all the time in the world you can delete the poorly focused shots and repeat them until you get something better. I usually have a target which is moving relative to me, and no time to get more than that 1st shot. That first shot which has been so satisfactory to me on my earlier Olympus cameras, and so disappointingly elusive with this one.
Shots at the full zoom are the worst, focus-wise. I did not find that the extra 15% of zoom got me any improvement in photo quality at all. All you get, in effect, is an extra extension of zoom which is entirely lost in the blur of going beyond the capacity of the camera to focus.
And then there is the battery situation. The earlier cameras took 4xAA batteries. The new one takes one of those light, slim, lithium batteries which are expensive, difficult to find while traveling, require a special charger, are incompatible from one brand of camera to another, and, just for the kicker, don't last long in this camera. I found that if I were going on an all-day trip - and an-all day trip on a cruise is about 6 hours- I should take at least two extra batteries with me. Batteries which I had to buy before the trip and spend some time charging on the ship the evening prior to the trip.
Another way the camera was made smaller, and lighter, was by eliminating the viewfinder. The theory is that the display is now so improved that the sun will not wash it out when you are shooting outdoors, so you don't need the viewfinder. This theory is mistaken.
Ok, lets sum up: The placement of the controls and the grip on the camera case create a design disaster making it very difficult to rely on the settings when you shoot. The auto-focus is very slow and not very good, making quick photos almost impossible to successfully shoot. The display will wash out in strong light so you'll have to take some shots without being able to frame the picture you are taking -which means some people will lose their heads or feet. The battery is expensive, doesn't last long when you are using the camera, and often incompatible with similar batteries in other cameras (and their chargers) so don't count on being able to borrow from your shipmate, or to help them out.
If all you want to do is take routine snapshots of things that are relatively close to you and don't move, which you can redo if you are not pleased with the first try, and if you're ok with pictures that are more or less in focus, this camera will probably work for you. So will many much simpler, cheaper cameras. No matter what your goal this is not the camera to buy if you have any alternatives at all. I'm going to sell mine, cheap. My advice is: don't buy it.
More Olympus SP-800UZ 14MP Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD reviews:
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Description of Olympus SP-800UZ 14MP Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD
OLYMPUS 227665 14.0 Megapixel SP-800UZ Digital CameraDigital Cameras
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