Olympus SP-510 UZ

We all need help now and then. And when it comes to digital cameras, everybody, even pros, could use a few pointers from time to time. Welcome guidance is just what the Olympus SP-510 UZ, a moderately sized, lightweight, 7.1-megapixel superzoom with 10X optical zoom, offers shutterbugs of all levels. The camera's guide modes anticipate your questions, helping you navigate menus, capture a variety of shots, create effects, and more. The helpful setting also provides a selection of "next moves" to ensure that you're not stumbling around in the dark while operating the device.

When using the shooting guide mode, for example, simply press the menu button and you get a variety of shooting scenarios. The first screen lists categories such as brightening subjects, shooting into backlight, or blurring a background. If you choose the blurring background option, a few sub-options are presented, including zooming in. Select that choice and you'll hear the whirring of the gears—yep, it's zooming in for you! Although the guide doesn't describe how to create this effect yourself, which I think is better (in fact it's the type of help that appears on other Olympus cameras), it's useful if you don't know what you're doing.

What else is cool about this camera? It can shoot in the RAW images format, which most superzooms in this price range can't. This allows for the utmost in creative control. It can also capture up to 4000 ISO, although images get very noisy at that setting. In addition, the SP-510 UZ features two very good macro modes—for shooting very close to your subject.

But there are some aspects of this camera that are not so cool or helpful. For example, there's an issue with the xD memory cards, something I usually don't have a problem with even though they're generally less common and are more expensive than standard SD cards. The SP-510 UZ handles both kinds of xD cards: H xD and M xD. However, if you want to shoot at the highest-quality video mode, you're limited to just 15 seconds of video unless you use the H xD card. It's a bit of information I think Olympus should have made more prominent in the manual.

Another thing I'm not crazy about is that the 35mm equivalent is 38mm to 380mm zoom; the camera skimps on the wide-angle end. But the maximum f-stops of f/2.8 through f/3.7 are certainly decent enough. Overall though, I found images to be a bit lackluster. Also, the camera has a very poor burst mode. Lastly, in my real-world shots of trees against the sky, there was very noticeable purple fringing.

Movies are saved as 640 by 480 QuickTime files at a frame rate of 30 frames per second. But at the highest setting, I was quite disappointed to find that because I was using an M xD memory card, I was able to capture only 15 seconds of video. Also, I was unable to zoom while shooting video, which some superzooms allow you to do. (You should check whether your superzoom relies on digital zoom, which generally degrades video quality, to achieve this effect. Always stick with optical zoom.)

My daylight test shots didn't have much noise, but flash shots did—specifically, colored noise, which is generally more conspicuous. Color was pretty good, though, but I think hues could be a bit more saturated. I also found the images to have a moderate amount of purple fringing. The flash was a bit weak, resulting in an underexposed flash shot. But you are able to change the strength of the flash output manually and increase or decrease the illumination of the flash, which is rare on this type of camera.

Resolution averaged 1,550 lines, which is at the low end for a 7MP camera. (Canon's PowerShot S3 IS, a 6MP camera, scored the same.) My recorded 3.9-second boot-up time was slow, as well. And although the camera's 3.2-second recycle time was decent, I've seen better times from the competition, including the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, which clocked in at 1.6 seconds.

I also noticed some shutter lag. But the lens is a very good lens, with no pincushion distortion, and just a touch of the usual barrel distortion. Although the camera does not have optical image stabilization, it does have electronic, or digital, image stabilization. As expected, the digital IS did improve the photos somewhat, but optical IS is more effective.

Despite the impressive guide modes, the Olympus SP-510 UZ falls short on performance when compared with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, an Editors' Choice, and the Canon PowerShot S3 IS.

Benchmark Test Results
Check out the Olympus SP-510 UZ's test scores.

Compare the digital cameras mentioned above side by side