This is a camera to keep an eye on. Olympus is unveiling the SP-510 UZ at Photokina. It's specs are impressive: 7.1 million pixels, 10x optical zoom, 2.5" LCD, ISO 50-1600 at 7.1 megapixels, ISO 2500/4000 at 3 megapixels resolution, and... RAW mode.
In a recent post, Are "Prosumer" Cameras on the Way Out?, I wonder if full-featured compact cameras with Raw capability are becoming a thing of the past. Apparently, Olympus doesn't think so. This camera has so much: spot metering, advanced white balance adjustment, 3 frames per second, and f-2.4 maximum aperture. The only missing feature is its lack of a hot shoe. Other than that, it appears to be a dream packed into 325 gram package.
I can't wait to see what the first wave of reviews have to say.
Technorati Tags: digital photography, product review, The Digital Story
I couldn't agree more that this is a camera to watch and is a nice extension of the Ultra Zoom line. I have a CF-750 UZ that has been my stop gap before purchasing a D-SLR, which I am researching now. If my CF750 gives up the ghost after I purchase a D-SLR, I would definitely look at the SP-510 UZ as a replacement for it. A lot of my photography is done in relatively remote locations, so a small-feature rich camera is essential for those situations, which the UZ has taken care of nicely.
I think if Adobe incorporates the Raw decoding for this camera in Photoshop and Lightroom, there is great potential for this camera. We should hear more about it once Photokina gets underway.
I own the C-750, and you're right, it has a hot shoe, which can actually be pretty important if you want to use flash outdoors because these onboard flashes are pathetic. Its too bad olympus gave up on the hot shoe, because its what makes what could be a prosumer camera an amateur's camera. They've also threaded the barrel, so I hope that doesnt make the filters that fit my C-750 obsolete.
The C-750 is SO slow for action though, so I have to upgrade, but I hate it when companies take away features at the same time that they add others.
Hey Mark,
We both have C-750s. Let me save you some trouble.
I, too, miss the hot shoe, but I figured big deal, I'm not
really likely to shoot fill-in flash outdoors with a semi-pro
camera anyways, right? Anyway, the SP510UZ IS faster,
but NOT with your filter ring and filter, which seems to
really spaz out the AF functions. Its totally back to the future.
Got a bigger screen, and the power use is MUCH improved. The zoom also focusses much faster and smoother, but the AF
and the speed are the same old slow pony show. They did some things to the manual mode that would boggle your mind.
Namely, you have to press UP arrow to change the shuttter/ap, and if you press down, you go into picture review mode, and you can only get back to M by turning the dial off and back to M! Not only that, but the delete button is tiny now, and works really inconsistently, You heard right, the delete button has a delay now! Some times I press it and it works, sometimes it doesnt, and it always delays. Quality Control please! Yes the extender tube still fits but the threads were a little off, and it squealed like crazy.
The 7.1MP is an improvement from the very borderline 4MP, but I'm not sure the glass is better or as good, and the AF seemed as or more inconsistent than my C-750. I also dont think its the action shot improvement we've been waiting for. With losing the hot shoe, and adding a GUIDE mode to the wheel, I feel like some product genius inside of Olympus decided the semipros werent for this camera anymore. I'm taking their hint and switching brands. Dont want to be mean, but I've seen Sonys shoot way too fast to put up with this speed issue forever.
Hey Mark,
We both have C-750s. Let me save you some trouble.
I, too, miss the hot shoe, but I figured big deal, I'm not
really likely to shoot fill-in flash outdoors with a semi-pro
camera anyways, right? Anyway, the SP510UZ IS faster,
but NOT with your filter ring and filter, which seems to
really spaz out the AF functions. Its totally back to the future.
Got a bigger screen, and the power use is MUCH improved. The zoom also focusses much faster and smoother, but the AF
and the speed are the same old slow pony show. They did some things to the manual mode that would boggle your mind.
Namely, you have to press UP arrow to change the shuttter/ap, and if you press down, you go into picture review mode, and you can only get back to M by turning the dial off and back to M! Not only that, but the delete button is tiny now, and works really inconsistently, You heard right, the delete button has a delay now! Some times I press it and it works, sometimes it doesnt, and it always delays. Quality Control please! Yes the extender tube still fits but the threads were a little off, and it squealed like crazy.
The 7.1MP is an improvement from the very borderline 4MP, but I'm not sure the glass is better or as good, and the AF seemed as or more inconsistent than my C-750. I also dont think its the action shot improvement we've been waiting for. With losing the hot shoe, and adding a GUIDE mode to the wheel, I feel like some product genius inside of Olympus decided the semipros werent for this camera anymore. I'm taking their hint and switching brands. Dont want to be mean, but I've seen Sonys shoot way too fast to put up with this speed issue forever.
I recently purchased the SP-510UZ to capture aircraft from a distance. It fits in 7.1 megapixel max resolution with 10x zoom, and sometimes-useful digital image stabiliazation into a nice little camera that feels sturdy and fits into the budget. And the manual controls and RAW support isn't something you'll find me complaining about (although ORF isn't a very popular format on the Mac, apparently). And while getting to add a TCON 17 telephoto conversion is definitely exciting, I'm impressed by this camera's macro abilities - as mentioned, as close as 3cm. Now those aircraft *and* those flowers are belong to me!! Exciting times ahead with the new camera.
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