The Olympus SP-500 is a six megapixel digital camera with a 10x optical zoom lens. It has a wide range of features. This type of digital camera often comes in handy for wildlife and sports photography. The SP-500 is therefore likely to appeal to somebody who sees photography as a hobby rather than someone who is looking for a simple point and shoot digital camera.

I was very impressed with all the photos I managed to take with the SP-500. I am pleased to say there are no particular areas where the camera struggles and all the pictures compare well with those taken by other digital cameras with a similar specification.

In my view one of the strengths of this camera is the vivid colours it manages to produce. This is highlighted by my dedicated test for colours. The colours have a natural feel and no one colour dominates. Good colour quality bodes well for any type of photo you are likely to take with your camera.

The strong colours also show up well in the outdoor scenic type shots. The pictures are sharply focused without quite matching some of the best digital cameras I have tested. Areas of high contrast are handled well too. As is typical of this type of camera there is an element of purple fringing that appears when the lens is fully extended or extended a long way. Purple fringing is where a purple line appears around the edges of very light objects. This is highlighted in the third outdoor shot where the zoom lens has been used to get in close to the boats.

The two portrait style shots produce pleasing results. I like the lighting levels produced in the outdoor portrait, especially when taking into consideration the time of the year when the harsh lighting often produces dull results. The skin tones are also very good. The indoor portrait comes out very well. The level of detail and clarity is excellent and there is no redeye at all in the picture.

The shot of beer bottles taken in almost complete darkness is also handled well. Again the camera manages to focus sharply, like the picture well and show a pleasing level of detail. Together with the indoor portrait this suggests the camera should be able to cope with lowlight and indoor situations. For the best results you will need to take into consideration the range limitations of the autofocus illuminator and flash unit.

The macro photo is bright and clear. This photo is certainly well above average when compared with the results produced by other similar cameras. My only concern is a small amount of purple fringing around the edge of the watch.

I have also tested this camera to see how it performs when you use a higher ISO setting. At ISO 400 picture quality clearly falls away.

I managed to take a single shot in 0.37 seconds. This is an average time. It took 12.24 seconds to take five consecutive shots. This works out at a rate of one photo every 2.45 seconds. Again this is an average time.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

As with a lot of Olympus digital cameras the SP-500 has a wide range of features. If you are looking for a digital camera with an extended zoom lens you will find this model certainly has more features than most of its rivals.

The 10x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38 - 380 mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.8 (wide) - f/3.7 (tele). There is also a 5x digital zoom. For close-up photography there are two macro modes. The first allows you to get within 7 cm of your subject. The second is called super macro and allows you to get even closer at 3 cm.

For composing photographs you can choose between the 2.5 inch LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder. The screen is made up of approximately115,000 pixels.

The pop-up flash unit has a maximum range of 4.5 m. This falls to around 3.4 m when the zoom lens is in use. The flash modes are automatic, redeye reduction, always on, and always off. Flash compensation can be used as well. There is also a slave function allowing you to use studio flash.

Both auto and manual focusing are available. For auto focusing you can choose from Spot, iESP Autofocus and Predictive AF. An Autofocus (AF) illuminator helps the cameras to focus in low light conditions.

Other features give you the chance to adjust the brightness, saturation and contrast levels before you take a shot. There is also a panorama assist function, although this will only work if you use Olympus brand XD picture cards.

There are a number of in camera editing facilities you can use after a picture has been taken. These include changing the picture to black-and-white or sepia. You can also add a title, resize the picture and create a smaller image, crop the picture and also fix redeye. To help you remember more about the photo you can also add a short voice memo.

To help you take the best possible photos there are a wide range of scene modes available. All you need to do is select the most appropriate scene mode for the picture that you are about to take. The camera will then recognise the type of photo and use the optimum settings available. The scene modes are Portrait, Landscape, Landscape and Portrait, Night Scene, Night & Portrait, Sports, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Museum, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Beach and Snow.

Short movies can be recorded. These can be recorded up to the capacity of the memory card. The maximum resolution is 320x240. There is a top speed of 30 frames per second. You can zoom in and out while a movie is being recorded. Digital image stabilisation is available in movie mode. This is not available when you are taking still photographs.

Manual exposure, aperture priority and shutter priority give you complete control over the exposure. Shutter speeds can be set within the range of eight minutes to 1/1000 of a second. There is also a fully automatic mode.

A histogram is available to help you take the best possible photo. This is available in playback mode as well as in shooting mode.

Among the more advanced features are exposure compensation (±2 EV in 1/3 EV steps), auto bracketing (Up to 5 frames in 1/3 EV steps), ISO settings (automatic, 80, 100, 200 and 400) and white balance (automatic, Overcast, Sunlight, Evening Sun, Tungsten, Fluorescent1, Fluorescent2 and Fluorescent3). Manual white balance is also available. As is a white balance adjustment ((red ) -7 - (blue ) +7). There are three types of light metering available. These are digital ESP metering, spot metering and centre weighted metering.

Still images can be stored in RAW format as well as JPEG.

You can also shoot time lapse movies. This is sometimes known as interval shooting. Typical uses are to plot the clouds as they move across the sky and also a flower opening. You can capture up to 99 shots. The interval in between each shot can be set from one minute to one hour. Continuous shooting is available as well. This lets you take up to three images at a rate of 2.5 shots per second.

Olympus supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the SP-500 to a computer, PictBridge compatible printer and television set.

To further enhance the capabilities of the lens you can buy both a wide angle and tele photo conversion lens. The conversion lenses have the product codes WCON-07 and TCON-17. To be able to use them you will also need to use a lens adapter. The adapter has the product code CLA-4. The filter diameter of the lens is 45.6mm.

Any digital camera with the number of features this camera has will take a little time to get used to. It is quite easy to get started and then it is a case of learning more about the camera as you go. I must admit I have never found the Olympus menu system to be the most straightforward. Having said that if you are prepared to put in some time and effort it should not take too long before you begin to feel at home with the camera.

Help text is available throughout the menu system. This is an excellent innovation and explains clearly to you about the different menu options.

You can pick up a Olympus SP-500 for around £235. This compares to around £315 for a Canon Powershot S2 IS, £210 for a Fuji Finepix S5600 and £270 for a Sony DSC H1.

When you take into account the number of features the SP-500 has it offers a very good deal. I like the fact it is smaller than the Finepix S5600 and is a lot easier to carry around with you.

The design of the SP-500 certainly works for me. It has a solid feel in the hand and Olympus have managed to keep the camera to a fairly compact size. It has an attractive black finish and a handy grip on the front.

It has dimensions of 105.5 x 74.5 x 71.0 mm and weighs in at 285g.

Four AA batteries are needed to supply power to the camera. Olympus do not supply any battery usage statistics for this model. If you are planning to use your camera on a regular basis I would suggest considering picking up some rechargeable batteries to go with it. This will help to keep down the running costs.

The camera comes with 10 MB of memory built into it. Therefore a memory card is not supplied with the camera. I was able to take just seven photos before the internal memory became full. Therefore you are advised to buy a high-capacity card to go with the camera. This camera is compatible with XD Picture cards.

Click here to save money on xD cards..

Design and style
Overall picture quality
Menu help
Value for money

No optical image stabilisation

The Olympus SP-500 is well worth considering if you're looking for a digital camera with an extended zoom lens. It has an extensive feature set and it is priced competitively. Picture quality is very good and there are very few obvious downsides to this camera.

Olympus SP 500 Front View

Olympus SP 500 Back View

Olympus SP 500 Top View

Sample Menus

Description:	Six megapixl digital camera with a 10x optical zoom lens.
Ease of Use:	7
Features:	8
Colour:	9
Macro:	9
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	9
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	7
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	81
Verdict:	I like the Olympus SP-500. It has a good feature set and feels good in the hand. Compared to other similar digital cameras it has a very reasonable price.
Review Date:	January 2006
Click for:	Specification Sample Images Features

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Canon Powershot SX100 IS	85
Olympus SP-570 UZ	84
Canon Powershot S5 IS	83
Panasonic DMC FZ18	83
Panasonic DMC TZ5	83
Panasonic DMC TZ4	83

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Olympus SP-500