Olympus SP-560 Features

The Olympus SP-560 is an 8 megapixel digital camera. It has an 18x optical zoom lens. Zoom can be further increased by 5.6x digital zoom.

The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 27 - 486mm. This makes it a wide angle lens.

Basics

Record in RAW
2 or 12 second self timer
Special resolution for widescreen television playback
Special resolution for 6 x 4" prints
Voice recording
Panoramic shooting feature. Only available when using Olympus brand memory card.
Image stabilisation

Focusing

Manual focusing is available as is predictive auto focus.

In super macro mode the camera can focus from 1cm away from the subject.

Face detection processing is also available.

LCD

The LCD screen is 2.5 inches in size and is made up of 230,000 pixels. There is also an electronic viewfinder. The viewfinder has dioptre correction, meaning focusing of the viewfinder can be adjusted to suit your eyesight.

Flash

The flash modes are auto, red eye reduction, always on, always off and slow sync. The working range of the flash unit is 4.5m at ISO 200 (wide) and 2,8m at ISO 200 (tele).

Flash compensation is also available.

Scene Modes

There is a wide range of preset scene modes available. These are Portrait, Landscape, Landscape with Portrait, Sports, Night Scene, Night Scene with portrait, Indoor, Candle, Self-portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select 1, Shoot & Select 2, Beach, Snow, Smile Shot, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2 and Underwater Macro.

Image Editing
After a photo has been taken there are a number of processes that can be applied by the camera. There include changing the colour to black and white or sepia, correcting brightness, saturation and colour balance, adjusting the brightness and reducing red eye.

Movies

Movies can be recorded at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and at a top speed of 30 frames per second. Olympus state that the recording time at this resolution is 10 seconds, but I was able to record for longer than this.

Zoom is available during recording and sound can be captured.

Advanced Features

Fully manual exposure is available. You can also select aperture priority and shutter priority. Shutter speeds can be set in the range ½ second to 1/2000 seconds. There is also an 8 minute bulb setting. The maximum aperture is f/2.8 (wide) / f4.5 (tele).

Other controls you can use include Metering (ESP, spot, centre weighted), ISO (ISO 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 (6400 only available at lower resolutions)), white balance (automatic, Sunlight, Overcast, Tungsten, Flourescent 1, Flourescent 2, Flourescent 3, Manual, White balance adjustment -7 Red +7 Blue), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV / 1/3 steps) and exposure bracketing (5 frames / +/- 1/3 EV steps).

In sequential shooting mode you can take up to 7 frames at a top speed of 1.2 frames per second.