The Olympus SP-590UZ is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a 26x, wide angle lens. The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 26 - 676mm in 35mm format. You can further increase the capabilities of the lens with a lens adapter. This allows you to attach conversion lenses and filters.

5x digital zoom is also available.

• Self Timer: 2 or 12 seconds
• Image Stabilisation
• Face Detection focusing
• Special resolution for widescreen television playback
• Voice Memos: 4 seconds
• Panorama Mode
• Sensor size: 1/2.33 inches
• Menu guide

Focusing options include manual focusing and predictive focusing. Spot focusing is also available with 143 AF areas to select from. For close up work there is a super macro mode that allows you to focus from 1cm.

The LCD monitor is 2.7 inches in size. The screen is made up of around 230,000 dots. For composing photographs you can also opt to use the electronic viewfinder. This has diopter adjustment available allowing you to set the focusing of the viewfinder to suit your eyesight.

The flash modes are: on, off, red eye reduction, automatic, slow synchronisation, slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction and slow synchronisation 2nd curtain.

The maximum flash range is 9m at ISO 800. This falls to 5m when the zoom lens is fully extended.

You can adjust the power of the flash. An external wireless flash is also available.

There are a number of preset scene modes. These are: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene, Night Scene with portrait, Indoor, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Multi Fireworks, Multi-Exposure, Cuisine, Documents, Smile Shot, Beach and Snow, Bird Watching, Pre-Capturing Movie, Quick Shutter and Soft Background.

You can shoot movies with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The top recording speed is 30 frames per second. Sound can be recorded and optical zoom can be applied before shooting starts.

After a photo has been taken you can edit your shots to reduce red eye and alter brightness. Photos can also be changed to black and white or sepia. You can also use options for face focus, center focus, shadow adjustment and beauty fix.

Among the more advanced features are:

• White Balance: Automatic, Overcast, Sunlight, Tungsten, Flourescent 1, Flourescent 2, Flourescent 3, Manual White balance (One-Touch), White balance adjustment -7 Red +7 Blue
• ISO Sensitivity: 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, (3200, 6400 at lower resolutions)
• Manual Exposure
• Aperture Priority
• Shutter Priority
• Exposure Bracketing 5 frames / +/- 1/3, 2/3, 1 EV steps
• Exposure Compensation: 1/3 EV step, +/-2 EV
• Shutter Speed Range: 8 minutes - 1/2000 seconds + bulb setting
• Metering: Multiple Point , Spot, Centre weighted
• Maximum Aperture: f/2.8 - 5.0
• Sequential Shooting: (high speed) 10 fps / 25 frames (in 3MP mode) 6 fps / 25 frames (in 5MP mode)
• Interval Shooting
• Contrast +/- 5 levels
• Saturation +/- 5 levels
• Sharpness +/- 5 levels

All the necessary cables and software are supplied to attach the Olympus SP-590UZ to a computer, television set and compatible printer.

Description:	12 megapixels and a 26x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	7
Features:	9
Colour:	8
Macro:	9
Indoors:	9
Value for Money:	8
Style:	9
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	83
Verdict:	If it is plenty of zoom you are after you will struggle to find more than the 26x zoom on offer here. The camera does a good all round job and achieves what it sets out to do. It has a set of manual exposure controls and a wide angle lens.
Review Date:	September 2009
Related Pages:	Olympus SP-590 UZ Specification Olympus SP-590 UZ Sample Images Olympus SP-590 UZ Features

	GBP 229.99
	GBP 238.00
	GBP 242
	GBP 279
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Fuji Finepix S200EXR	87
Panasonic DMC FZ38	87
Canon Powershot SX1 IS	87
Sony DSC HX1	85
Canon Powershot SX10 IS	85
Canon Powershot SX20 IS	84
Olympus SP-590 UZ	83
Nikon Coolpix P90	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-590 UZ