Product Description

A powerful 10x optical zoom gets you deeper into detail while a ton of advanced manual and impressive automatic features let you dig even deeper. Shoot with speed. Make adjustments with ease. Extend your options via additional lenses with gusto. From simple one-touch buttons for printing and deleting images to an intuitive menu providing the means towards full creative control, the SP-500 UZ is designed to meet all demands.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34081 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Olympus
• Model: 225720
• Released on: 2005-10-15
• Dimensions: 7.50" h x 10.80" w x 14.70" l, 3.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
• 10x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
• 27 selectable shooting modes, plus full manual and automatic control
• Threaded lens barrel allows the addition of Olympus conversion lenses (not included; must be purchased separately)
• Powered by four AA-size batteries (included); stores images on xD-Picture Cards

Customer Reviews

Super Camera!
I've had the Olympus SP-500 for about five days. I started out taking simple portrait shots and was pleased with the quality.

Today was the real test of why I bought the Olympus SP-500 - the ability to zoom in close and catch action shots at my daughter's soccer games. The result? I'm very impressed. No 'action blur' to be seen, the pictures look great, and with the 10x optical zoom there was no need to keep running around the sidelines trying to get up close to the players.

I was concerned about comments I've read about other cameras with a high level of zoom needing image stabilization (or otherwise the zoom would be worthless). Not the case here. No image stabilization on this camera and the pictures look great. Just remember to put the scene setting on 'Sport' rather than leaving the setting on 'Auto' when taking action shots.

I've played with video mode and liked the result. The controls are easy to reach and the menu system was easy to understand. Having a dedicated 'trash' button is a nice touch. And with manual controls and the ability to add additional lenses, I think I have a camera that can grow with my abilities.

I'll post again if I run into any negatives. For now, I couldn't be happier.

Point and shoot with SLR Speed?
Hi All!
Sin Min here with another run down for you on a new camera. Now, I don't own this one but I have given it some hands on testing and I was impressed enough, that I thought I'd pass it on. As some of you know (or may not know) I work as a Pro pix taker by day, and sell cameras for BestBuy by night (hey gets me out of the house!) So I basically spend 90% of any given day with a camera in my hand. The SP-500 UZ is one of several new models being offered to the public by Olympus this year. We have recieved three of these so far and this camera is best of the lot.The size of the camera is deceptive, when I first saw pictures of it i thought it would be around the size of the immortal C-8080! But it is about 45% smaller with twice the Zoom!
Hmmm-impressive to be sure. However with only a 6MP CCD I lost a tad of enthusiasum (I love to shoot at 7MP or higher).Olympus hasn't changed much as far as menu layout, operation, and basic functions, however looks can be deceving. When the camera arrived at the store I was in the process of setting up the camera for display, when a customer came up and asked me about differences in speed between point and shoot cameras, prosumer cameras, and the SLRs. I proceeded to tell him the usual...how SLR cameras will always be faster than point and shoot, smaller point and shoot cameras are built just for snap shots so If your looking for speed you need more camera, blah, blah. Except for some of the Sony point and shoot cameras which have a fair speed rate.Anyway, so here I am telling this guy, how point and shoot cameras are so slow, I said "Here take this camera for example." holding up the SP-500. " I'll set the camera to "Burst" mode and you'll see how much slower it is." So I set it up hit the shutter and all of a sudden...POP!POP!POP!POP!POP!POP! This dinky little point and shoot camera pops off about 15 shots nearly as fast as the D-50 I just showed the guy! I'm standing there looking like someone just smacked me in the face with a 2X4, and he's looking at me like I should be selling CDs or something!! Long story short the guy bought the SP-500!
Now I own a C-8080 as well as an E-300 SLR and as near as I can tell from taking pictures within the store the overall picture quality is on par with Olympus higher end cameras, The Pictures are clear and bright, and the sharpness levels are all great. I can't say how the camera would fare in ambient or low light (not much low anything in BestBuy) but I assume the SP-500 would perform in a similar fashion to my cameras.The SP-500 is the latest in a new trend of digital cameras, that I like to call "Power Point N Shoot" Higher resolutions 7 and 8MP, more features but still the same crappy 3x optical Zoom.(Except in the case of this camera) One of the new Olympus models is a tiny camera with 8MP and a hot shoe!! The freaking flash would be twice the size of the camera! I Gave the SP-500 only 4 stars because of the cheesy resolution they gave the camera. At the size it is , if they had made it 7 or and 8MP it would have been something to really be excited about. But as I said whatever else this little camera is fast...Very Fast!!
Thanks for reading and Happy Shooting!

Power packed, stylish, intermediate camera
First, let me say that I am always suspect when I see poor reviews of a product, right next to shining reviews. Who is right? And you can't ask any follow up questions like in a forum. In this case I think the positive reviews are right.

The Olympus SP 500 UZ is a very nice camera for the beginner to intermediate photographer at an excellent price point. You can spend more and get more. You can spend less and get less. However, this camera has a host of great features that are designed to give you more control and creativity over your photos.

Olympus is a solid brand name and they have made many GREAT cameras in their history. While my experience with the SP 500 has been brief, I like it a lot and hope that it continues to delight.

Some of the decision factors that pointed me to the SP 500:

AA Batteries: On my two other digicams I use rechargeables. Cheap, easy to find. Can use alkaline if you run out. Other cameras have a proprietary or "special use" battery which costs $$ to replace and if you run out of battery power you are forced to recharge. Me, I just pop in some fresh AAs.

Lens: Olympus has always been known for making a nice lens. This camera has good optics in my opinion and is reasonably "fast" at f2.8. The wide angle is wide enough for me, and goes to 10x zoom. Very handy.

Large LCD Display: 2.5 inches is really nice on my 40 plus year old eyes.

Threaded Barrel: Allows for easy addition of filter (prevent scratches to lens) and additional lenses.

27 yes 27 shooting modes! I can't wait to try them all.

6.0 Mega Pixels. That's one more than 5!! I can't say I've ever enlarged to more than 8 x 10. Perhaps with this camera I will.

Well that's what sold me. I'm sure others will disagree. No camera can take perfect shots every time. That's where the user comes in to the equation. If you are getting a lot of bad shots with this camera, maybe it's not the camera (sorry).