Olympus SP-550 UZ

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Performance
For a camera that's heavily loaded with features, the SP-550UZ didn't let down, nor did it amaze us in terms of performance. The shooter powered up in 2.6 seconds (including the time needed for the camera lens to extend) and we captured our first shot another second later.

It took approximately 2.8 seconds for the camera to reach its maximum 18x optical zoom. We managed to shoot every 2.7 seconds without flash, and with forced flash, the SP-550UZ slowed to around 3.1 seconds for each flash recharge cycle. Shutter lag, in most cases, was negligible at 0.1 second. Shooting in RAW, however, was a different story. The camera took a sluggish 7 seconds to record the file before we could continue snapping.

In good light, focusing at the wide end averaged 1 second; 2.5 seconds if you're shooting in dim-light settings. At maximum telephoto, the camera took between 1 and 2 seconds to lock focus. Expect it to be longer if you're shooting in dimly lit environments.

If you've heard a machine gun fire before, you'll find the SP-550UZ 15fps burst mode (at 1.2 megapixels) reminiscent of the same rattling sound. After the maximum 20 frames, the camera will take another 8 seconds to record the images to our Olympus 1GB Type-H xD-Picture Card. On another note, when we're shooting at maximum resolution in JPEG, the camera took a disappointing total of three frames before we had to wait for the buffer to clear.

Image quality

	ISO 400 / 800 / 1,600 / 3,200 / 5,000.

When we got wind of the high ISO 5,000 setting on the SP-550UZ, our first concern was just how our photos would turn out at that sensitivity level. Naturally, we had to put the feature to the test. We did our usual Lab shots with the color chart, but for better illustration purposes, we also took some pictures in the night at different ISO settings beginning from ISO 400.

At ISO 400, our picture was definitely usable. Noise became visible to the naked eye at ISO 800, but it's at ISO 1,600 where image quality took a real dip. Details in the highlights were lost and our picture seemed like it was coated with a layer of multicolored sand. In light of that, we won't be shooting at ISO 3,200 and ISO 5,000 (both at 2,048 x 1,536-resolution) unless we're desperate and image quality ranks at the bottom of our mind.

Overall, we were pleased with the image quality right-out-of-the-camera (with the exception of the points mentioned above). There was slight barrel distortion at the wide end and minimal fringing in heavily backlit shots, but that is nothing surprising.

Picture taken at 28mm / Picture taken at 502mm telephoto end

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