This is my 5th digital camera. It is the best I have used in this size camera.

Images from this camera are very high quality. The 18X optical zoom is very usable with only minimal distortion noticeable at the extremes. The optical image stabilization system (based on stabilizing the CCD image sensor instead of lens elements) is quite good and performed well under several different circumstances (moving car, boat, shaky hands).

My main gripe with this camera is the lack of high speed USB 2.0 support. The fine print says that the USB interface is "full speed" which means a maximum transfer rate of 12 Mbit/s instead of the 480 Mbit/s possible with high speed USB. So, downloading photos from the camera through the USB interface is painfully slow compared to most current generation digital cameras such as a Canon SD900.

It would also be desirable if the camera could accept a lithium ion rechargeable battery in addition or instead of the 4 AA batteries it uses. But, battery life with both alkaline and rechargeable NiMH AA batteries was adequate.

I got the camera about a week ago and highly recommend it. If you buy this camera, I recommend getting an H type card which is much faster than the M type for taking pictures. Some movie functions do not work to full capability with the M type but do with the faster H type. I also recommend getting NIMH 2700 mah batteries and charger. Their higher capacity is worth the money and will save over the long run.

As far as the camera goes, I wish the camera was higher than 7.1 mp, but compared to my old 3.3 mp camera, the pictures are so much clearer and finer. The camera has many functions build in, and you will need to read the manual to get full use of the camera. Out of the box AUTO mode works well, but after reading the manual, I think most higher end users will want to set their own modes.

Some nice included functions are the manual ability, the ability to choose among 15 different shooting types (such as through a window), and the ability to store raw images among others. Storing raw images is slow due to the large file size and can take several seconds on an M type card.

Movie mode is able to take 30 fps at 640X480, but 15 fps is still good quality. With the M type card you can only take 15 seconds of movies at full mode, but H type you can fill your memory card. The default setting for movies is without sound so you will need to turn this on. However, with sound turned on, I was not able to zoom, even with the H card.

Image Stablization was nicely setup and can be set with just the push of a button rather than going through the Menu. Also, the eyepiece viewfinder is setup so that if the display on the back is on, the viewfinder is off and vice-versa. In fact when you use the eyepiece viewfinder, the picture that is normally displayed on the back is now in the eyepiece. I suppose this is good for taking pictures when it is too bright to see the back screen.

Finally, I like to take weather shots and this camera includes a time lapse mode, which I can put together with my old software (not Olympus) into a movie.

[...]

To All,

I just purchased the SP-550UZ after searching for the best camera bang for the buck - Olympus fills the bill..... 3/3/07 was my first day of use and I decided to check ALL the features - with the batteries supplied - still in use and a 2GB card - I took off for the outdoors and began shooting pictures at a local park - 300 pictures - including several 15 FPS and 30 FPS shoots and three videos - 15, 30 and 45 seconds in length.

I am not a pro and will be using this camera for Sports, vacations and every day family events.

No Cons yets - I love the "SCN" feature - just select how you want to take the picture and the camera setups the camera - all you have to do is take the picture.

After leading the way in digital point-and-shoots in the early part of the decade, Olympus had fallen on hard times. Not that their cameras weren't any good, it's just that they weren't anything special. With the SP-550uz (and a few other cameras), Olympus has really stepped it up.

First, this is one heck of a nice looking camera (the photos don't do it justice), and feels equally good in your hands (nice heft with the 4 AA batteries). The dials looks sharp and appears to be solid.

In operation, the camera works very well. The tremendous 18x optical zoom is smooth and not too noisy. The rear and internal LCDs are good, although I prefer the Sony internal LCD. The selector dial is easy to read, and the extremely helpful photo/descriptions that appear when you set the dial make it easy to figure out how to use the camera. Their "guide" mode is a wonderful addition for the beginner.

The "dual" image stabalization is a nice touch (but not a cure-all). The mechanical stabalizer is great for letting you hold the camera steady, but it doesn't really help as much for moving objects. The high ISO mode is more properly called an anti-blur mode, as it simply boost the ISO. This helps stop moving objects, but at a sacrifice in quality. High ISOs simply aren't very good on compact cameras, period.

Anyone who's read my reviews knows that I'm not a big fan of the xD cards. They're OK, but not a easy to find, or priced as competitively, as the SD cards.

Some recommended accessories are rechargable batteries and their lens adapter, if you think you might ever want to pick up filters or add-on lenses. These are tubes are sometimes difficult to find when the cameras are first out, but are really difficult to find once they've been discountinued, so get one early.

Overall, a camera at the top of the heap (along with the newly announced Sony DSC-H9).

Would give a 3.75 or 75% rating to this new camera from Olympus. Full review can be found at [...]

Overall the camera feels good to hold and does not seem at all fragile. However, the SP-550 is too large for purse or pocket use and is lacking in the features and image quality that would make it the ideal dedicated camera for intermediate and advanced users. So the target market will be hobbyists who are avoiding the advanced prosumer and DSLR models, yet wanting more features and zoom than the current crop of shirt pocket cameras offer.

Photos did not give the sense of crisp sharpness I was hoping for. Noise issues, many of which can be dealt with in post-processing, were still abundant, and may be the main contributer to the soft feel of the SP-550's images. In all, I think the image quality is going to be the SP-550's main downfall among serious photographers.

On the contrary, the strongest appeal will be to casual photographers who simply take vacation and family snapshots and occasionally need a longer zoom or a wider lens. Photographers who do embrace the SP-550 and eventually want the ability to explore more advanced photography techniques will find the camera to be a good stepping stone.

Images from this camera are very high quality. The 18X optical zoom is very usable with only minimal distortion noticeable at the extremes. The optical image stabilization system (based on stabilizing the CCD image sensor instead of lens elements) is quite good and performed well under several different circumstances (moving car, boat, shaky hands).

My main gripe with this camera is the lack of high speed USB 2.0 support. The fine print says that the USB interface is "full speed" which means a maximum transfer rate of 12 Mbit/s instead of the 480 Mbit/s possible with high speed USB. So, downloading photos from the camera through the USB interface is painfully slow compared to most current generation digital cameras such as a Canon SD900.

The software provided with the camera is somewhat difficult to use and is slow and unresponsive.

It would also be desirable if the camera could accept a lithium ion rechargeable battery in addition or instead of the 4 AA batteries it uses. But, battery life with both alkaline and rechargeable NiMH AA batteries was adequate.

takes excellent photos. love the zoom. feels good in your hands.

Initial impressions of the new super-zoom Olympus camera are excellent. Thought I'd like having a view finder, as opposed to just a screen on the back of the camera, but the digital image in the view finder isn't as crisp as I'd like. A relatively small fault. Still learning to use all the features.

This is the 7th Olympus camera I've owned over the years, from film to digital. I have always been very pleased with Olympus cameras and their usual superior optics. This camera, though, is a major disappointment, mainly because even though it can shoot in RAW, there is no compatible conversion available yet, leaving you unable to process RAW images. This renders the camera worthless at this time for serious pictures as you have no choice but to shoot in JPEG. Olympus should have ensured that vendors such as Adobe had the necessary information to make the compatible RAW conversion Plug-ins available before this camera hit the market. There's no excuse for Olympus to not have made sure this was the case, indeed it's downright irresponsible.

Having said the above, the camera lens is quite nice, the camera itself operates well. You can take quite good pictures. However, the camera is not suitable for flash pictures in medium to low-light situations as there is significant lag time from the time you press the shutter to the picture actually being taken----if you're taking pictures of people, they will have moved by the time the picture is taken.

The battery life is very good. The camera fits nicely in your palm. And, having a 28 - 500 mm lens is great.

If you don't shoot in RAW and you don't depend on flash photography, the camera is worth a look. Otherwise, look at other products at this time.

This is the 7th Olympus camera I've owned over the years, from film to digital. I have always been very pleased with Olympus cameras and their usual superior optics. This camera, though, is a major disappointment, mainly because even though it can shoot in RAW, there is no compatible conversion available yet, leaving you unable to process RAW images. This renders the camera worthless at this time for serious pictures as you have no choice but to shoot in JPEG. Olympus should have ensured that vendors such as Adobe had the necessary information to make the compatible RAW conversion Plug-ins available before the camera hit the market. There's no excuse for Olympus to not have made sure this was the case, indeed it's downright irresponsible. A workaround is clumsy and time-consuming: opening RAW images in the included Olympus software and saving them in TIFF format, which can then be opened by other software programs.

Having said the above, the camera lens is quite nice, the camera itself operates well. It has the good quality fit and finish I'm accustomed to in Olympus-brand cameras. The range of this zoom lens---up to 500mm equivalency----is ground-breaking. You can take quite good pictures. Be warned, however, this camera suffers from significant shutter lag time from the time you press the shutter to the picture actually being taken----if you're taking actions shots or pictures of people or animals, they will have moved by the time the picture is taken. Interestingly, the main culprit seems to be a slow-focusing system. Why this camera has such unacceptable shutter lag time is puzzling.

Summary:

The battery life is very good. The camera fits nicely in your palm. And, having a 28 - 500 mm lens is great.

If you don't shoot in RAW and you're mainly taking pictures of still life subjects, the camera is worth a look. Otherwise, look at other products at this time.

Olympus SP550UZ is a camera designed for people who wishes to upgrade from their 3x optical zoom point and shoot camera to something more bigger. This camera definitely fit the bill. [...]

The maximum zoom is 18x optical, in plain English that would 504mm which is considerably longer then anything else on market for a camera like this. Only one close is Sony H9 that has 15x optical zoom. This camera also got 28mm wide angle, an angle gear toward indoor shooting. Once more only the Sony H9 comes close to that at 31mm. The Olympus lens proves to be very good and details are sharp and vivid. The image stablizer of this camera works very well. In fact, I think it work better then my Canon S2 IS which I found quite surprising. This image stablizer will allowed you take photos at such a range without a tripod.

The feel of this camera is excellent. The body is not clutter, its easy to pick up, easy to hold and the camera feel very solid. I think this is one of the most appealing parts of this camera, its sheer comfort when you hold on to it. Compared to that, Sony H9 which just came out, got a very cluttered body where you cannot help but to push a button if you grab it in a hurry. Olympus SP550UZ put most of its commands in the menu mode, leaving the body relatively free of buttons. That may be a boner for some photographers.

The camera's capture speed is bit on the slow side. I don't think it has anything to do with the camera but with the storage card. Let's face it, Olympus' xD cards are really pathetic. This would be a faster camera if they were using a SD or CF cards. I kind of hope to make up the slowness of the camera by using its "drive" modes for rapid photo taking. Also, there seem to be a weakness in color presentation. For some reason, color red seem to be bit on the weak side with this camera. Its not truly serious problem but its seem to lack vividness. Also, while this camera do come with a ISO of 3200, using that ISO must come as a desperation move due to large amount of noise you will get.

It should be noted that you should not use anything but "H" xD card with this camera. This is xD card's faster version although its that fast compared to other cards. The slower "M" xD card will not work well and according to the instruction booklet, the "M" xD card will not work for video as well.

The camera come with 2.5 inch color LCD that proves to be quite colorful but weak in the direct sunlight. Luckily, I used the viewfinder for taking most of my shots and the viewfinder on this camera proves to be large and clear. The diopter adjustment is easy to fine tune. In comparison, Canon S3/S2 got familiar size viewfinder but Sony H9 got a tiny one since they got a large 3 inch LCD screen.

The Olympus SP550UZ take pretty good video, using the standard 640x480 with audio. I haven't play with this much but it seem to be pretty acceptable for casual photographers.

There's about 23 different scene modes you can use. Three of them seem to be underwear scene modes. However, this is not an underwear camera. You have to buy an very expensive plastic underwear casing for it. But still, have 20 is quite a lot.

Like all cameras of this class, SP550UZ comes with your usual exposure and flash compensation modes, both features most graduating photographers like to have.

The camera uses 4 AA batteries and they provides extraordinary long life. Even after 200 shots, I am still using the original low grade AA batteries that came with the box. The power level still show full despite of the fact that one third of those 200 were taken with flash. How long will it last once I put in my more powerful rechargable batteries?? Despite of the four AA batteres, the camera still feel very light and weight is probably one thing you will not notice about this camera.

Overall, the camera takes good sharpe photos, blessed with an image stablizer that works fantastically well and long life with four AA batteries. There is a lot you can do with this camera and I have just touch the tip of the iceberg. The camera come highly recommended despite of many lackluster reviews out there on the internet. It really is better then it read.

I have had this camera for a month now, and have shot about 2500 frames. I teach digital photography at the local college, and have several cameras, so I have a good basis for comparison.

I shoot mostly nature subjects, and this camera acts like it was designed just for me. For nature subjects you need telephoto and macro, and this camera shines at both ends. Set to super macro it will focus at 1cm. Thats less than 1/2 inch. It has allowed me to shoot a honeybee that filled the frame.

The 18x telephoto is clear and sharp, and perfect not only for birds at a distance, but lizards 8 feet away. I bought the CLA-10 adapter and 1.7 teleconverter, so I can get 27x telephoto, and it is still clear. The image stabilization is good enough that I can hand hold at 27x if necessary.

The current lack of RAW support in Adobe products is being worked on, and the plug-in is expected shortly.

If you shoot nature you will love this camera. It is also ideal for candid street photography, and is being used by some pretty famous photojournalists.

I bought thus camera on the basis of its really useful zoom. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice camera. Everything feels solid and reliable, but the autofocus has a mind of its own.

Unless the thing you focus on has 100% sharpness, the camera will focus on whatever is in the background (often hundreds of yards away) or at the feet of the object of interest, throwing out any chance of focusing in the object of interest.

I can work round this issue, but is something you shouldn't have to do for the price (and so is something you should consider).

I have owned this SP-550UZ for about two weeks and have taken about 600 pictures so far. Very pleased with the overall feel and zoom operation of this unbelievable 18x optical. Macro too is excellent. Transfer data time to the xD card is about one second after you take the picture if you use the highest JPEG setting. Only problem I am having is with the auto focus. Seems the pictures with the high end zoom just are not as clear as I would like, even with the anti-shake turned on. My old Olmpus was the 2100UZ which had great color accuracy and focusing, of course now it lags in technology compared to todays cameras. With the SP-550UZ the color acuracy is also extreamly good and the ease of controlls on this new camera are excellent. Battery life is very good. I would give this camera a five star rating if it was not for the focus issue and being unable to process the RAW images until Adobe has the update RAW converter for this camera which will come in time. This SP-550UZ is definitely a camera you should consider.if you cannot afford DSLR.

This Olympus camera has a good feel, produces a good picture, and is easy to use. What's not to like?

I purchased the camera one month ago and have experimented with different features. The 18x zoom is great because you can get pictures that are really close and near to objects that are far away. The clearity of the pictures are crisp and sharp. The stablizer in the camera prevents the pictures from being blurey when on a boat rocking, or in a car moving. I have used the super zoom when doing macro photography and the clarity and detail in the flowers is amazing. It gets you closer to the flowers 1 cm. to be exact and veining and portions of flowers can be taken. I took a short film of a bird going in and out of a bird house feedin her young.

I purchased this camera for my wife, to replace an Olympus 2100uz. This camera is slick looking and erganomics are great. The wide angle and telephoto are better than any other camera I know of. The slide show with music is impresive and battery life is great. We have had the camera for abour six weeks and haven't changed the batteries yet. The menua system is easy to use and very easy to understand. The only reason I gave it a 4 star is some times it takes a little time serching for auto focus.

Very easy to use and a lot of good features for non-professional people who just want to take good picture. Very impressed with the 18X zoom as well as taking excellent close up pictures. It's a bit heavy.

My husband is a professional photographer but I still don't know all the ins and outs of the various focal lengths and ISO adjustments. I have gotten good enough at photography that I needed more than the bottom end point and shoot cameras. I really needed at least a 10X optical zoom. I also do genealogy so needed a camera that has a macro lens so that I can copy photographs, documents, and microfilm off the reader. When we found the SP-550UZ it seemed a great choice so that I don't have to carry around two or more lenses. It has a Macro and Super Macro lens as well as being able to go 18X Optical zoom (I never use the Digital zoom on any camera!). I purchased this camera right before we left on vacation so I had time to play with it. I had no problem 'freezing' action on the sports scene mode. I got some really great photos through the windshield while we were moving at 70 MPH by panning with car movement. It worked well on the Blue Ridge Parkway picking up the subtle greens and purples of the mountains and trees. My husband was even jealous of the photos I took of my cousin's Koi fish in a pond in VA. I had it in Landscape+Portrait mode and they came out great.

This camera has 23 modes so play with them when you get your camera so that you know which one to choose to get the depth of field you desire. The SP-550UZ is a great camera for someone that wants the help of the programmed modes while still giving you the ability to change settings as you learn more about photography. It's handy document setting for working in the library on my genealogy sold me but the 18X optical zoom makes this a great all round camera in my book! I'm now recommending this camera for genealogists to get the best possible starting image when duplicating photos. (Much better than scanning!)

YAY! Oly finally did it: The C-2100UZ was my favorite camera ever, and we attempted to replace it with a Minolta Dimage Z1 (which was okay) and the Canon PowerShot S2IS (which was better) - but neither one hit the mark. The SP-550UZ looks good, feels good, photo quality is great.

I don't have anything to add to what other reviewers have said, but needed to get in my 5 stars! And to let C-2100UZ users know, this IS the replacement you have been looking for!

A superb camera, today I went out shooting, I tried everything, the results were superb, the photos I printed came out looking like etchings, no regrets on this camera, I think Olympus struck pay dirt with this machine.
I love the way it looks, the way it handles, ease of getting thru alot of menus.
There have been some comments that at long rang, 18x, the square can jump to something you do not want, it did it on me, but, it did,nt really make any differences, photos still come out super.
I consider this camera to be in the same class as the Olympus OM-2, 1975, it is a ground breaking photographic instrument.

Camera takes very good pictures. The manual is fair - some options are not described and for others the description is not helpful. But overall, the camera is a great value.

The Olympus SP 550UZ 7.1 is not that good. The Auto focus didn`t work. I have 3 other Olympus digital cameras, and the auto focus didn`t that well either, sometimes it would work and other times it didn`t and for that kind of monies, I think it should work ALL the time!! I read all the reviews on the Kodak P712, so I purchased the Kodak, and its awesome. I am real glad I did, so far its takes fantastic pictures. The auto focus is Great!!

The wide angle to 10X zoom is the reason I bought this camera. Picture is good. Video is OK. Autofocus finds the subject remarkably well. Prefocus (halfway press the button) works better than any other camera I've ever used. The quick, successive pictures option is a must have. I love the viewfinder, a must for us older guys.

Down sides: Autofocus doesn't always get it right on moving objects, such as a helicopter flying with mountains in the background. The focus jumps around, between the copter and the mountian. The zoom tends to jump to far one way, then too far back the other. Still some delay from button press, until the picture is actually taken (focus mostly).

This camera worked better then I expected and better than most. The stabilizer in it works really well. The shutter delay isn't as bad as most digital camera's that I have used and the picture quality is great. I would recommend this camera to any person that is after stills or short movies. The macro function works wonderfully and I was able to get pictures that were as good as my Nikon 35mm camera on flowers and insects for study.

I only recently purchased this camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 which I quite liked but when I saw this offering from Olympus I had to have it! Let me tell you, this camera just blows the Panasonic away! The 18 x optical zoom is incredible, the image quality is just superb, the macro function allows you to take breathtaking close ups from as little as 1cm away with incredible detail and the image stabilization works better than any I have ever tried. The 15fps burst mode is so useful and works great and last but not least, the camera takes great video footage with sound. Overall I just cannot recommend this camera highly enough.

I agree with almost everything mentioned in other Amazon reviews except for the image quality. I recently did a side-by-side comparison of photos taken with the SP-550, SP-350 and a Nikon 35mm (with 35mm-105mm lens) cameras. Photos taken with the SP-550 seemed to be good until I compared them against images from the SP-350 and 35mm. They were noticeably less sharp and had less contrast than the other two cameras. I bought the SP-550 because I found the 3X zoom of the SP-350 to be too restrictive. I wasn't surprised at the reduced image quality because it's obvious the lens would have to have more elements and thus reduced image quality.

If you can live with a 3X zoom, I highly recommend the SP-350. Image quality was similar to photos taken with my 35mm Nikon SLR. Though the 35mm had better dynamic range. Although the SP-350 is not made any more, used ones and old stock are still available.

Also note that I like the Olympus Master program that comes with both cameras. The Olympus Master program has a provision to upgrade the firmware of your camera, which I recommend you do after you purchase it. I also thought it was cool that the program lets you remove the pincushion/barrel distortion that is nearly unavoidable in a zoom lens.

I bought this camera before a road trip to visit family. My girlfriend's mom lives in Maine and her backyard opens onto woodlands where she feeds a lot of the animals so her windows offer FANTASTIC wildlife photo ops.

Two years ago I'd made the same trip with my FujiFilm S5000 which is a 10x optical zoom and 3mp. The Fuji was never top of the line, but I've always been happy with it, but thought the SP-550's 18x optical zoom would blow me away! I'm sorry to say it didn't. I took the camera back after the trip.

It IS a nice camera and if you don't already have a nice camera it's a good buy, but it really wasn't so much better than my Fuji that it was worth spending the $400.

In comparison to the 3 year old Fuji it had a harder time with 'less-than-perfect' conditions. Example: two years ago I got some good shots of flying squirrels and raccoons with just the light from the front porch - this year with the SP-550 it was a struggle - I got similar photos, but only because I took so many some turned out ok. Of course it's easier the less zoom you use - hard to hand-hold the camera steady enough for the long zoom to gather enough light.

The Olympus was also slow to focus - and I'm sure that's to be expected of an 18x zoom - it's got more focusing to do so it can take longer.

On the up side - it does take nice photos, good colour and sharp. It is nice to have that extra zoom capability (although, I have to admit, I didn't just didn't find that I noticed it that much - maybe I was expecting too much).

So all in all, yes, it's a nice camera and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an ultra zoom point and shoot - but not if you're already happy with your current camera.

I am not experienced with digital cameras. I hoped that I could use the automatic setting on the camera and get good pictures. I cannot get action pictures at all. The wait time before the camera takes the picture is so long that the picture is gone before the camera captures the shot. I wanted to take a picture of a kid jumping off of a diving board. Can't do it. I want to take pictures of boats at a drag race. Can't do it. I wrote to ask how to set the setting which could possibly change this. The on-line company I wrote to referred me to the manufacturer for problems with the camera. I'm not saying that there is a problem, if I knew how to fix it, but help is not readily available. So, if you are not really familiar with camera terminology and settings, etc., this camera may not be for you. A regular camera has a dial setting for action. This one does not. So, I am disappointed. While I can focus in beautifully on distant objects, if they are moving, forget it!!

I am a professional moviemaker. I know way more about motion picture cameras than still cameras but a camera is a camera. They got most of what they did right but left out some things that are really annoying.
I always put a UV or Haze filter on my lenses. This is for protection. Olympus, for reasons unclear to me, uses a 38.5mm thread for their lens. That is just not available through any normal source. Olympus sells an extension ring, which is bulky and defeats the purpose of a collapsible lens, which this camera has. I did find a guy in Canada who makes an adaptor ring that goes from 38.5mm to 52mm (a standard size) www.nextphoto.net. The ring works although you will need another lens cap. It costs about $30 and arrived quickly. Also, they have designed the battery compartment so you can't use Lithium Ion rechargables. I have several of these and use them in my older Olympus cameras. Aside from these oversights the camera is as close to perfect as I could find in this class.

I use this camera primarily for wildlife photography, but also for scenery and wildflowers. Many of my recent subjects have been insects in the half inch size category. The super macro setting is perfect for such use. The normal zoom capability is great for bird and scenic subjects. I highly recommend this camera.

Really nice camera received well on time! The only thing i that it's not a Canon and so the quality of the pictures from really close or at night don't have the quality of a Canon. Otherwise, the zoom and the double image stabilization work perfectly!!

This is a perfect camera to take on vacation. It is easy to use and doesn't need any cumbersome accessories to get great pictures.

THIS CAMERA IS AWSOME. IT BRINGS IN PICTURES FROM A GOOD DISTANCE CLEARLY. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMEND.

I bought this as a replacement for my Olympus 5050. The features of the 550UZ are great, but I miss the infared remote shutter that the 5050 had.
I bought this for my vacation but was very disappointed in battery life. The batteries that came with it only lasted for about 20 pictures but I figured they were just bad. So I bought new Energizers before my trip to go along with the rechargeables I used to use in my old camera. The new Energizers would take about 3 pictures before the "battery empty" sign came up. This happened with 3 sets of batteries. My old NiCads were good for about 50 pictures in my 5050 but wouldn't even take one picture with the 550UZ.

Really I was thinking of updating from this camera to a digital SLR camera, but after comparing the features, the SLR's just cannot do all the things that I love about this camera. There is a great GUIDE setting that asks you want you would like to do and sets the camera accordingly. Also the burst mode is amazing...takes up to 15 shots at once, catches action amazingly. The zoom cannot be beat. On the outside of the camera where you hold it there is a very nice gripping material on it. I've taken some great pics with this camera. It's a keeper :)

I have had several Olympus cameras and been pleased with them. I was using (and still have) an old Olympus C-5050 that I will keep because I have the waterproof housing and use it for diving. I then went to a Nikon 8700 for a couple years. It was a good camera, but always seemed to be lacking something. The Olympus 550-UZ is a much better camera than the Nikon for my uses. Better ergonomics, quicker shot to shot times, faster (and much greater) zoom. All in all I am very pleased with the 550-UZ. In the prosumer field, for all around versatility, ease of use and good ergonomics this is a great camera.

This camera is amazing. If you want high quality with ridiculous zoom capability then this is the camera for you. VERY easy to use (set it to auto) and the pictures are amazing! I looked everywhere online and on eBay and found it CHEAPER here on Amazon w/ FREE shipping! You can't beat that!

This camera is amazing. Just got back from a Windjamming Cruise in Maine. I'm not a tech/camera expert by any means and my pictures are great. I can even figure it out with the instruction book. My friend is an expert and is going to get one too because she thinks it is a great camera.

Good optics (always an Olympus strength), great ergonomics (ditto), good lifespan from 4 easily replaced AA batteries (much more convenient than oddball camera-specific batteries), 18X optical zoom is impressive, and the controls are flexible enough for advanced shooters and "instamatic" users alike.

The rubber-ized gripping surfaces on the body add a very nice touch (no pun intended), with the great ergonomics being aided by the nice and secure tactile feel. Good value for the money.

I bought the camera for photographing sports events indoors, garden shots, and general family use. The camera works fine and the price was great for the quality.
The negative is the instruction booklet is not easy to understand. I gave up and learned the camera by using it, rather than by reading the manual.

love this camera; took me a while to figure out most features and still have more to go. The pictures I've taken are fantastic; received many compliments and they do look professional. The zooming is unbelievable - so sharp and the details....... You can take pictures at night and they turn out as if they are taken during the day. I've taken pictures of sunsets and had people doubting me that I took them; better than postcards.
Money well spent :)

This camera is good tool for all type of user - Beginners or Advanced.
You can find presets for all situations or create your own. I think in this class
Olympus is one of the best manufactory!
I recommend this product to every one considering money/result.

This is just the camera I expected. I do not want to lug an SLR around but want flexibility in subject distance selection. Relatively easy to use. A point and shoot or more if you want it to be. I do casual bird photography and this fits the bill

If you would like to get shots like you may have wished for in the past, you can do it now with the SP-550UZ. The 18X zoom get you in there. I was fortunate enough, and patient enough to watch an Antalope mon with her two young ones, about six months old. I saw sone activity and focused in and got me a fantastic shot of those two young fawns dipping under mom and starting to nurse. WOW! I'll say if you want to get close, and closer, get a good camera with a large number zoom. The SP-550UZ 7.1MP Digital Camera with Dual Image Stabilizer 18X Optical Zoom is doing it for me. It can do it for you too.

I'm still learning my way around the camera, but it's obvious this is considerably better than your run of the mill point and shoot, which is all I'm used to. It's actually quite idiot-proof, offering menu listings for many different conditions - underwater, night shots, low light, portrait, snow, etc.
The camera arrived very quickly, in perfect shape, and with full warranty information. I couldn't be happier and I'm looking forward to getting to know it better!

I bought two of these cameras, one for me and one for my wife. The biggest selling point was the 18X optical zoom. I sold a Canon S2 IS (which I loved) to buy this one, so my expectations were pretty high. For the most part, this camera has not disappointed me, but there are a couple of things that I miss with the Canon. This camera will take bursts of 15 fps, but only in low resolution and shot-to-shot lag is pretty slow, even with a type H XD card. Many of the preset modes are pretty useless to me, but would help a novice. It does have a built in "guide" setting to walk an inexperienced shooter through a good exposure. The 18X zoom is great for us as we are avid bird and animal photographers. We'll put these cameras to the ultimate test on our upcoming trip to Panama this December! I'm pleased with the picture quality and wider range of resolution settings, too. This camera has a special "time lapse" shooting feature that my S2 didn't have and although I won't use it often, it's there when I want it. The metering seems to work a little better on this camera than on the Canon and I like the individual settings for contrast, sharpness, and saturation, as well. Focusing in low light is slow, but I had the same problem with the Canon, too. The wide range of ISO settings is a plus as well, because if I am in a situation where I can't use the flash in low light, I can still get the shot, albeit grainy. So, after about a month of shooting and experimenting with local shots, I am very happy with this camera. I'll know for sure after Panama!

bot from 6th ave electronics. quick service on shipping. needed strap parts very helpful but never got the parts so went direct to Olympus.
Great camera. Beautiful shots, but still learning to use camera

I bought this camera in hopes of learning more about photography then just point and shoot. It allows me to operate it manually, by changing the aperture and shutter speeds and also manually focusing it . It also shoots in RAW format as well, which was another selling point for me. It has a BULB feature, but unfortunately I haven't found a setting to set the BULB timer... so it looks like you have to depress the shutter for the required amount of time. I am buying a remote so that I can use this feature without shaking the camera. I do wish the manual that came with it was a little more in depth. Overall , I am really happy with this camera. It is giving me the option to learn photography, but also have the auto settings just in case I can't get the shot on my own. For me, this was a wise purchase . ( I have shot so many pictures, I had to buy a 500 GB external hard drive, because my laptop is out of room ) :)
And as far as batteries go... I am a huge fan of camera's that take AA batteries (like this one does)... I always carry multiple sets of rechargeable batteries with me at all times, but it is nice to know that if they failed, a quick stop at a local convenience store and I am back taking pictures again. I only use the LCD display for taking pictures at nite, and mainly use the viewfinder. So I have no complaints on battery life (and I shoot in RAW format all the time, which takes more power to write to the memory). If you are looking for a camera that will let you learn more about photography then just point and shoot, I would recommend you try the SP-550UZ.

Can't say enough about this camera..... & I still have a lot to learn about it. Just got it about a month ago, & went on a Caribbean cruise last week. I have some beautiful pictures with this thing.... wide shots, close-ups with the ridiculously impressive zooming capability, gorgeous sunrise shots, super blues & greens in the beach shots, etc. I'm sure I'll write more or post some shots in the coming weeks, but for now just wanted to tell you that this is a fantastic camera & the best buy you can make for the money, hands down. Get one!

Olympus cameras will corrupt xD cards when using video. I sent an email which they ignored. I called and was told I had to send the camera back with the card, and a full explanation! I had to pay shipping (camera was 2 months old. They returned the camera and did nothing with the xD card. I called and spoke to a supervisor who said he would ship the card so would have it in 2 days! I got it 10 days later!
Their service stinks Olympus SP-510 Ultra Zoom 7.1MP Digital Camera with Digital Image Stabilized 10x Optical Zoom

I bought this camera because of the 18mm - 18x zoom after reading several reviews of the camera. I currently have the Sony H5, with a 35mm - 12x zoom. I was very disappointed in the quality of the photos of the Olympus and sent it back. I did a direct comparison of both cameras, taking identical shots. The Olympus produced soft images that bordered on blurry, with colors more muted than the Sony. The Sony has a 3" LCD screen, which is much nicer than the Olympus 2.5" screen. I thought there would be a big difference between the wide angle and zoom of the two cameras, but the poor picture quality wasn't worth the extra wide angle and zoom (which weren't that different from the Sony after all). Finally, Olympus cameras have a strange flash function- you must manually raise the flash if the flash is needed- it doesn't happen automatically as it does in most other large zoom cameras. If you don't remember to raise the flash, you end up missing the shot. Bottom line- buy the Sony.

After reading tons of reviews for all the ulta zoom cameras, it looked like the Olympus was on top. Although I haven't tried the competition, I love the Olypmus. The 2 things I have struggled with from other digitals and usually not meantioned, are blurry pictures of my kids basketball games, and the yellowing off all the pitures taken indoors.
Olymus has 6 setting for different light sources, when "Scene" mode is seleted. You can switch between selections with the joy stick, and see the diffences before taking the first shot.
The results were awesome, still not a Digital SLR, but My pictueres not yellow, and the pictures of my kids on the court are clear enough to print. I have not mastered all the settings yet (It does have a lot for the user to learn) but the first few days of shooting was great.
The Photos I took of the kids around the Christmas Tree with all the lights out, except the tree lights were very impressive. I even left the flash off.
The movie mode, was clearer than any video I ever took with my old VHS Camcorder. I have only used the highest quality setting so far, but As clear as that was, I'm sure the lower setting, that will give more minutes of taping, will be better than my previous digital cameras.

I purchased the 550UZ mainly for pix of birds in my backyard and family snaps. Overall, I'm pleased with the quality and performance of the camera. However, a tripod is a must when using the fully extended tele. Being an old film and winder guy, I find the myriad of settings and instructions just a wee confusing. Otherwise, the price (less than $400), long lens, and remote triggering met my expectations.

Out of the box, it was gorgious or handsome at the first look. The zoom is so amazing it is worth the price. I think OLYMPUS will be number one in the digital camera in the near future only with this series digital camera. So many features it has that I spent my whole weekend doing nothing but play with the camera. It is awesome. Bright capture technology works great where I took many picture without flash much brighter than the actual low/dim light. Digital zoom works while sound is on in movie mode. Battery consumption looks efficient so far. I purchased the camera from Dell with Fuji 2G xd M type card. It shows more than 2000 pictures in moderate resolution and more than 1000 in higher resolution. I did not use the whole card to check the capacity. As a new user just keep taking pictures and movies and transfering to my computer in order to be familiar or speedy user. It has PAL/NTSC signal type that really amazed me. Which means when I go to overseas or any Asian countries, I just will switch from NTSC to PAL right in the LCD screen without any signal converter in between. Reading manual is too much heahache for me. But I read many of those and discovered many functions by myself just following the easy navigation LCD screen. Auto focusing should be much better in a camera like 7.1 mega fixel, may be I have to know more for better focusing.

Easy to use. Auto focus works well. My photos look great! The recharge time for the flash is great! I am an amateur photographer whose primary subject is an active five year old. I love this camera!

Great overall camera value for the money. Shutter lag is a problem, and it's a bit inconsistent. Sometimes it's quick, other times it can take 2-3 seconds. I love the powerful zoom, and the unit takes great movies.

Got this camera as a Christmas present for my daughter (25 years old). All kids are techo-savvy due to the Internet, etc. Without the use of the manual, she had no problems adding the batteries and digital card. Christmas morning she was snapping pictures before I had my first cup of coffee. She was taking movies with the camera (I didn't know it could do that) before I had the egg casserole ready. Olympus is a great brand. We have three. This one, a 760 (for second daughter), and a 765 (bought for our 25th anniversary trip). Haven't had any problems with any of them. Ignore the reviews that slam this or any other camera for being noisy, or taking too long to transfer to memory after taking a shot. These people wouldn't be happy with any 300 dollar camera. The 550 takes great indoor shots. My daughter was amazed that she couldn't take a bad picture with the 'stability' turned on. Final words are, "Its a great little camera".

First I want to thank the camera guy that stated to buy the 550 not the 560 for the non expert. He was right on. The 550 is all the camera I need plus some. the camera in auto mode is easy to use and takes excellent pictures. If I want special needs or effects this camera seems to be able to handle that as well. Nice size,weight,feel,has it all!

The zoom is just plain stupefying. I love it. The slowest ISO 50 means truely excellent sharp noise free images in daylight. At the other end of the ISO range it is terrible like pretty much all affordable digitals at high ISOs. I love it for photographing buildings and landscapes and for Macro photography of flowers and small intricate gizmos, jewelry, and anything tiny with lots of important detail. It is just barely OK for portraits of adults who are cooperating, but here we are bordering on its real weakness. It is slow to go off. It seems to need time to think before the shutter goes off and in that space of time an average four year old can change expressions turn around twice and leave and then reenter the frame. This is not snapshot camera for people who want to take pictures of undiciplined people and pets. For that it is so useless, that I gave up and bought a Panasonic Lumix with very similar specs, a leica lens, and a 12X zoom. It has a slowest ISO of 100 and as a result lacks the amazingly noise free clarity of the Olympus at ISO 50, but the important difference is you can get the picture of the kid with that great expression still on his face. The two of them are perfect for what I do with a camera, and both combined are still half the price of any digital SLR I'd be willing to own. I woulld still buy this for shooting any of the things I said it was good for. It is capable of noticeably better pictures than the top Panasonic. If the light allows you to use ISO 50 and the subject is not moving, you'll be thrilled. The instructions suck but can be understood eventually.

This camera is so much fun. I love it. I still don't know everything about it. But it has everything!

This is the best camera I have ever used. Takes really good long shots ,will get good photos in very low light [at night no flash].Has so many features I am still learning how to use all of them. Price was unbelievable ,friend who has the same camera paid over $100 more than I did.

I love all the features of this camera. The main reason I bought it is that I love wide angle views and the widest view with this camera is equivalent to a 28 on a standard 35mm camera. After my first trip taking several hundred pictures, the one common denominator is a slight out of focus quality. When the camera is in full wide, it is particularly soft. Color is good, and exposure and other controls are great, but it is very dissapointing to see a full size print that is not sharp.
My old camera was a Nikon 995, with the wide adapter. Even though it was only 3 megapixels and showed some more color fringing at the edges, the wide angle images were sharp and beautiful. I will end up using that camera more than the new one!

this is exactly what i was looking for and found it cheaper here than anywhere else, it was processed and delivered promptly.

The 18x zoom feature was the reason I bought this camera. It only takes fair quality photos on full Optical zoom. I dont bother with the digital zoom. Also when fully zoomed it has a very hard time focusing. I bought the 2 gb memory card and just recently came back from Hawaii with over 800 pics. I had storage for many many more. Also there are so many options it is hard to figure out just basic features such as a timer.

The camera is a great product. Worth for its' price. Amazing zooming and 15fps with 7.1 megapixel it delivers wonderful moments in your life

I bought this camera last month, upgraded from my Olympus C-5000 that I bought 4 years ago. The SP-550 has a super-macro mode which allows for extremely up close and detailed photos of things like wildflowers, insects, etc. The 18x zoom works very well thanks to the image stabilization feature. The video function is handy to have. I've been impressed with the battery life of this camera. In all I highly recommend this camera!

I LOVE this camera! I bought one, only to have it stolen 6 months later! I loved it so much that I got another one just like it. It's very portable, easy to handle, not too many buttons to confuse you and, my favorite feature, the zoom is incredible for a camera of its size! Very pleased with this purchase....twice!

This is a great camera if you use it within its limits. I read a lot of complaints about the auto focus in low light or extended zoom photos. IMHO, if you take that many photos in low light, or at 18 X ( 503mm) you should not be using this camera. This camera takes excellent photos, even at 18x with good lighting, if you are faced with a low light situation at 18X, you should probably have this on a tripod, and give the camera time to focus,or better yet, use manual focus. I will take a decent photo at 18X, but again you are at the upper limit of what it was designed to do. My car is designed to run at 115 mph at times. Would I do that all the time, no. It operates better at 65-85 mph, same concept with your camera.

I bought this camera to take on recent trip to Europe and did not want to haul my DSLR and a couple of lenses. With that in mind, this camera did a great job of being an all around all purpose camera, and even did a good job on some long range shots. I even got good shots of the London Symphony Orchestra at night, at Barbicon from about 700 feet back in upper level seats.

The pictures can get a little noisy at 1600 ISO, but I have other cameras that will not even operate at 1600 ISO.

My only complaints, and biggest concerns with this camera are the USB port, and battery life indicator. You cannot use a standard USB cable with the camera. This must be a recent change for Olympus. I have several other olys that use the Standard USB mini jack. Now, you are forced to keep track of another cable.

Secondly,the battery life in this camera is great, I was able to shoot well over 600 shots,even using image stabilation on one set of AAs. However, the battery indicator is pretty much useless. Several times, I was shooting and the battery indicator showed full power, and after 2 or 3 more shots, the LCD flashed "battery empty." The indicator,does not give you time to plan your battery changes. In one case, the batteries during the LSO concert and it was too dark make a quick battery change. I had to use a second camera.

There are some complaints too about the XD card, but I knew about the XD card requirement before I bought the camera, so that was not an issue for me.

Even, with the downsides, this camera takes great photos under the right conditions. Yes, I did get some bad shots too, but I don't blame the camera. Sometimes, I just missed the shot, or shot before the camera was ready.

I own a high end Nikon camera too, but I still prefer the shots that come from my Olympus cameras for overall picture quality. I have a couple of friends that always say, the photos look 3D out of the Olympus cameras, especially out of my C-8080 Zoom and my C-60.

I probably would buy the 570UZ if this was my only camera. I bought the 550 because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn't think I would be heartbroken if it was lost or damaged while on vacation. Now, that I have used it, it quickly becomming one my favorite cameras.

i have this camera for 13 months already and i have taken it on 4 long trveling periods. this past tour two pieces of felt/rubber that are supposed to make your hold of the camera comfortable started falling off.
on another occasion the little door that holds the xd card got open while i was wlking. i dont know how long i was wlking this way before i realised it was open. in my case the card didnt fall out but you never know it might have fallen and i would have lost all my pictures ( about 600).
unfortunatly my warranty has just expired but if you are thinking of buying a camera that starts falling apart after 12 month, i would suggest looking at the other makes. maybe they dont have rubber pieces that will fall off after a short use.
i bought it as soon as they came out with the 18 optical zoom. if i would have bought one today i would probably go for the fuji 8100 because it takes 2 kinds of cards as opposed to the olympus which takes only the xd card.

I bought this camera because I had a little Olympus and always got compliments on the quality of pictures it took, but WOW, this was an impressive upgrade. The 18x OPTICAL zoom is awesome!! I have had this camera for 6 months and have taken it to Hawaii twice and Yellowstone/Grand Teton National parks and I have over 2000 amazing pictures!! It may not be the most impressive looking camera out there but it does an EXCELLENT job with landscape photos. All the different settings (landscape, portrait, beach, sunset, fireworks, cuisine, document, underwater, sport, available light, night scene and others I am forgetting) make it very user friendly and help any amateur take professional looking pictures. Needless to say--I love my Olympus!! There are so many good features on this camera I have left out of this review, but I could go on and on...........JUST BUY IT!!!

I purchased this camera through an Amazon merchant. Going on a once in a lifetime trip to Montana, Glacier National Park, so I did a ton of research on what camera would fit my needs. I believe this camera would have, IF IT ONLY HAD WORKED!! It was fine with the internal memory, but the memory card would not stay inserted. Called Olympus from the National Park and was told "It's the camera, return it". Thank goodness I brought my 25 yr old 35 MM with me for backup. I have a strange feeling this camera was returned to the merchant, and then resold to me. My heart was broken as time and time again I saw photos that could have been captured with my new digital and were not.

I purchased this exact same Olympus camera one month ago for $100.00 cheaper at Sam's club here in Colorado.I paid $270.00. I will say that they sold very fast and they are out of stock here in Colorado.

I purchased the Olympus SP 570UZ last month. This past weekend I took it out for the really the first time.
I do like the camera, however I was extremely disappointed with the life of the battery. I actually had to buy 4 sets of additional AA batteries to get through the weekend.
And therefore I was unable to take as many picture as I would have liked to. I saw that somebody wrote that he took 600 picture with a set of batteries. Well, I never got past 250.

This model is my third Olympus. My old ones have superior battery life but not this one. It's batteries need a recharge after 35 images, max, although I don't use the large viewer and turn off the anti-shake. Then I have to charge them 2 or 3 times to get them to work. I was using Sony and Energizer 2500Mah with poor results, so The company accepted it back as flawed. The replacement is the same. I then ordered the Olympus charger and batteries recommended for this camera, and they are no better. What's funny is, my daughters Canon Supershot (same Mpix, anti-shake, large videos) worked fine on my "spent" batteries.

A lot of "noise" is evident in images taken in low light. The high ISO which is supposed to help in low light, actually makes it worse.

All my Olympus cameras are well made and easy to use, though the internal battery died in one after 3 years, so I have to redo my settings every time I change the battery. There are better cameras out there. I wish I'd gotten something else.

If you are looking for a point and shoot camera keep looking. If you want more control with how you shoot. This camera will do everything you need and more. My first suggestion, take enough time before going on vacation to learn all the options that are on the camera. I got this one because I do a lot of bird and nature shooting, 'Very good optical zoom'. Turning off the sound is nice when I need quite. Cropping photos in the view finder. Being able to adjust my depth of field. Or the shutter speed I want. Focus on what I want. Every option worked right out of the box. You've notice that I tell the camera what I want to do. So if I have a bad shot I know who to blame. Mine was refurbished. Only down side was the manual looked like a copy of a copy, pictures and symbols where very hard to understand(One star off for that.) Equipment wise, five stars. I feel you get a good bang for the bucks. No regrets, I'll buy another if I wear this one out.