Photo Quality
In general I found the images captured with the SP-550 to be generally soft but still passable for most users. Some purple fringing did exist in test shots. The images overall lacked the sharpness one expects from a modern digital camera. However, in good light, photos were of nearly excellent quality and the image stabilization did work well, especially at lower zoom.
Despite the high ISO options (selectable and automatic up to a 5000 believe it or not), noise is very apparent in low light situations. Olympus tries to compensate for this by making the highest ISOs of 3200 and 5000 available at 3MP mode only. In camera noise reduction is available for high ISO settings and can be turned on via the menus.
Soft focus |
Soft & noisy |
Fringing |
Soft & noisy |
The shots in drive mode with fulltime auto focus on were still lacking in sharpness, bordering on out of focus. More like "continuous-not-in-focus." We have a gallery of example shots, including RAW files for you to download and process on your own
here.
Conclusion
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.
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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- Longest optical zoom on the market.
- Image stabilization.
- Wealth of shooting modes and features.
- Wide angle nice to have for large group shots.
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- Image quality is soft and noisy.
- 15 fps drive mode is only available at lower resolutions.
- Optical zoom fixed during video recording with sound.
Memory storage can create duplicate filenames.- Some features blocked without an Olympus memory card.
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