Compact

The 12-megapixel SP-600 UZ is the lower-priced model of two super-zoom digicams announced by Olympus in February. Built and priced to attract bargain hunters, it provides a limited range of adjustments but supports 720p video recording. The 15x optical zoom range is adequate for most family users and dual sensor-shift and ISO-boosting stabilisation reduce the incidence of unwanted camera shake - without totally preventing it.

Both the SP-600 UZ and the higher-resolution SP-800 UZ represent an evolution of the previous SP-590UZ (which they replace) and both have marginally larger sensor areas.  However, photo enthusiasts will doubtless see these cameras as a backward step because neither supports the P, A, S and M shooting modes and there's no viewfinder on either camera, forcing users to rely entirely on the LCD monitor.

Removing the EVF has enabled Olympus to make the new models smaller than their predecessor and their specifications have been updated to meet current purchasers' requirements. RRPs have also come down significantly. The table below shows the main differences between the three models.

The 5.0-75mm f/3.5-5.4 zoom lens on the SP-600 UZ isn't particularly fast but covers a useful zoom range (equivalent to 28-420mm in 35mm format). It includes two aspherical elements that have enabled the designers to reduce the size and weight of the lens without compromising performance. Up to 5x digital zoom is available for emergencies.

Build and Ergonomics
Like the SP-800 UZ we have already reviewed, the SP-600 UZ has been constructed almost entirely from plastic. Consequently it's relatively light and more compact than you would expect from its specifications. But, whereas the rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the SP-800 UZ ‘sister model' has produced some significant size and weight reductions, the use of four AA batteries means overall weight of the SP-600 UZ is more and the grip is larger.

The front panel is dominated by the lens, which has a clip-over cap that can be tethered to the neck strap by a supplied lanyard. On the review camera it was an easy fit that was not so easy to dislodge inadvertently. The pull-up flash sits atop the lens and is raised and lowered manually by grabbing two tiny lugs near the front of the housing. It sits approximately 60 mm above the optical axis in this configuration.


Front view of the SP-600 UZ. (Source: Olympus.)

The prominent grip extends roughly 30mm forward from the rest of the front panel. It's about 35mm wide close to the body, tapering to about 25 mm at the point where the shutter button and surrounding zoom lever are located. Between the grip and lens is an LED lamp that doubles as an AF illuminator and self-timer indicator. A tiny two-hole microphone is located on the opposite side of the lens.

Two thirds of the rear panel is covered by the 2.7-inch TFT LCD, which has a 4:3 aspect ratio and the relatively low 230,000 dot resolution you would expect from a budget-priced digicam. A prominent Movie button (indicated by an orange dot) lies close to the top right corner of the monitor. Beside it is a tiny indicator LED that glows briefly when the camera is powered-up. No viewfinder is provided.


Rear view of the SP-600 UZ. (Source: Olympus.)

The remaining controls are grouped into a panel, with the Play button at the top, a wheel controller/arrow pad below and Menu and Camera Guide buttons together at the bottom. A central OK button on the wheel controller engages camera settings. The top section of the arrow pad toggles through the Info display modes, while the bottom button is used to delete shots.


Top view of the SP-600 UZ. (Source: Olympus.)

Aside from the flash, shutter button and zoom lever, the only control on the top panel is the on/off button. Strap lugs are located at each end of this panel. Near the top edge of the right side panel is a compartment that houses the USB and HDMI ports. It has a flexible plastic cover that it attached to the camera body at two points and fits quite snugly. Below this compartment are three speaker holes for playing back recorded audio.

On the opposite side panel is a DC-in jack. The cover to this compartment is made of rigid plastic and it's attached with a single tether that's a bit flimsy looking. Batteries and memory card are crammed into a compartment in the base of the grip. The cover to this compartment isn't particularly solid and it can be tricky to shut. A plastic-lined tripod socket is located at the inner edge of the hinge to this cover.

The camera is supplied with a very basic Quick Start Guide in English, French and Spanish, printed on a single, folded sheet of paper. The full 70-page user manual and [ib] software are stored in the camera's internal memory and must be downloaded by connecting the camera to a computer via the supplied USB cable.

The SP-600 has the same menu structure and user interface as the SP-800 UZ and most of the shooting modes are also identical. Playback modes and bundled software are also the same in both cameras. We've covered these features already in our review of the SP-800 UZ.

Sensor and Image Processing
The sensor in the SP-600 UZ is a 12.5-megapixel CCD chip that measures approximately 6.13 x 4.60 mm and delivers 12-megapixel image files at top resolution. It's coupled to a TruePic III Image Processor, which was originally developed by Olympus for its DSLR cameras. Images are captured in JPEG format (Exif 2.21). The table below shows typical still image sizes plus the number of shots that can be stored in the 1GB on-board memory in the camera.

Video
As in the SP-800 UZ, the maximum resolution for video clips is 1280 x 720 pixels and scanning is progressive.  The widely-used MPEG-4 compression and AVC/H.264 codec are the format of choice. Movie capture is triggered by pressing the Movie button on the rear panel. This lights up the movie icon in the bottom left corner of the monitor.

Soundtracks are recorded by default but audio recording can be turned off in the Movie sub-menu. You can use both optical and digital zoom while shooting video clips - but only for silent movies. When the camera is set to record soundtracks, only the digital zoom is available.

The SP-600 UZ supports the same camera settings as the SP-800 UZ for recording and replaying video clips. The main difference between them lies in the capacity of the internal memory, which is 2GB in the SP-800 UZ and 1Gb in the SP-600 UZ. The table below indicates how much video can be stored in the camera's internal memory for each image size and quality setting.

Performance
We encountered many of the same problems as we identified with the SP-800 UZ with the SP-600 UZ supplied for our review - plus a few additional problems that were specific to the review camera. Image contrast and colour saturation appeared to be slightly higher in shots taken in bright sunlight and exposures tended to favour shadows, resulting in many highlight areas having no details recorded. As with the SP-800 UZ, out-of-the-camera images were slightly soft.

Despite the shorter zoom range, the autotofocusing system in the review camera was just as patchy as the system in the SP-800 UZ we reviewed and equally inaccurate at long focal length settings. This was true when shooting still images and video clips.

The lower resolution in the SP-600 UZ should have given it a slight advantage over its ‘sister' model. However, Imatest showed resolution to be below expectations for a 12-megapixel camera across the range of focal length settings we were able to cover with our testing set-up.

Resolution declined as focal length settings passed the optimal point of 9.1mm in much the same way as we found with the SP-800 UZ we reviewed. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.



A similar decline in resolution occurred as sensitivity was increased, although full 3968 x 2976 pixel resolution is maintained up to the maximum ISO setting of 1600. This eliminates the sharp drop we saw with the SP-800 UZ. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.



Lateral chromatic aberration was negligible with the 5mm focal length setting but rose progressively as the lens was zoomed in, coming close to the ‘serious' mark at the 41mm focal length. In the graph below, the red line separates negligible from low, CA, while the green line marks the border between low and moderate CA and the pink line indicates the beginning of serious chromatic aberration.

Interestingly, coloured fringing was evident in shots taken at all focal length settings, from 5mm through to 75mm. If anything, the lens on the SP-600 UZ we reviewed was even more flare-prone than the lens on the SP-800 UZ.

Digital zoom shots weren't quite as soft and artefact-affected as shots from the SP-800 UZ we reviewed. But you couldn't describe them as pin-sharp and coloured fringing was even more obvious than in normal shots.

The low-light capabilities of the SP-600 UZ are just as limited as the SP-800 UZ and our test shots were, if anything even more under-exposed and blurry. Flash shots fared better and exposures were evenly balanced throughout the camera's sensitivity range, although some softening was noticeable from about ISO 400 on. We encountered no red-eye problems in flash portraits and skin hues and tones appeared acceptable.

Close-up shots were similar to those from the SP-800 UZ but the higher inherent contrast produced by the SP-600 UZ required careful exposure metering - and the correct selection of the metering pattern. (Neither would be likely in the hands of everyday snapshooters.)

Video clips were similar to those we shot with the SP-800 UZ, although contrast and saturation were reduced in video mode and there was a slight loss of apparent sharpness. We also noticed a tendency for colours to drift while shooting video clips. Both HD and VGA clips were similarly affected and, again, we can think of no reason why this should occur.

Response times for the review camera were slightly slower in some cases (and slightly faster in others) than the SP-800 UZ we reviewed. We measured an average capture lag of 0.8 seconds, which reduced to 0.1 seconds with pre-focusing. Shot-to-shot intervals averaged 2.1 seconds without flash or 3.5 seconds with. It took 4.2 seconds on average to process each Large/Fine JPEG file.

In the normal continuous shooting mode, the review camera was able to capture 5 Large/Fine JPEGs in 4.0 seconds. It took 5.1 seconds to process this burst. With the Hi-1 setting, a burst of 10 frames at 2560 x 1920 pixels was recorded in 1.2 seconds. It took 7.9 seconds to process this burst.

The Hi-2 and Hi-3 continuous modes capture images at 2048 x 1536 pixels and 1600 x 1200 pixels respectively, the former at approximately 10 frames/second and the latter recording 20 frames in 1.3 seconds. Processing times for each burst were around eight seconds.

Although the AA Alkaline batteries supplied with the camera are only rated for 200 frames, no low battery warning was displayed on the LCD monitor at the end of our tests, which involved 165 single images and five video clips.

Buy this camera if:
- You're looking for a budget-priced superzoom digicam that can record 720p HD video clips.
- You want plenty of scene pre-sets for shooting both video and still pictures.
- You'd like to take ultra-close-up photographs of small subjects.

Don't buy this camera if:
-  You demand high image quality for stills and video clips.
- You want A, S and M shooting modes.
- You want high burst capacity at high resolution.
- You require fast and accurate autofocusing.

IMATEST GRAPHS

SAMPLE IMAGES

Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.

Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.

5mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/500 second at f/3.5.

75mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/400 second at f/5.4.

Digital zoom; 75mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/5.4.

Side-by-side examples of AF problems with longer focal length settings; ISO 160, 1/250 second at f/5.4.

Close-up with the super-macro mode: 14.3mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/400 second at f/4.4.

Close-up with the normal macro mode:  5mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/640 second at f/3.5.

4-second exposure in Night Scene mode: ISO 400, 5.6mm focal length at f/3.5.

1/2-second exposure, ISO 1600, 5.6mm focal length at f/3.5.

Flash exposure at ISO 400; 31.4mm focal length, 1/200 second at f/5.1.

Flash exposure at ISO 1600; 31.4mm focal length, 1/2000 second at f/5.1.


Flash portrait; ISO 400; 47mm focal length, 1/200 second at f/5.4.

Subject photographed in bright lighting showing high inherent contrast; 14.3mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/100 second at f/4.4.

Subject photographed in bright sunlight; 5mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/3.5.

100% crop from the above image showing coloured fringing along the edges of high contrast.

Subject photographed in bright sunlight; 75mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/5.4.

100% crop from the above image showing coloured fringing along the edges of high contrast.

Blown-out highlights in well-lit subject photographed with Shadow Adjust set to Auto; 75mm focal length, 1/800 second at f/5.4; ISO 320.

Flare produced by strong backlighting; 5mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/320 second at f/7.

Still frames from 720p HD video clip showing colour shifts.

Still frame from VGA video clip shot with mid-range focal length setting.

Still frame from VGA video clip shot with 75mm focal length setting.

Image sensor: 6.13 x 4.60 mm CCD sensor with 12.5 million photosites (12 megapixels effective)
Lens:  Olympus 5.0-75mm f/3.5-5.4 zoom (28-420mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 15x optical, up to 5x digital
Image formats: Stills - JPEG (Exif 2.21); Movies - MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
Image Sizes: Stills - 12M (3968 x 2976), 8M (3264 x 2448), 5M (2560 x 1920), 2M (1600 x 1200), 1M (1280 x 960), VGA (640 x 480), 16:9(1920 x 1080); Movies - 1280 x 720p, VGA, QVGA
Shutter speed range: 1/2 to 1/2000 seconds (up to 4 sec. in night mode); Manual to 15 seconds
Self-timer: 2 or 12 seconds delay
Image Stabilisation:   CCD-shift
Exposure Compensation: +/- 2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
Focus system/range: TTL iESP auto focus with contrast detection; range 15 cm to infinity; Super Macro to 1 cm
Exposure metering/control: iESP (multi), Centre-weighted and Spot metering
Shooting modes: Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Indoor, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Documents, Beach & Snow, Pet
ISO range: Auto, ISO 100-3200
White balance: Auto, Overcast, Sunlight, Tungsten, Fluorescent (x3)
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Fill-in+Red eye reduction, Slow synchro, Off;  range - to 10.2 metres (wide) or 5.1 metres (tele)
Sequence shooting: 
Storage Media: 1GB internal memory plus SD/SDHC expansion slot
Viewfinder: No
LCD monitor: 2.7-inch TFT LCD with 230,000 dots
Power supply:  4x AA batteries (alkaline or NiMH only); CIPA  rated for 200 shots/charge
Dimensions (wxhxd): 109.9 x 72.2 x 75.1 mm
Weight: 433 grams