Olympus SP-800UZ: Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS
As you can probably tell from the tone of the review, I was not terribly pleased with the Olympus SP-800UZ. While its long 30x optical zoom lens gives the camera great versatility, the big zoom lens comes with a price. At longer focal lengths, it is hard to get a sharp picture and colors tend to fade. I also noticed problems with the auto focus in dim light, chromatic aberration and overexposure. Slow shot-to-shot times are also an issue.

On the plus side, the camera is attractive, has good build quality and a superior LCD monitor. It produces realistic colors, offers reliable white balance and has an excellent flash.

For someone looking for an ultrazoom with a huge optical zoom, the SP-800UZ is certainly an option. However, there are many ultrazooms on the market with shorter optical zooms that are better cameras overall.

Pros:

• Good build quality
• Versatile extra-long lens
• Accurate color
• Good auto white balance
• Excellent flash

Cons:

• Blurry images at long focal lengths
• Slow shot-to-shot time
• Auto focus problems in dim light
• No viewfinder or manual control over shutter speed and aperture

Individual Ratings: *

Image/Video Quality 
Features 
Design/Ease of Use 
Performance 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score