Olympus SP-590UZ

Start-up times for the Olympus 590UZ are impressive – within 1 secons of hitting the on/off button we were ready to start shooting.

With a 12.1Mp sensor and a massive 26X optical zoom the Olympus 590UZ carries a long focal length with a film equivalent of 26-676mm. Like the Pentax X70, the Olympus 590UZ has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 at 26mm that increases to f/5.0 at the long end, and uses sensor-shift stabilisation to combat camera shake. Start-up times were most impressive and within 1sec of hitting the on/off button we were ready to start shooting. Along with Program, Shutter, Aperture and Manual modes there are 19 Scene modes to choose from and an impressive area AF with widespread coverage throughout the frame. The Olympus 590UZ’s shutter range of 15secs-1/1000sec isn’t as impressive at the fast end as other compacts on test, but it does offer a few more seconds at the slow end – good news for those who enjoy long exposure shots.
In the hand, it has a solid, robust feel thanks to the sizeable, well-rounded handgrip. Every button is neatly positioned in easy reach of the thumb and inside the menu, Face Detection and a movie mode (640 x480/30 fps) are both catered for. ISO stretches from 64-6400 with a drop to 5Mp at ISOs 3200 and 6400. Studying the Olympus 590UZ’s ISO performance showed useable results up to ISO 800 but Noise was highly noticeable at 1600 and above. Testing the capabilities of the 26x zoom, we found signs of fringeing when pushed to its maximum telephoto focal length. 

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