Once upon a time we used to dream of all-in-one cameras that were compact, could take incredible pictures, and have a built in zoom lens that could capture almost anything. These days, its no longer a dream. Franco Darioli looks at three of these little marvels…

Last year Olympus released the SP550 UZ, a compact camera with a mind blowing 18x optical zoom. The best part was that it started at a very desirable 28mm wide angle, about a third wider than the 10-12x zooms offered by their competitors.

Just recently they unleashed the replacement, the 560 UZ. With 1 million more pixels, a larger sensor and correspondingly even wider lens (27 mm) this one caught my eye. In the meantime Fujifilm, a prolific producer of compact extended zoom cameras, also delivered a similar product, the S8000 FD. So I procured the two of these cameras with the intention of doing a straight head to head shootout. Frankly, to me, the first 18x zoom offering (the 550UZ) was disappointing. It did a lot but nothing well. Not an auspicious start for this review. However…having begun to play with the two cameras, I quickly realised that they had more than just some specs in common. They share the same CCD (with in-built stabiliser), the same lens with the same coating, and likely the same shutter, and most other specs and features. This prompted me to get the Panasonic version, the only other “hyper” zoom compact, predictably named DMC FZ18.

Starting my tests, a very pleasant surprise came from the improved focusing speed of the 560 UZ, and the newly acquired ability to focus accurately (most of the time) past 10 or so meters. There is still some shutter lag but its not too shabby, especially when you consider the huge zoom. Another plus was the relatively sharp EVF (Electronic View Finder). This also appears to be the same as the one in the Fujifilm.

How do they compare?

The Olympus is the smallest, the Panasonic (with batteries) is the lightest, but the chunkier Fuji, with it’s much bigger grip, has a more distinctive “SLR” feel to it. The Panasonic uses proprietary LiIon batteries, standard AA powers the other two.

In the box, Fuji includes a charger and a set of Ni MH batteries, Olympus has a 7×21 binocular, part of their Safari promotion. All three have a movie mode, with the Panasonic offering 16:9 (widescreen) as an option. The Fuji/Olympus duo stores the photos on the XD card, but the Fuji also takes the SD, including the SDHC (4 GB and above). Using my SDHC in it, it appeared to read/write faster than with the standard XD. Panasonic makes, and therefore use, SD/SDHC cards.

Sharpness, distortion and detail were (to my eyes) identical between the Fuji and Olympus. Both had visible barrel distortion on wide and some pincushion at the  telephoto end. Also visible, (but not off-putting),  was the “purple fringing” in the highlights. The Panasonic had almost no distortion and very little purple fringing, but exhibited a bit more grain at ISO 400 and over. I preferred the colours of the twins, but the Pana has the ability to capture RAW (as well as the standard JPEG) so you can manipulate the pictures without quality loss, something you can’t do with a jpeg. If you get these three babies in your hands, have a play with face detection on all of them, the  Supermacro and Action mode on the Fuji, and the Shadow Adjust and 15 Frame per second option on the Olympus.

My verdict?

For picture quality (sharpness and detail) the Panasonic wins. All three have image stabilisation but the Mode 2 on the Panasonic seems to be the most effective.

I liked the Fuji colours best, the Panasonic the least. Overall, if you are after a do it all superzoom, any of the three will deliver, just choose the features that are more important to you.

My picks:
Size and look - Olympus 560 UZ
Colours (on Auto) and ergonomics - Fujifilm S8000 FD
AF speed and picture detail - Panasonic DMC FZ18

Entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 4:18 am under Digital cameras - Olympus, Digital cameras - Fujifilm, Buyers' guides, Digital cameras.  Print This Post