Suggested Retail Price $399 Introduction Review Links The Olympus SP-350 features a 8.0-megapixel CCD, 3x lens, the availability of full manual exposure control and a flash hot shoe in a pocket-friendly, compact size. In addition to the camera's automatic and manual controls, the SP-350 offers no less than 24 preset Scene modes, including a QuickTime Movie mode. With its small size, nice selection of creative controls, and high resolution sensor, the Olympus SP-350 is an excellent all-around camera suitable for novices and experienced amateurs alike. User Report by Shawn Barnett When you first see the product shots of the Olympus SP-350, it's not impressive. Its big grip on the right really looks silly, especially in the front shot. Holding and using the camera, however, gives a very different impression.
Copy our patch in installed program directory and apply it. Fast scanning ability provides reliable protection against viruses, spyware and other. In particular, installing such a firmware could brick (destroy) your camera or even set it on fire if you are using a bad battery. Neither the NikonHacker team or Nikon corporation shall be held responsible for such use or abuse of your material. Added 'Video HQ 29Mbps with playback' to Beta; D5100 v1.02 - Added 'Video HQ 29Mbps with.
The big grip gives you a far better hold on the camera than other small cameras in this class, yet the camera still travels well. Two other factors changed my opinion of the Olympus SP-350 very quickly: the hot shoe and the printed image quality. The SP-350 sat on my desk for about a week as I worked with other cameras. I kept looking at one part of the camera, but its significance didn't sink in until I finally started the review. It has a big hot shoe on top! I rummaged around in our equipment and found an Olympus FL-36 bounce flash.
![]()
Now we're talking photography. The small flash looks somewhat monstrous on the small Olympus SP-350, causing it to tip over when the lens is extended, but flipping the flash head up into bounce mode, as shown at right, stabilizes it.
Bounce position also transforms the camera's images from very good to excellent. I had a great time getting pictures of the family that were a notch or two better than I normally get from a point and shoot. Sure the combo is bigger, but the better lighting is totally worth it. You can also tune the combination, switching the built-in flash on or off to act as fill or not.
The only drawback with this is the significant increase shutter lag due to the FL-36's pre-flash pulse (designed to gauge proper flash exposure). The best aspect of digital is that you can check results and reshoot in seconds, and shooting extra doesn't cost you more than time. Olympus makes a smaller flash, the FL-20, but it doesn't bounce, which is what I liked most. Still, with the FL-20, you'd go a long way toward eliminating red-eye. The Olympus SP-350's printed image quality really blew us all away. For a small camera like this to produce decent quality 13x19 prints at ISO 400 is a significant milestone.
You won't be able to do that with all subjects, because certain grays do still produce some noticeable color noise, but most photos print just great at 8x10, which is the maximum most people will expect. See the Print Quality section below for more.
The only complaints I have about the camera are the slow write time to both internal and external memory, and the more pronounced shutter lag than I'm used to. But if you're a patient photographer, or need a very good and small solution while traveling, you'll find the Olympus SP-350 a satisfying photographic tool. Camera Overview Though the Olympus SP-350 is compact, it packs in a lot of detailed features, including full manual exposure control, 24 preset Scene modes, an 8.0-megapixel CCD, and a large, 2.5-inch LCD monitor. The SP-350's compact dimensions are perfectly suited for shirt pockets and small purses, with an automatic lens cover that makes it quick on the draw as well. The included neck strap is handy when shooting over a boat rail or while riding on a ski lift, but I'd recommend picking up a soft case to protect the SP-350's flat-black body panels from scratches.
The Olympus SP-350 features a 3x, 8-24mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 38-114mm lens on a 35mm camera). Maximum aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/4.9, depending on the zoom setting. A set of lens threads lets you connect Olympus' accessory conversion lenses, extending the camera's wide angle and telephoto capabilities. The SP-350 employs an efficient contrast-detection autofocus system, with focus ranging from 7.9 inches (20 centimeters) to infinity in normal mode. A Macro setting focuses as close as 11.8 inches (30 centimeters). There's also a Super Macro option that gets as close as 0.8 inches (2.0 centimeters), for real close-in shooting. By default, the camera uses an iESP autofocus area setting, which automatically sets the focus based on the subject's proximity to a range of AF points around the center of the image area.
Through the Record menu, you can opt for a Spot AF setting, which will instead base focus only on the very center of the frame. There's also an Area AF mode, which lets you manually position the AF area just about anywhere in the frame. In addition to its 3x optical zoom, the Olympus SP-350 also offers 5x Digital Zoom. Keep in mind though, that digital zoom simply enlarges the center pixels of the CCD and thus results in lower image quality. The 8.0-megapixel CCD produces high-resolution images, good enough for prints up to 16x20 inches with good detail and sharpness, as well as lower-resolution images for sending via email or for printing 5x7- and 4x6-inch prints.
For composing images, the SP-350 offers a real-image optical viewfinder and 2.5-inch TFT color LCD monitor, which features a very bright and clear display. The optical viewfinder has no dioptric adjustment, and a slightly low eyepoint. The LCD monitor provides a fairly detailed exposure-information display, and a histogram option is available for checking the exposure graphically. There's also a framing guideline option, which divides the image area into thirds horizontally and vertically, or adds diagonal lines, to help you line up difficult shots. In Playback mode, the LCD monitor provides image enlargement and an index display. And the SP-350 also features a helpful Guide button. Hold down the Guide button when in menus and the screen displays a context sensitive help message.
With the Olympus SP-350, you're never lost and don't have to remember what everything means. Just press the Guide button. Exposure control on the Olympus SP-350 is uncomplicated and straightforward, despite its full manual exposure control offering. The camera offers a range of exposure control modes, enabled by turning the Mode dial, as well as a wide selection of preset Scene modes for specific shooting situations. Most of the exposure options are controlled through the multi-page LCD menu system, which is fairly simple to navigate.
An initial shortcut menu screen pops up before entering the main Record menu, offering quick-access options for the camera's White Balance, Image Size, and Macro, or you can choose to just enter the main Record menu itself. The SP-350 offers full Auto, Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual main exposure modes. Shutter speeds range from 1/2,000 to 15 seconds, with a maximum eight-minute bulb option available as well. In addition to the available shutter speed and aperture settings, the user can also adjust Exposure Compensation (to lighten or darken the image), ISO (the camera's sensitivity to light), White Balance (to adjust the color), a white balance adjustment tool, Metering (to read light from the whole frame or just the center), and Flash modes. The Olympus SP-350's built-in flash operates in Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill, and Off modes. There's also an external flash hot shoe, for attaching a more powerful flash unit. Through the Picture tab of the record menu, you can also adjust contrast, saturation, and sharpening.
The Olympus SP-350's Scene mode (accessed by turning the Mode dial to the Scene position) offers Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Night Scene, Sport, Night + Portrait, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Museum, Behind Glass, Cuisine, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select 1, Shoot & Select 2, Beach, Snow, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2, and Underwater Macro. Each mode on the Olympus SP-350 sets up the camera for specific shooting situations, and a concise explanation of each mode appears on the LCD screen as you scroll through. Most of the preset modes are fairly self-explanatory, as they handle very distinct situations. However, the Shoot & Select modes deserve some explanation. Both take a sequence of shots but Shoot & Select 1 locks focus on the first frame (great for faces) while Shoot & Select 2 adjusts focus for each frame (better for sports and action shots).
When you've finished the sequence, the images are displayed so you can delete the unwanted ones. Another option on the Mode dial is the My mode, which lets you save as many as four sets of custom settings.
Other camera features include a Self-Timer mode, which provides a 12-second delay between the time the Shutter button is pressed and the image is actually captured. The SP-350 features three Sequential Shooting modes, which let you capture a rapid series of images while holding down the Shutter button. Actual frame rates and the total number of images will depend on the image size and quality settings, as well as the amount of available space on the memory card, but the burst length is limited to about four shots in large/fine mode. A High Speed Sequential option captures images at a faster frame rate, while an AF Sequential option sets the focus before each shot, thus slowing down the cycle time. As with many Olympus cameras, a Panorama mode is available on the SP-350 when using Olympus brand xD-Picture Card storage cards (but not cards from third parties), and records as many as 10 consecutive images to blend into one panoramic image. There's also a 2in1 mode for capturing two images displayed side-by-side in a full resolution file, and a Timelapse Photography mode for capturing a series of images at preset intervals.
The camera's Movie mode captures moving images with sound, at either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels, at 15 or 30 frames per second. Maximum recording time depends on the resolution and available memory space. Another interesting feature on the Olympus SP-350 Digital is the ability to save images in groups or albums. You can save as many as 12 albums, each containing a maximum of 200 images. The Album option in the Playback menu accesses saved albums, letting you select one for playback. The Olympus SP-350 stores images on xD-Picture Cards, but does not ship with one. It does have 25MB internal memory, but you'll want to get a card along with the camera so you don't miss any important shots.
Large capacity xD Picture cards are available up to 1GB, and I suggest buying at least a 256MB xD-Picture Card. A CD-ROM loaded with Olympus' Camedia Master software accompanies the camera, compatible with both Windows and Macintosh platforms (including Windows XP and Mac OS X).
Camedia Master provides minor image editing tools, and the ability to 'stitch' together multiple images shot in panorama mode, as well as utilities for organizing images. A second CD-ROM holds the SP-350's more advanced instruction manual, which is more detailed than the basic manual that's included in book form. For power, the camera uses either two AA-type batteries or a single CR-V3 battery pack. I'd recommend picking up a set of rechargeable batteries and keeping two charged at all times. Read my to see which batteries currently on the market are the best, and see my review of the, my current favorite. The optional AC adapter is recommended for time-consuming tasks such as transferring images to a computer.
Also included with the Olympus SP-350 is an AV cable for connecting to a television set, and a USB cable for connecting the camera to your computer to transfer images. Macro About average performance in the normal mode, but a very tiny area in Super Macro mode. Flash exposes fairly well, though a little uneven. Standard Macro Macro with Flash Super Macro The Olympus SP-350's normal macro setting performs about average, capturing a minimum area of 4.52 x 3.39 inches (115 x 86 millimeters). Detail is strong and resolution high, with only minimal softening in the corners from the lens.
(Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) In Super Macro mode, however, the minimum area is quite small, measuring 1.00 x 0.75 inches (26 x 19 millimeters), also with excellent detail. The flash throttles down pretty well, though lighting is uneven, with falloff in the corners of the frame. Chromatic aberration High at wide angle, though very low at telephoto. Wide: high and bright, top left @ 200% Wide: bright, top right @ 200% Tele: quite low, top left @200% Tele: quite low, top right @200% Chromatic aberration is rather high at wide angle, showing several pixels of very bright coloration on either side of the target lines, but decreases to very low levels at telephoto focal lengths. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.). Corner Sharpness Some softening in the in the left corners of the frame, with moderate softening in the right corners as well. Wide: soft in the upper left corner.
Wide: fairly sharp at center. Tele: soft in the upper left corner.
Tele: slightly soft at center. The Olympus SP-350 produced fairly soft corners in a few shots, though the left corners showed the strongest effect at both wide angle and telephoto. Given the camera's 8 megapixel resolution, this softening won't likely be apparent at most print sizes. Exposure and White Balance Indoors, incandescent lighting Slight warm cast with Manual and Incandescent white balance settings, though still good color. Average exposure compensation required.
Auto White Balance +1.0 EV Incandescent WB +1.0 EV Manual White Balance +1.0 EV Color balance indoors under incandescent lighting was just a bit warm and reddish in Auto white balance mode, though the Manual and Incandescent settings both produced more accurate results. The Olympus SP-350 required a +1.0 EV exposure compensation boost to get a good exposure, which is about average for this shot. Overall color looks good, though a hint dark, making the blue flowers dark and purplish. (A very common outcome for this shot.) Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the US.
Outdoors, daylight Slightly warm color balance outdoors in Auto mode, high contrast under harsh lighting. Auto White Balance, +1.3 EV Auto White Balance, Auto Exposure Outdoors, the SP-350 tended toward warmer color with the Auto white balance setting, and tended to produce high contrast under harsh lighting. Highlight detail was cut, but shadow detail was not bad. Overall, the camera required slightly more positive exposure compensation than average to bring up the midtones. It should be noted that this is a test of the camera's ability to handle extreme lighting situations. We recommend moving your subjects into the shade and letting surrounding light fall on them (from a big building, say) rather than putting them in such harsh lighting; if you must get a shot like this, switch to force flash mode to fill in those shadows. Resolution High resolution, 1,300 - 1,400 lines of strong detail.
Our laboratory resolution chart revealed impressively sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,300 lines per picture height, 1,400 per picture width with extinction at around 1,800. (The camera did produce very slight color artifacts at lower line frequencies, barely visible in the full-sized res target shots.) Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail. Beware that while you might be able to make out what looks like distinct lines at numbers higher than those we've mentioned here, the camera is just doing its best to continue interpreting the lines. If you zoom in and follow them from the wider portions, you'll see the lines converge and reappear several times, so the lines you see at 1,800 and higher are really only artifacts generated by the camera's imaging system. Strong detail to 1,400 lines horizontal Strong detail to 1,300 lines vertical. Sharpness & Detail Fairly sharp images, with some blurring of detail from noise suppression, as well as some over-sharpening in high contrast areas.
Pretty good definition of high-contrast elements, though some over-sharpening. Subtle detail: Hair Noise suppression tends to blur detail in areas of subtle contrast, as in the darker parts of Marti's hair here.
The Olympus SP-350's images are reasonably sharp, though with noticeable over-sharpening and edge enhancement in high contrast areas, such as the door frame above. (Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.) Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost 'watercolor' look appears. The crop at far right shows this, with darker areas of Marti's hair showing only limited detail, even though individual strands are quite visible against her cheek in the uncropped image. ISO & Noise Performance Low noise at the normal sensitivity settings, high noise that blurs detail at the higher settings. ISO 50 ISO 100 ISO 200 ISO 400 The Olympus SP-350's lower ISO settings produced low to moderate noise, with only slightly blurred detail in the dark areas. As the ISO setting increases, so does the noise level and the amount of blurring that results, and its images at ISO 400 are much softer, with brighter noise pixels.
Color noise has been kept under control surprisingly well, and one can print very good 11x14s even at ISO 400 (See Output Quality section below). Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests High resolution with good overall detail, though high contrast and limited shadow detail. Pretty good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images under average city street lighting and slightly darker conditions. +0.7 EV +1.0 EV +1.3 EV Sunlight: Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light.
The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test.) The Olympus SP-350 had a little trouble with the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above, producing very high contrast with washed-out highlights and deep shadows. Both shadow and highlight detail are limited, with noise suppression evident in the shadow areas. Exposure is slightly washed out at +1.3 EV, but best overall. (In 'real life' though, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.) Low light: Our low light testing revealed some limitations in the lens and sensor's ability to gather and process light, but the Olympus SP-350 captured bright images to the lowest light level we test at: the 400 ISO setting. However, at ISO 50, images were bright only to 1/4 foot-candle, about 1/4 as bright as average city street lighting at night. Color balance was warm from the Auto white balance setting.
The camera's autofocus system was slightly limited without the AF assist lamp, able to focus on the subject down to the 1/4 foot-candle light level. With AF assist enabled, the camera focused at the darkest level quite well. 1 fc 11 lux 1/2 fc 5.5 lux 1/4 fc 2.7 lux 1/8 fc 1.3 lux 1/16 fc 0.67 lux 1/16fc No NR ISO 50 4 sec f2.8 8 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 ISO 100 2 sec f2.8 4 sec f2.8 10 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 ISO 200 1 sec f2.8 2 sec f2.8 5 sec f2.8 13 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 ISO 400 1/1 sec f2.8 1.3 sec f2.8 2.5 sec f2.8 6 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 15 sec f2.8 Color. Saturation & Hue Accuracy Slightly oversaturated reds and blues, kept more under control than typical consumer digital cameras. Generally good hue accuracy, despite a slight warm cast. In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured.
More saturated colors are located towards the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life. The Olympus SP-350 oversaturates the red and blue tones a bit, though overall color is somewhat dark. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these 'memory colors' to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.
However, the SP-350 might almost be accused of under-saturating skin tones, though results should be pleasing to most consumers. The other important part of color rendition is hue accuracy. Hue is 'what color' the color is. Here, the Olympus SP-350 performed fairly well, though overall color was typically a bit warm. Coverage and Range Pretty good results, with slight falloff in the corners. However, our standard shots required more exposure compensation than average.
38mm equivalent 114mm equivalent Normal Flash +1.0 EV Slow-Sync Mode +1.7 EV Flash coverage was a little uneven at wide angle, though more uniform at telephoto. In the Indoor test, the Olympus SP-350's flash underexposed our subject at its default setting, requiring a +1.0 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get bright results. Even here, the exposure is just a little dim, with a strong pink-orange cast. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode actually produced a dimmer exposure, despite the higher, +1.7 EV, exposure compensation adjustment. The orange cast is also stronger here. At eight feet, our closest test range, the SP-350's flash is slightly dim.
Intensity decreases from that point on, and the shot at 14 feet is quite dark. 8 ft 9 ft 10 ft 11 ft 12 ft 13 ft 14 ft 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 1/100 sec f4.9 ISO 100 Output Quality. Print Quality Impressive print quality, great color, very usable 13x19 inch prints! ISO 400 images are slightly soft at 11x14, very good at 8x10, great at 5x7 and 4x6.
Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon i9900 studio printer, and on the Canon iP5200 here in the office. (See the for details on that model.) With the Olympus SP-350, we were impressed with its ability to make decent 13x19 inch prints. This really is a proof of concept for printing images as part of our tests. At 11x14, its prints were excellent, and quite usable even at ISO 400.
At high ISO, image noise levels are held in check very well, with only minimal color noise appearing in very big prints. It's an impressive performance.
Our ISO 400 indoor test shots printed at up to 11x14 with minimal noise visible, and even 13x19 prints would be acceptable for wall display. If you examine the print up close, it looks more like a pointillist painting, but it's still pretty darn good from a small point and shoot. Our outdoor FAR shot showed a little more noise at ISO 400 and 13x19, especially in the roof shingles, but 11x14 wasn't bad, and by 8x10 absolutely not a problem.
Olympus has managed to use the 8 megapixel resolution of the SP-350 to cover up a variety of problems. If you look at the image at 100 percent onscreen, you'll think it won't print well at all, but our prints show that more pixels are starting to add up to better images overall. Printing is where the rubber meets the road, so we can confidently say that the SP-350 makes great images. Timing and Performance. 0.404 second Cycle time (shot to shot) Normal large/fine JPEG 2.19 seconds Flash recycling 5 seconds Continuous mode 1.17 second 0.85 frames/second (4 large/fine frames) Download speed Windows Computer, USB 2.0 2,138 KBytes/sec The Olympus SP-350's performance is on the slower side of average here. Shutter lag at full wide angle is 1.22 second, slower than average, as is the 1.17 second time at telephoto. 'Prefocusing' the camera, by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure, speeds up lag time to 0.404 second, which is much faster though still slower than average.
Shot to shot cycle times are also slower, at about 2.19 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and it can capture up to four shots this quickly before it has to slow down and wait for the memory card to catch up. Continuous-mode speed is slow in the normal mode, at about 0.85 frames/second, for up to four shots in succession.
![]()
However, switching to the high-speed mode takes the cycle time to 0.65 second, at 1.54 frames per second. The flash takes about five seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, about average for this class of camera. Connected to a computer, download speeds are quite fast. Battery and Storage Capacity. 320 minutes The Olympus SP-350 uses either two AA-type batteries or a single CR-V3 battery for power.
'standard' 1600 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries. (Note though, that current high-capacity NiMH cells can easily deliver 25% more capacity than the cells referenced. A run time in capture mode of almost 220 minutes is quite good, particularly for a 2-cell camera.) We found a problem with the camera where it quickly reports a low battery condition when NiMH rechargeables (our preferred digital camera battery) are inserted in the Olympus SP-350.
We've contacted Olympus on the subject, and they say there's a firmware patch they expect to post in mid-February, 2006. The patch will let the camera work with NiMH batteries, whose voltage is typically 1.2 instead of the 1.5v delivered by alkalines.
Storage No card is included with the Olympus SP-350, although it accepts xD-Picture Cards; 25MB RAM is built into the camera. Image Capacity with 25MB Internal Memory Fine 3,264 x 2,448 Images 4 File Size 5.7MB 2,592 x 1,944 Images 7 File Size 3.5MB 2,288 x 1,712 Images 9 File Size 2.9MB 2,048 x 1,536 Images 11 File Size 2.3MB 1,600 x 1,200 Images 18 File Size 1.4MB 1,280 x 960 Images 28 File Size 914K 1,024 x 768 Images 44 File Size 594K 640 x 480 Images 110 File Size 240K I strongly recommend buying at least a 256MB card, preferably a 512MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. An 8 megapixel camera makes some very big files.
Comments are closed.
|
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |