wingsley
11-20-2005, 09:24 PM
I'm currently the owner of a 2001-vintage Olympus Camedia C-3020Z 3.2 megapixel digicam. While the C-3020Z has served me well in a variety of indoor and outdoor situations, I am very much aware of its quirks and limitations. Newer digicams on the market can start up, zoom, take pictures and store them at a much greater pace than the old C-3020Z.
I'm looking at new cameras. I really like Olympus' file-naming system for digicam image files. One common subject I find myself shooting is wildife. The old C-3020Z takes som nice pictures, but the quality suffers in low-light sutuations which often occur during my travels in the woods. I also find that faster startup and zoom times, along with a more powerful zoom, would be a big help. All this led me to consider the ultra-zoom cameras on the market. Unfortunately, some of the newest models were introduced recently so few, if any, reviews can be found on the web.
Two prime specimens stand out: the Olympus SP-500 UZ and the Canon S2 IS. Jeff Keller reviewed the S2 IS already:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s2-review/
But Jeff has yet to review the SP-500 UZ. I did find a review, which I assume to originate from Canada, here:
http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/oly-sp500/sp500-gen.php
I was disappointed to read that the SP-500 UZ does not offer image stabilization technology, which comes standard on the S2 IS and I believe with other rivals from Sony and Panasonic.
Are there any SP-500 UZ owners out there? What do you think of your new digicams? Is the image stabilization thing overrated? Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm looking at new cameras. I really like Olympus' file-naming system for digicam image files. One common subject I find myself shooting is wildife. The old C-3020Z takes som nice pictures, but the quality suffers in low-light sutuations which often occur during my travels in the woods. I also find that faster startup and zoom times, along with a more powerful zoom, would be a big help. All this led me to consider the ultra-zoom cameras on the market. Unfortunately, some of the newest models were introduced recently so few, if any, reviews can be found on the web.
Two prime specimens stand out: the Olympus SP-500 UZ and the Canon S2 IS. Jeff Keller reviewed the S2 IS already:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s2-review/
But Jeff has yet to review the SP-500 UZ. I did find a review, which I assume to originate from Canada, here:
http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/oly-sp500/sp500-gen.php
I was disappointed to read that the SP-500 UZ does not offer image stabilization technology, which comes standard on the S2 IS and I believe with other rivals from Sony and Panasonic.
Are there any SP-500 UZ owners out there? What do you think of your new digicams? Is the image stabilization thing overrated? Inquiring minds want to know.