Digital Trends

Olympus is struggling mightily to keep with the digicam leaders (Kodak, Canon and Sony). Sometimes they win with models like Stylus 800 and E-500 D-SLR while in other instances they fail miserably with IR-500 and M:Robe. Yet you can't blame them for trying; they can't just quit the game or they'll end up in the trash heap of CE companies. Where Olympus really shines is with its Ultra Zoom digicams like the new 6-megapixel SP-500UZ, the company's latest 10x optical zoom digicam (the ancient 2MP C-700 Ultra Zoom was one of the first in the industry). This equals 38-380mm in 35mm terms, a very nice range. At $379 it's more expensive than the $299 10x Kodak Z740 with slightly less resolution (5MP). It's also a bit cheaper than its other ultra zoom competitors, the $499 5MP Sony DSC-H1  and Canon PowerShot S2 IS  with 12x optical zooms and image stabilization. Kodak's new P850 is a non-image stabilized 5MP digicam with a 12x zoom that costs $449 while Konica Minolta's 6MP DiMage Z6 with a 12x optical zoom is $399. Looking at these prices, you can see the SP-500UZ has a ballpark price battling it out with some tough competitors. Now does it swing and miss or hit it out of the park? (As you can probably tell, I can't wait for baseball to start again!) Check it out...