Olympus SP350 + PT-030 case

[Trevor Rees 1]

Just spotted the new SP350 8MP compact camera.

 

Of interest is:

 

Large 2.5'' LCD,

2cm macro,

Lots of manual settings,

RAW capture,

Histogram in both shooting and playback,

Auto bracketing,

Hot shoe,

Can use two AA batteries.

 

The lens is the equivalent of a 38-114 which though not wide might be good with suplementary wet lenses - less vignetting problems.

 

The PT-030 case looks like it has a 46mm filter thread. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Inon to make a lens adaptor. The case also has a flash bulkhead connector

 

The camera really does appear to be compact compared to a 7070, just like the XD cards it uses. It is probably not a leap forward but it might be worth a look.

[Phil Rudin 485]

Hi Trever,

 

Also appears that this camera can be shifted from AF to manual focus, which would be great for macro.

 

Phil

[Trevor Rees 1]

If the 7070 is discontinued the SP350 does not really look like its replacement. I wonder if Olympus has another model in mind?

[Seriola 1]

Whats up with the limited aperture on the SP models? I'm debating this new model or a 7070, after seeing the aperture limitations though this definately doesnt look like a 7070 replacement, though the olympus site looks that way. I like the big LCD, perfect for critiquing underwater.

[MikeO 5]

Whats up with the limited aperture on the SP models?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Though the spec sheet says that the aperture range is f2.8-f4.9, I'm pretty sure this only refers to the minimum aperture value based on zoom range. You should be able to get higher fstop values (there is a screen shot on steves digicams showing af8.0 selected, for example) than that so I don't think it is really that limited in aperture range.

[james 0]

Right, like Mike said, that's not the f-stop range, it's the MINIMUM f-stop value. So zoomed all the way out it's a "fast" f2.8 and zoomed all the way in it's fastest is f4.9

 

Cheers

James

[bobf 0]

agree with mikeo and james.........

 

by following the thread over here:

 

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...;threadid=14724

 

you may come to a better understanding of what those aperture values indicate.........

 

hth,

b

[Trevor Rees 1]

I wonder how long 2 AA batteries will really last on that 2.5'' screen? I presume it's the LCD that makes these models failrly power hungry?

[Seriola 1]

thanks for the clear up.... I went back checked out the 7070 at dpreview and saw the aperture was the minimum listed as well. Friend of mine told me that 7070 gets awesome battery life, so I'm assuming the SP will be even better? no? I would like to check this camera out, although we just placed an order for the 7070 with a pretty low price site, with few reviews but good ones, well see if it pans out. May just give us the ole jerk around. Can any of you guys tell me what lenses are compatible with the PT-027 threads? All the sites with Inon/Epoque lenses are confusing as they don't specify whats what, price etc...

[Ryan 57]

The 7070 uses the same LiIon Battery that powers the Olympus E1 and E300 SLR cameras, so it has power to spare. 2AA batteries don't measure up.

 

W/ the PT-027, I'd use Inon's 28 AD Port, UWL-100 28 AD (with the optional dome), and the UCL-165AD macros.

 

Inon's AD port will provide some protection for the fragile latch pins that hold the removable port on the Olympus housing, and is a very worthwhile upgrade.

 

We've also set a couple of housings up w/ Matthias Heinrich's TTL Bulkhead replacement. This eliminates the poorly designed Olympus Bulkhead from your system, and provides TTL w/ many strobes.

[rebollonete 0]

Hello,

 

I have playing with this camera today in Sonimagfoto (spain).

AF speed is good, wide - tele and macro.

Internal flash doesn't work in super-macro.

 

And what was surprising .... 13 seconds to save a RAW file.

And near 7 seconds to save a JPG SHQ quality ...

 

The olympus girl there told me that unfortunately it was a pre-production camera and they expect that final units will be faster in that aspect ...

 

Let's wait dpreview.com final reviews ...

 

Regards

[Trevor Rees 1]

Some feedback is starting to emerge about this little camera - not much really indicates how good it is underwater yet though.

 

I found this site which might be of general interest: http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/oly-sp350/sp350-gen.php

 

The camera appears to be poor at anything above 100 ISO - but that is probably no surprise for 8MP and a small sensor. There is also some mention of the lens being a bit soft at wide angle. Also that nice big 2.5''LCD does not have great resolution. Everything else looks reasonable if not really much of a leap forward from previous models.

 

As with all camera reviews little is revealed about the important stuff we need to know such as low light focussing ability, focussing speed, RAW write times, battery life etc. etc

 

Never the less, for the price there are stacks of manual controls to put it a cut above most digicams. If the 5060 and 7070 are history now this looks like the most suitable new olympus to take underwater.

[Mike Ward 0]

Had a play with one of these in a local store - seemed to me to focus quickly and precisely. The 2.5inch screen was nice, but I was surprised to find it didn't immediately strike me as being bigger when I used it.

 

Most important, the one I shot was definitely not soft at wide angle. I compared it to my old C5000 and the new Fuji E900 - it outperformed the older 5mp camera by a margin (Well, it would), and somewhat to my surprise it also outperformed the E900, with less noise, fringing and better sharpness. Detail resolution was almost identical despite the lower pixel count - and this from a 2.5mb jpeg vs a 4.5mb jpeg from the Fuji.

 

Unfortunately I've only the one pic to base this on - it was standard for sale stock in the dealers and I don't think they'd have been happy if I'd kept shooting pics , but well worth a bit more experimentation at the price! I'm trying to decide if now is the time to go SLR, or if I should wait a little longer and get an upgraded compact in the meanwhile - if I wait the SP350 will definitely be on my list for more atention.

[Trevor Rees 1]

I've now had a good play with the camera. There is good and bad to report.

 

For such a tiny camera I was taken with the impressive features list, a big screen, good ergonomics and excellent layout of buttons. Macro capability was excellent and focussing ability seemed reasonable although I can't say if this is the case underwater.

 

In supermacro mode the internal flash can definetely be made to fire. It requires entering the menu and turning the flash to slave mode before turning the flash on. On the Oly 7070 this was not possible although with the 5060 it was. This is obviously good news if you want to trigger a seperate strobe via a fire optic cable.

 

The file write times were indeed slow. It took about 10 secs to write a RAW file and I was surprised than even a SHQ jpeg took as long as 4 secs. Dissapointing indeed for a new model!

 

In manual mode when you alter the speed and aperture the LCD gets brighter or darker accordingly. So what I hear you ask. Well- say you want to shoot macro and you feel that f8 at 1/500 sec would be a good setting - well the screen at those setting is almost pitch black. Perhaps there is a way round it but I could not find it. My Canon does not let me down like that. For me this makes this model totally useless for macro in manual mode. I seem to remeber reading a similar complaint on the Oly 8080.

 

If it was not for this last point I would have bought one.

[apete 1]

The bright/dark screen is most likely optional. It is with the 7070. Look for "real display".

 

The 7070 seems to be the only Oly that does not allow you to fire the strobe (slave) in super macro mode. It must be a bug! You can actually set it up in the meny system, but the strobe wont fire.

[Trevor Rees 1]

I'll have to go back and have another play with the camera to see if there is something like 'real display'. I thought it was too bad to be true!

[Sargos 0]

I'm not an expert... but

may only 2 cameras can be compared to Oly SP-350. Canon PowerShot S80 and Casio Exilim EX-Z750, since we are in this category (compact and ultra compact).

Exilim EX-Z750 is maybe my best choise for no-wetpixels...

but since you can not find a housing !!!! ( ?????? come on casio...) and lens adaptors... i suppose one has to forget it...

 

comparing the s80 and sp350... both new:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_po..._sp350&show=all

s80 better: Manual Focus, Zoom wide, usb2, ... and more good and compact looking

sp-350 better: price , gives raw,..

 

????? Canon High Power Flash (slave) and hot shoe behave the same?

Which camera supports a flash slave mode (no pre-flash)?

 

An ikelite housing for both will be soon available but i don't know if it worth its money ???? since one can buy the canon or olympous housing and an ultralight arm/clamps set....

 

Any opinions/ ideas suggestions on the above for underwater solution ?????

[ce4jesus 1]

Well...say hello to a newbie. I just got certified over the summer and did my first dive vacation in July. After taking some awful pictures with a Sealife 35MM with no strobe (actually a couple of them turned out pretty good for a rookie) I was hooked. I just purchased the SP-350 after tons of reading and researching cameras. Its really too bad I just now found this site. Anyway, I have the camera, the FL-20 flash with an underwater housing that I've yet to use. BTW, both circuit city and Best buy now have the camera to play with. Unfortunately the 24MB internal memory will only allow you to take one RAW image.

 

I actually never considered the 7070 but I did research the 8080 and both it and the SP-350 were right up there. The SP-350 is slightly faster in the write process for RAW at about 9 seconds versus 15 for the 8080. What did it for me was the built in underwater modes and the 4 programmable user modes which are easily accessed. I thought these user modes would excellent for diving since you can program in your own settings. The price was right too. I got the Camera and 512 memory from Dell for $368 bucks. The flash and the flash housing came off of Ebay, both were new products from Olympus Auctions. I got them both for $210. Throw in the underwater housing for the camera, which I'm anticipating coming out on Ebay any day now, for about $200 and you can see why I made the decision. Any and all advice you guys can give me is always appreciated and if I can muck with the camera and figure something out for you ... don't hesitate to ask. Thanks

[riccati 0]

hey, I'm also considering this camera. One question: when you say 9 seconds to write a RAW, does that mean it's impossible to take a second picture during that time? Or is there some sort of buffer?

 

Also, any information about battery life, or low light focusing would be useful, once you get a chance to play around with it.

 

Thanks!

[ce4jesus 1]

No, you can't take a picture while its writing; however, there are some faster modes which do auto bracketing and take multiple pictures rapidly. Underwater these modes may not be useful because you need time for your strobe to recharge. These rapid shots are in HQ Jpeg mode. Above water, the low-light focusing appears very quick and the shutter lag (time to focus and take picture) is about 2-3 seconds. There are 3 different autofocus metering modes which I've yet to explore. There is also a feature called full-time autofocus which, if I read it correctly, means the camera remains focused while its powered on. That should speed up the picture taking in low light conditions. Obviously this mode consumes more power. Since it is powered by 2 AA batteries or a small two battery pack, battery life will be a concern. I've yet to burn through the first one and I've filled 1, 512mb card. Since I've played a lot with this camera the first camera battery may not be a good gauge of how long they last but I'll post back in about a month...I should have a good idea by then.

 

My biggest disappointment with the camera right now is there are 3 underwater modes that are preprogrammed. There are 2 wide angle modes and 1 macro. None of them allow you to bump the picture quality up to RAW. I'm not sure why. SHQ is the best it will do in those preprogrammed modes. The work around, I hope, is the 4 user programmable modes which I can set to my own preferences. Later,

[Trevor Rees 1]

I now reckon this camera is definetely not for me. I consider it totally useless for underwater photography.

 

Let me explain again in case I can save anyone else any grief-

 

In manual mode when the shutter speed and aperture are altered the LCD darkens or lightens accordingly. The trouble is that for a lot of aperture and speed settings that I wish to use for close up flash photography, the screen is too black to even see what you are trying to take a picture of. Now is that crap or what! Does any other camera behave like this?

 

For macro I would invariably want to choose f8 for maximum depth of field and then crank the speed up to around 1/500 sec. The LCD is almost totally black with these settings. I guess if all you want to use is one of the automatic shooting modes the camera might be OK

 

I have contacted Olympus UK technical support and they have confirmed that there is no way of switching this feature off. They are not aware of any other model which behaves like this. There appears to be nothing in the menu to get around this feature. I can only think that this is a real design blunder by Olympus.

 

If you are considering this model I would check this out first to see if you can live with dreadful feature. If you have already bought the camera it would be useful to hear if you agree with my assesment.

[ce4jesus 1]

Trevor - I just tried out what you said and you are correct. The only saving grace is that when you depress the shutter button halfway to focus the LCD does brighten for about 1 second to give you an idea of what you're taking a picture of. I agree this is a problem...especially under the water. My question to you, because I'm new to this is, how often do you use that f stop and shutter speed combination under the water? PS..I'll keep looking through the advanced manual to see if there's a quick fix and let you know. Thanks for the information!

[ce4jesus 1]

Well scanning the literature was not helpful on this issue. It appears Olympus didn't even address it. The closest thing they had was to turn on the AF illuminator. While this would work well for subjects past 2ft it won't help your macro at all. Since I'm new to the UW world I'm not sure how this will translate into success or failure but here's some of the things my wife and I discovered toying around with settings and light. The following is all done with the camera at F8 with a shutterspeed of 1/500, RAW format, Manual Mode

 

1. Depressing the shutter button halfway "woke" the display up briefly in low light conditions (indoors, no lights on, window blinds closed) good enough to see the subject and take a picture. This gives you about a 1.5 seconds snapshot of what you're seeing. The action can be repeated as often as you like but the subsequent windows are shorter (1 second) because the camera doesn't have to focus. BTW...the darkened display condition is present even at F2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/100 in low light conditions. As you increase either the aperture or shutter speed it slowly dims to blackout.

2. darker conditions - subject visible by ambient light to the eye but the camera LCD is black. We simulated this with some "black out" window blinds we purchased several years ago. Since I don't have a light meter, my description will have to do. By turning on the AF illuminator (above water) the camera does an adequate job of lighting up the subject beyond 2ft and taking a picture. Personally, I'm not sure how well this illuminator will work below the surface.

 

In summary, its hard to quantify this exactly without a light meter; however, I would think that this will work fine for the type of recreational diving I do. Long live 40 for 40! Night dives, and/or dives with vis under 40ft would probably require some sort of permanent light (light cannon?) to be used in place of one, or both of your strobes. I'm not sure how practical that is. In most low-light conditions the camera should be able to give enough of a look (1 second snapshot) at your subject to capture the moment even in macro mode. Is it enough? I'm not experienced enough to say one way or the other but toying with this problem at your local dealer should help you decide. Had I known this before I purchased this camera I probably would have went with another choice. My plans are to call Olympus on Monday to see what my options are. I'm wondering if the SP-500 suffers the same fate.

 

Just a wierd item of note...the LCD only lightens and darkens dramatically in the manual mode. Every other mode S, A, Auto etc the LDC has mild fluctuations based on available light but nothing as dramatic as manual mode. Furthermore, the duplicate settings in auto and manual reveal drastically different LCD pictures. One other item of note, when you depress the shutter button halfway in any other mode the LCD holds the brightness until you either snap a picture or let go of the button. The manual mode is the only mode where the LCD only brightens momentarily and then darkens again. The only way to momentarily brighten the display (ie see what you're actually taking a picture of) is to let go of the button and press it again. Something leads me to believe its just a setting in manual mode but nothing I can find in playing with it or reading the manual is helping me.

[Trevor Rees 1]

Thanks for the reply. Its further confirmation of a problem with this camera.

 

For most macro shots I tend to light the subject by extenal strobes. In most cases I go for a small aperture and a relativly fast shutter speed. Under these cases available light is excluded and all the light is provided by the strobes. I have got a lot of nice shots this way on a Canon camera in manual mode.

 

The Oly SP350 would be useless to me for this type of photography because of the way the LCD goes black on you. I can't really get by with the second or so the screen brightens as you depress the shutter. Other cameras do not behave like this. I checked the SP310 and this behaves just the same.

 

I am sure it is a design mistake which ruins it for the photographer wanting to use manual settings combined with a seperate flash

 

A shame - a nice little camera but ruined by this irritating feature.

[ce4jesus 1]

check the title of the thread just below this one on this same dubious feature with the C8080. Out of all the literature I read, neither camera mentions this "feature". This is simply a case of over engineering. Since this is my first adventure, I'll probably live with this condition instead of trying to send it back. Most all of my dives are in the Carribean so it shouldn't be too much of a hinderance there. BTW...born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire! Cheers.