New Olympus SP-820UZ iHS Superzoom - Point-&-Shoot Simplicity With 40x Zoom & High-Speed Video • Camera News and Reviews

New Olympus SP-820UZ iHS Superzoom – Point-&-Shoot Simplicity With 40x Zoom & High-Speed Video

The new Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ iHS superzoom camera incorporates a 40x 22.4-896mm (equivalent) optical zoom lens, the longest optical zoom yet in an Olympus compact camera. And yeah – you read that right – it’s got a 22.4mm wide-angle. That’s crazy wide for a compact camera. The sensor is a 14-megapixel CMOS complimented by Olympus’s new iHS technologies (Intelligent, High-Sensitivity and High-Speed) for improved image quality – especially in low light. It has full HD video with stereo sound; including 60 FPS (720p), 120 FPS (640×480) and even 240 FPS (16×120) high speed video.

Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS Key Features and Specs:

14-megapixel CMOS sensor
40x 22.4-896mm (equivalent) f/3.4-5.7 optical zoom lens
2x Super-Resolution Zoom for 80x zoom
1920 x 1080 full HD video
60, 120 and 240 FPS high-speed video
3-inch 460k-dot LCD display
Sensitivity: ISO 80 to 6400
High-speed burst – 3 FPS at full resolution and 10 or 30 FPS at 3 megapixels

Compact superzooms like the new Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ iHS are an excellent choice for people who want a powerful, versatile yet compact and reasonably priced camera. To get an equivalent zoom range you’d usually have to buy a full-sized digital SLR and then spend a fortune on interchangeable lenses. And you’d be packing pounds of camera gear instead of one compact camera. The SP-820UZ gives schools, small businesses, travelers and families an affordable and flexible camera option that can cover almost any situation.

Other than the huge zoom range the Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ iHS is a pretty straightforward point-and-shoot camera with simple, easy-to-use controls and shooting modes. For the hands-off photographer it has Intelligent Auto, which analyzes what’s in the viewfinder and automatically chooses a scene mode to match the subject and conditions. For photographers who want more control there’s a standard Program mode (P) with exposure compensation as well as scene modes and Olympus’s Magic Art Filters for in-camera creative effects like Pinhole, Soft Focus, Watercolor, Miniature, Fragmented, and Dramatic. There are also a few special shooting modes: Hand-Held Starlight and HDR Backlight Adjustment use multiple images to make a better quality photo in what would otherwise be very difficult shooting conditions; Beauty Make-up mode allows the photographer to add makeup to their subject after the fact; and the Smart Panorama mode assembles a panorama in the camera after you simply hold the shutter release down and pan across a scene. To help keep photos sharp in low light and at full zoom, the SP-820UZ has Dual Image Stabilization and Multi-Motion Movie Image Stabilization.

The Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ iHS superzoom camera will be available in black or silver and should be in stores in the next few weeks. The suggested retail price for the SP-820UZ is US $329.99.

Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ iHS Press Release >>