Olympus SP-350

Reviewed October 2005

Characteristics

Using a 1/1.8 inch (diagonally) 8.3 million pixel CCD, the Olympus SP-350 is able to capture a maximum image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels from the sensor's 8.0 million effective pixels.

CCD sensitivity starts at 50 ISO but can be increased to 100, 200 or 400 ISO, or left on Auto, which lets the camera adjust sensitivity as dictated by available light.

The Olympus zoom lens is composed of 6 elements in 5 groups and includes 3 aspherical surfaces to minimize distortion. The 3X zoom covers a focal range of 8 to 24mm, the equivalent of a 38 to 114mm zoom. Apertures begin at f2.8 when the lens is at the widest angle, and f4.9 at the maximum telephoto end and close down to f8 for both.

The stencilled lens trim is threaded to allow the use of optional lens converters — wide angle converter (WCON-07F, 0.7X) or telephoto converter (TCON-17F, 1.7X) — mounted on an adapter (CLA-9) that mounts directly on the camera.

The SP-350 provides a shutter speed range of 1/1000 second to 2 seconds in all but the Manual mode, but, if Noise Reduction has been enabled the slowest shutter speed is extended to 4 seconds. With the Manual mode the shutter speed range covers from 1/2000 second — at f8 only, otherwise 1/1000 second — down to 15 seconds, and also includes a Bulb setting that allows a user-determined exposure time that has a maximum of 8 minutes. And, when the Noise Reduction system is active, images captured with shutter speeds slower than 1/2 second are automatically processed to minimize noise.

The SP-350 is able to record images at any of 9 sizes:

As is common with most Olympus cameras, pressing the OK/MENU presents a Shortcut menu first, and each of the 4 options shown can be accessed directly using the corresponding directional arrow. Three of these shortcuts are modifiable in the Setup menu (see the Interface and Software section of the review for more information about the Setup menu), but the default settings are to access:

• the up arrow starts the 12-second Self-timer.
• the left arrow accesses the image resolution and quality option (see above).
• the down arrow allows engaging the Macro or Super Macro modes.
• the right arrow, the only one that cannot be re-assigned to another function, opens the full menu (see below).

Selecting MODE MENU, displays the menu that corresponds to the camera's current mode, and while the left side of the screen shows tabs that lead to the various sections of the menu — Camera, Picture, Card, Setup — the right contains the options for the selected section. The first two sections contain options directly related to image capture.

The first section, Camera, offers options related to how the image is captured:

• ESP/ provides a choice of metering systems:
  • ESP: meters the brightness at the centre of the frame and the surrounding area separately to create a picture with balanced brightness.
  • meters only the centre of the frame (spot metering).
  • meters a wide area of the frame with an emphasis on the centre of the frame.
• Macro:
  • Macro: lets the camera focus on a subject 20 to 50cm (7.9 to 19.7 in.) from the front of the lens when the zoom is set to wide angle or from 30 to 50cm (11.8 to 19.7 in.) when the zoom is at the telephoto end.
  • Super Macro: locks the zoom at the wide angle end, and allows the camera to focus on a subject 2cm (0.8 in.) from the front element of the lens.
• Drive is to select the Sequential Shooting modes:
  • one frame at a time.
  • Sequential Shooting locks focus, exposure, and white balance at the first frame and the speed at which images are captured varies with the image size and quality in use.
  • High Speed Sequential Shooting functions like the mode above, but is limited to HQ or SQ1 and SQ2.
  • AF Sequential Shooting is slower than the other modes, but the focus is adjusted at each frame.
  • Bracketing captures either 3 or 5 images, bracketing the exposure over a range of ±1 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• ISO serves to set CCD sensitivity: Auto (between 50 and 400 ISO) or 50, 100, 200, 400 ISO.

• My Mode: when the Mode dial is set to this position, this option determines which of the 4 My Modes will be active.
• Self-Timer: serves to activate the 12-second Self-timer. Worth noting, the timer resets to Off once a photo has been captured.
• Flash Intensity Control: serves to compensate flash exposures over a range of ±2 EV in 0.3 EV increments.

• Flash Synchro: serves to select whether the flash fires at the first curtain (at the beginning of the exposure) or with the second curtain (just before the end of the exposure).
• Flash: activates the hot shoe of the SP-350. Three options are available:
  • uses the internal flash and external flash simultaneously.
  • forces off the internal flash leaving only the external flash working.
  • Slave Flash uses the internal flash to trigger either the FL-20 or FL-36 off camera. Using an Olympus flash unit, it is possible to adjust the power of the external flash over a range of 10 increments.
• Digital Zoom: controls the 5X digital zoom. The digital zoom crops the image to match the field of view that would be captured by a longer optical zoom and interpolates the cropped image to the currently selected image size, resulting in a lower image quality.
• Noise Reduction: On or Off, controls the use of the Noise Reduction system from images captured with an exposure time greater than 1/2 second.
• AF Mode has three options:
  • iESP: the camera determines the focus point, even when the focus point is not at the centre of the frame.
  • Spot: focus is determined by what is a the centre of the frame.
  • Area: the focus point can be moved anywhere in the frame using the 4-direction control.
• Focus Mode: decides whether Auto or Manual focus is used. If Manual focus is used the central portion of the frame is enlarged on the monitor to assist in deciding if the focus is correct. The up and down arrows of the 4-direction control serve to select the distance to the subject with the help of a scale shown on the screen, and the OK/MENU button can be used to lock the focus.
• Fulltime AF: On or Off, allows having the camera continuously adjust the focus.
• Panorama Shooting: serves to capture a series of images that will later be assembled into a panoramic image. Panoramas can be created by recording images vertically or horizontally. Worth noting, an Olympus-brand xD card must be used.
• Sound: serves to capture a 4-second voice annotation that will be associated with an image. When active, the sound recording starts 1/2 second after capture.
• Timelapse Shooting: makes it possible to capture a series of images (from 2 to 99) at a pre-selected interval (from 1 to 99 minutes).

The second section, Photo, contains options that relate to the image quality:

• Resolution: selects the image format (RAW, SHQ, HQ, SQ1 or SQ2) and the compression level, High or Normal, with SQ1 and SQ2.

• WB controls the white balance: Auto, Preset (Sun, Cloud, Sunset, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1 (daylight type), Fluorescent 2 (neutral), Fluorescent 3 (white type) or Custom (set under ambient lighting conditions using a white surface).
• WB±: white balance compensation makes it possible to adjust the bias of the white balance towards blue or red over a range of ±7 increments.
• Sharpness: allows adjusting the in-camera sharpening over ±5 increments.

• Contrast: serves to adjust image contrast over ±5 increments.
• Saturation: serves to adjust colour saturation over ±5 increments.

When set to the Auto Shooting mode, the camera controls most settings, and therefore the only options presented in the MODE MENU are Card and Setup. Worth noting, the shortcuts for this mode cannot be modified.

Set to the Movie Mode, the shortcut screen provides direct accesses to the resolution and image quality, the digital zoom, and the electronic image stabilization. The Mode Menu is similar to the still image mode, but the Camera section only has options for ISO, AF and Sound (On or Off) while the Picture section does not show the Resolution/image quality option.

In Playback Mode, the shortcut screen provides the following options:

• the up arrow is a direct access to the Playback menu's Edit section (see further).
• the left arrow makes it possible to view images in specific Albums (see further for more details about albums).
• the down arrow makes it possible to see images sorted by the date on which they were captured using a calendar.
• and the right arrow opens up the complete Playback menu.

• Protect: to prevent the accidental erasure of an image (this option is the only one shown when a movie is on the screen when the menu is called up).

• Picture Rotation: allows rotating an image by +90° or -90°.
• Slide Show: serves to start a looping slide show of the captured images with any of 9 transition effects between images.
• Print Reservation: to select images that will be printed using DPOF and the number of copies to make of each. In addition, the SP-350 is compatible with PictBridge and can be used to print directly to similarly compatible printer.

• Sound: makes it possible to add a 4-second voice annotation to an already recorded image.
• Album: this option makes it possible to create albums (up to 12) into which images or movies can be moved so as to organize them.

The second section, Edit, contains options that serve to modify captured images:

• RAW Data Edit: serves to create copies of images captured in RAW format. The copy can be saved as SHQ, HQ, SQ1 or SQ2 and the white balance, sharpness, contrast and colour saturation of the RAW image can be adjusted for the copy.
• Resize: is to create a small coy of an image, either at a 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixel size.
• Crop: makes it possible to magnify part of an image and re-save it as a new image.
• Redeye Fix: makes it possible to eliminate the red-eye effect and re-save the corrected image as a new image.

• Black and White: changes a photo to black and white and allows re-saving it as a new image.
• Sepia: converts an image to sepia tone and makes it possible to re-save it as a new image.
• Frame: makes it possible to add a frame to an image, and re-save it as a new one.
• Title: makes it possible to add a title superimposed on the image, and re-save it as a new image.

• Calendar: makes it possible to create a calendar page that includes a captured image, then save it as a new image.
• Layout: makes it possible to create layouts with one or more images.
• Brightness: serves to adjust the image brightness, and then re-save the result as a new image.
• Saturation: allows adjusting the image saturation and re-save the result as a new image.

The Olympus SP-350 is equipped with a 25 MB internal memory. It is also equipped with an xD Picture Card slot, located on the right side of the body, covered by a solid door. In North America the SP-350 is retailed without a memory card, but one should be considered a necessity if the RAW format is going to be used.

As a guide, the chart below shows the number of images that can be captured with both the SP-350's internal memory and with a 512 MB xD card:

As sold in North America, the SP-350 is powered by a single non-rechargeable CR-V3 Lithium battery. The battery is housed inside the camera's grip, and covered by a locking door.

While this type of battery is long-lasting, it is comparatively expensive. However, the SP-350 can also be powered with 2 AA-size batteries, including rechargeable Ni-MH batteries.

The SP-350 has two external connections, positioned directly above the memory card compartment, and which are covered by a flexible plastic door.

At the top is a jack for the optional 3.4 volt power adapter that can be used to power the camera from household current.

Below, a single jack serves for both USB (USB 2.0 compatible) or A/V (audio/video) Out (either NTSC or PAL depending on the setting in the Setup menu), and both cables are included with the camera.

When the SP-350 is connected via USB to either a computer or to a PictBridge compliant printer, a screen is displayed offering a choice of protocols to use:

• PC (Mass Storage) to connect to a computer, allowing the camera to be recognized as a removable hard disk.
• Easy Print (PictBridge) makes it possible to print the image shown on the screen directly by pressing the button for each print.
• Custom Print serves to select a set of parameters that will be used to print a series of images (all images, or those contained in a specific album). In addition, images can be printed as index sheets, or as Multi-prints, or can be cropped prior to printing.