Olympus joins the 40x club with the Stylus SP-820UZ iHS
The camera maker's new flagship megazoom packs a 40x 22.4-896mm lens.
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Giving it a lens your neighborhood stalker of, um, squirrels is sure to love, Olympus today announced the Stylus SP-820UZ iHS featuring a 40x f3.4-5.7 22.4-896mm lens. Nikon's Coolpix P510 and its 42x zoom lens still beat it, but hey, it's nice to have options.
Unlike the Nikon, however, the 820UZ iHS is more of a fully automatic camera with no manual or semimanual shooting modes. Its high-sensitivity 14-megapixel CMOS sensor and Olympus TruePic V image processor will let you capture 1080p HD and high-speed video (240fps HSQVGA) clips, though, and you get multishot HDR and low-light shooting options.
You'll also find creative in-camera Magic Art Filters like Pin Hole and Pop Art, which Olympus does well, and a Smart Panorama mode, which captures ultrawide shots if you pan the camera.
Framing your shots is done on a 3-inch 460K-dot LCD. There is no electronic viewfinder, which could make holding that lens still without a tripod even more interesting.
All of this is topped off with AA batteries for power, so there's no need to worry about charging up while you're out sightseeing.
The Olympus SP-820UZ iHS will be available in September in silver and black versions for $329.99. You can read more about it on Olympus' site.