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Olympus goes fat and skinny with latest megazooms

While they're not the most exciting cameras, it's still pretty amazing to see just how much lens you can squeeze into a compact camera.

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Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
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Joshua Goldman
The SZ-12 packs a wide, long lens in a pretty small body. Olympus

LAS VEGAS--Whether you like your megazooms slender or with a little something to grab on to, one of Olympus' new models might make you happy.

The 16-megapixel SP-620UZ packs a 21x 25-525mm lens and a 3-inch LCD. It gets its extra weight and size from the four AA-size batteries it uses for power. It's pretty much the same camera as 2011's 610UZ, but with a wider lens and more megapixels.

The 14-megapixel SZ-12 uses a lithium ion battery, so it's much smaller despite actually having a longer 24x 25-600mm lens and the same size LCD as the 620UZ. It is also very similar to its predecessor, the SZ-10, but with a wider and longer lens.

Both will sell for $199.99 with the 620UZ available in January and the SZ-12 in March.

Neither of these are pocketable, though, so if you're looking for something a little more slender, but still with a versatile lens, there's the VR-340. For $149.99, this 16-megapixel camera gives you an ultrawide-angle 24mm lens with a 10x zoom and a 3-inch LCD.