Olympus Shoots for Long Zoom Supremacy with 26X SP-590UZ

Olympus 26X SP-590UZ Digital Camera

Olympus ups the ante again with the new SP-590UZ ultra zoom camera featuring a 26x wide angle zoom lens covering a jaw-dropping 26-676mm focal range.

With the optional TCON-17N Teleconverter and CLA-11 Adapter Ring, the new SP-590UZ can even reach magnifications of up to 1149mm!

The Olympus SP-590UZ packs 12 megapixels in its 1/2.33” CCD image sensor and a 2.7-inch LCD screen with 230K dots. Its long zoom boasts an opening of f2.8 at wide angle and f5.0 at telephoto.

Olympus says zooming is not the SP-590UZ’s only claim to fame. For those who shoot sports, the new camera can do high-speed shooting at 10fps, according to the company.

The SP-590UZ will hit stores in early March 2009 and is expected to retail at about $450. With zoom this long, there’s got to be some trade off somewhere. Will the paper specs match real-world performance for this ultra-mega-super-dooper zoom? We’ll know, as soon as the reviews start coming in.

[Site: Olympus America]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.