Labs

If you turned straight to the feature table to search for a super-zoom, the SP-550UZ is likely to have caught your eye. Boasting a 28-500mm integrated lens (35mm equivalent), it can shoot from further away than anything else on test, and the widest position offers a true wide angle. The Olympus also measures just 124 x 91 x 79mm (WDH).

It sits in the middle of the pack in terms of price at just under £250. It might only have a 7.1-megapixel sensor, but don't overlook the fact that it has CCD-shift image stabilisation, a RAW mode, a 1cm super macro mode, an 11.2fps burst capture setting and ISO 5,000. Of course, the latter two are only with limited resolutions: 1.2 megapixels and 3.1 megapixels respectively, but they're still useful inclusions.

There's a 230,000-pixel 2.5in LCD plus an electronic viewfinder. Both are decent examples, and

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you can review images and select menu options in the EVF as well. The main menu system is the usual clunky Olympus offering, but you can get to white balance, ISO, drive and metering modes using the button in the centre of the four-way pad. Usefully, there are four MyModes where you can store presets for four scenarios, with access to just about every camera setting in each. There's even a timelapse mode squirrelled away in there.

Overall quality is great and resolution was respectable considering the lower pixel count, but don't expect to blow up shots to A3. Colour rendition was natural, but images were softer than we'd have liked, and noise proved a distraction at higher ISO settings. Macro performance was good, but it couldn't match its 1cm claim.

More annoying was the slow focusing at full zoom, but this is countered by the fact that the anti-shake system produces relatively sharp shots at full zoom in anything but the lowest lighting conditions. No rechargeable batteries are supplied, but a set of four alkaline AAs lasts for almost 500 shots.

The SP-550UZ uses xD-Picture cards, which are slower at writing than SD cards and Memory Stick Duos, and this limits the shot-to-shot time in RAW mode: we measured it at just over 7 seconds.

Overall, the Olympus does have some limitations, but they won't be an issue for the majority of day-to-day shots. On this basis, the SP-550UZ is our pick of the super-zoom cameras.