In keeping with their recent offerings, Olympus has upped their "do-everything" ante with the new SP-570. On the plus side, full manual, hotshoe, RAW f2.8-4.5 lens 26-520mm 35mm equivalent (20x optical zoom) + 5 times seamless (and worthless) digital zoom. Minimum focal distance at super macro 1/2" to infinity, macro and normal 3.9" to infinity, full zoom 42.3".
SP-570 UZ
So far, no underwater housing. No underwater scene modes. With 20x zoom, more port issues if Ike makes a housing. Digic III chip. 10mp. 2.7" screen with adjustable brightness and multiple zooms for review. 13 frames per second at low res 3mb, 7 fps at 5mb. Sounds great. Wish they'd build an equivalent model with a quality wide to moderate zoom lens. Isn't looking much like an UW model, but hopefully, the autofocus speed and quality are seriously improved over the SP-550/560. Okay, Olympus: How about bringing back the 5050 lens and putting all your new electronics behind it?
SP-570 UZ
So far, no underwater housing. No underwater scene modes. With 20x zoom, more port issues if Ike makes a housing. Digic III chip. 10mp. 2.7" screen with adjustable brightness and multiple zooms for review. 13 frames per second at low res 3mb, 7 fps at 5mb. Sounds great. Wish they'd build an equivalent model with a quality wide to moderate zoom lens. Isn't looking much like an UW model, but hopefully, the autofocus speed and quality are seriously improved over the SP-550/560. Okay, Olympus: How about bringing back the 5050 lens and putting all your new electronics behind it?