Cheapest and Fine Quality 24x Mega Zoom Digital Camera -Olympus SZ-14

Introduction

Olympus SZ-14 is an inexpensive 24x mega zoom (25-600mm  35 mm equivalent) camera announced at start of 2012. It has an 14 million pixels in the high-resolution CCD sensor. Aperture is in range of f3.0-8.7 (W) / f6.9-20 (T). The LCD screen is 3 inches. It can record HD video(720p) and has an HDMI output. Dual Image Stabilization combines Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization with high ISO sensitivity and fast shutter speeds to capture clearer images. Intelligent auto automatically identifies the scene of shooting -- up to 30 different scene modes including Portrait, Landscape, Night + Portrait, Macro or Sports. Magic arts fileter for still and video can create up to 12 special effects such as Pop Art, Pin Hole, Drawing, Fish Eye, Soft Focus, Punk, Watercolor, Miniature, Sparkle, Reflection, Dramatic and Fragmented. The list price is about CAD$199.99 .  When it is  on sale, one can get it for CAD$149.99.

Olympus SZ-14 Digital Camera - Front

Olympus SZ-14 Digital Camera - Back

 

Olympus SZ-14 Digital Camera Review

 

Olympus SZ-14 Digital Camera Rating

 

CNET rates Olyympus SZ-14  4 stars out of 5. (Click here for details)

Good

• Good colours under all lighting
• Great zoom
• Inexpensive

Bad

• 720p maximum video resolution
• Some minor noise and fringing on images
• Fiddly panorama mode

Sample Picture

 

Olympus SZ-14 Digital Camera Sample Picture 1 (Source: CNET)

Features

Image Sensor	14 Megapixels (effective), 1/2.3"
Focal Length/Lens Configuration	4.5 - 18.2mm (28 - 102mm equivalent in 35mm photography)
Zoom	24x Optical Zoom + 4x Digital Zoom
Aperture Range	f3.0-8.7 (W) / f6.9-20 (T)
Display	3.0" LCD 460K dots
Focus System	CCD Contrast Detection
Focus Mode	iESP Auto, Spot AF, Face Detection AF, AF Tracking
Shutter Speed	1/1700 sec. -1/4 sec. (up to 4 sec. in Night Scene mode)
ISO Sensitivity (SOS: Standard Output Sensitivity)	Auto, High Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Exposure Metering	Digital ESP Metering, Spot Metering
White Balance Control	Auto, One-touch, Presets (Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, Fluorescent1)
Exposure Compensation	±2EV (Step: 1/3)
Image File Format	Still Image: JPEG Movie: MP4
Number of Recorded Pixels	14MP (4,288 x 3216) 8MP (3,264 x 2,448) 5MP (2,560 x 1,920) 3MP (2,048 x 1,536) 2MP (1,600 x 1,200) VGA (640 x 480) 16:9 L (4,288 x 2,416) 16:9 S (1,920 x 1,080)
Motion Blur Suppression	CCD shift
Shooting Modes	iAuto, Program Auto, Scene Modes [Portrait, Beauty, Landscape, Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Sunset, Fire Works, Cuisine, Documents, Beach & Snow, Pet (Cat), Pet (Dog)], Magic Filters [Pop Art, Pin Hole, Fish Eye, Drawing, Soft Focus, Punk, Sparkle, Water Color, Reflection, Miniature]
Panorama	In-Camera Panorama, PC Panorama (Up to 10 frames automatically stitchable with ib software)
Continuous Shooting	10 frames per second / 43 images (3MP) 7.6 frames per second / 42 images (5MP) 0.89 frames per second / 18 images (14MP)
Movie Mode	720p (1280x720), VGA (640x480), QVGA (320x240)
Image Processing	TruePic™ III+
Noise Reduction	Yes (Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Candle, Sunset, Fire Works)
Image Playback	Still Image: Single, Index Display (4x3, 6x5), Event, Up to 10x Enlargement, Slideshow, Photo Surfing Movie: Normal, Fast-Forward, Reverse, Frame-by-Frame, Voice Playback
Flash	Built-in
Flash Modes	Auto (for low light and backlit conditions) Red-Eye Reduction Fill-in Off
Self-Timer	12/2 Seconds/ Pet auto-shutter
Removable Media Card	SD/SDHC/SDXC Card
Outer Connectors	Multi-Terminal (USB Connector, Audio/Video Output) HDMI Type D
System Requirements	Auto-Connect USB: Windows® 2000/XP/VISTA/7 with USB port, Mac OS X 10.3 or later with USB port Software: Windows® 2000PRO/XP/VISTA/7, Mac OS X 10.3 - 10.5
Dimension	106.5mm (W) x 68.7mm (H) x 39.5mm (D)
Weight	216 g