Photography News - The latest digital photography hardware and software news, reviews, articles, tips, techniques and more!

This autumn, Olympus introduces the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 70-300mm 1:4.0-5.6. Designed for the specific demands of digital photography, this extreme telephoto lens delivers 4.28x zoom power – up to a phenomenal focal length of 300mm (600mm on a 35mm camera system). Despite such high-performance attributes, this ultra-compact model only weighs in at around half as much as its competition. This makes it the ideal travel lens to accompany any Four Thirds Standard digital SLR.

It’s the camera that’s like no other – and now it has won a TIPA Award: The shock, water, crush and freezeproof Olympus µ 770 SW (Stylus 770 SW in the U.S.)*. The Technical Press Image Association (TIPA) has conferred this model the award for Best Innovative Design in Europe 2007. Each year, TIPA honours products and technologies of special distinction across a number of areas in the field of photography. The association membership currently comprises 30 publications across 12 European countries.

Bottom line - the Stylus 770 SW is a good digicam for the active user needing a weather resistant/water proof camera,while Olympus claims it is also “Shock Proof” up to 5 feet, we opted not to test this feature. The 770’s 7-megapixel SHQ images have plenty of resolution to create high-quality prints up to 13x19 inches or larger, however we had some issues with the poor position of the lens and the below average results of its VGA movie mode. With an MSRP of $379.99, it offers a good value for a 7-megapixel underwater capable digicam.

As a sports shooter, the SP-550 UZ is a bit of an enigma, hampered by its slow autofocus performance and poor image quality in its 2 high speed drive modes. But no other consumer digicam can come close to its high speed capture rate and the pre-capture mode that renders anticipating the decisive moment a moot point. The SP-550’s high-quality lens can’t be matched either, offering a versatile focal length range that is equally at home in tight interiors and athletic playing fields. Combine that with its very good image quality in standard drive modes, and the SP-550 UZ represents a good value at its $499 MSRP.

If you’re looking for a completely indestructible camera to suit your adrenaline-junkie lifestyle, the Olympus mju SW series is still the only game in town, and the 770 SW is the most everything-proof one yet. It’s able to survive anything short of an atomic bomb, but it is slightly lacking in the picture quality department. Still, the fact that it can take any kind of picture at all 10m deep in freezing water while being crushed is remarkable enough.

Despite having the dust cleaning system run at startup, the E-410 is still able to fire off its first shot in just over one second. Yes, some of the competition is faster, but most of them don’t have dust removal. Autofocus speeds will vary depending on what lens you have attached to the camera. Using the new 14 - 42 mm lens I found that the camera typically focused in less than 0.3 seconds, even if it had to use the flash as an AF-assist lamp. While I can’t quantify it, it sure feels like the E-410 focuses faster than the E-330 or E-500. Too bad there’s only three focus points, though.