Olympus SP-320 Review

Record Screens & Menus

Here is a screen showing the SP-320's Auto record mode. This is a fully automatic mode that allows the camera to choose all settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, white balance, etc.), while the Beginner benefits from point-n-shoot simplicity.

Program AE mode with lots of settings enabled. The aperture is F2.8, shutter speed is 1/6 of a second and the "0.0" indicates that there is no exposure compensation. Manual Focus with the sliding distance scale shown to the right, the "[ ]" in the center shows the focus area, saturation/contrast/sharpness are all at +1 and the flash exposure compensation is +0.3. Image quality is set at SHQ 3072x2304 (7-megapixels) and the memory card has sufficient space for another 70 pictures.

When using MF, the center portion of the screen in enlarged to help determine critical focus (not shown.)

Aperture priority mode you select the desired aperture and the camera automatically adjusts for the correct shutter speed. A small aperture (larger f/number) increases the depth of field (range of focus), where a large aperture (smaller f/number) decreases depth of field. The real time histogram has been enabled.

Shutter-speed priority mode you select the shutter speed and the camera selects the correct aperture. Select a fast shutter speed to freeze fast-moving subjects or use a slower shutter speed to capture flowing water or low-light subjects. Frame-assist grids have been enabled.

Manual mode you select both shutter speed and aperture values, the exposure value is displayed constantly (the "+0.7" in the upper right) so you can adjust the values to achieve the proper exposure. The "criss-cross" frame-assist has been enabled.

Rotating the mode dial to the "Scene" position gives you access to 25 creative scene modes, like Digital Image Stabilization mode shown above. Press the 4-way selector to change between these modes.

The Shoot & Select scene mode lets you take a series of photos which are then displayed for you to select the ones to keep and deletes the others.

Movie mode - The total amount of recording time available is shown by the green "00:20" in the lower right hand corner. This is SHQ 640x480 resolution at 30fps, the maximum recording time is 20 seconds. In the lower quality 640x480 @ 15fps or 320x240 size, the recording time is limited only by space on your xD card. The shaking hand icon indicates that we have the image stabilizer turned on.

Audio can also be recorded, when enabled via the Movie mode menu (the default setting if Off.) The optical zoom can be used for silent movies, but when Audio is turned on you will have to preset the desired focal length before recording.

When you press the Menu button in Movie mode, this Short Cut menu is displayed. Press Left to change the Quality of a movie, Up to enable or disable Digital Zoom, Down to enable or disable the Camera movement compensation, Right enters the Mode menu.

Pressing the MENU button in any still recording mode brings up this menu screen. Using the Up, Down or Left buttons accesses the Shortcut menus for Self-Timer, Macro focus, and Resolution. You can use these menus to quickly change settings, and you can also set the desired value for these shortcuts with the Shortcut option under the Setup menu. Pressing the Right button takes you to the full Mode Menu (see illustrations below).