The six megapixel SP-500UZ - announced last August - offers a 10x zoom, full manual control, RAW capture and a wealth of photographic and digital features. With a feature list as long as your arm, lots of beginner-friendly scene modes, a predictive AF function, which predicts the location of a moving subject at the moment the shutter closes, a nice 2.5-inch screen and a 3cm macro mode, the SP-500UZ certainly seems to offer an excellent 'bang for your buck'.

Specifications

Body Material
Plastic & metal

Sensor
1/2.5" Type CCD
6.4 million pixels total
6.0 million effective pixels

Image sizes
2816 x 2112
2816 x 1877 ( 3:2 )
2592 x 1944
2288 x 1712
2048 x 1536
1600 x 1200
1280 x 960
1024 x 768
640 x 480
 
Movie clips
320 x 240 @ 30/15 fps
Up to the capacity of the memory card
QuickTime Motion JPEG
Digital Image Stabilizer 

Lens
38 - 380 mm (35 mm equiv) 10x optical zoom
F 2.8 - 3.7
5x Digital Zoom
 
Focus
Spot
iESP auto focus
Predictive AF
AF area is selectable from 143 points
Manual focus with enlarged focusing area 

Focus distance
Normal: 0.6 m (wide)/ 2m tele
Macro: Up to 7 cm (wide) / 120cm (tele)
Super macro: 3cm (wide)

Metering
Digital ESP metering
Spot metering
Center-weighted 
Shutter speeds 15 - 1/1000 (up to 8 minutes in Bulb mode)
Apertures (W) F2.8 - F8.0, (T) F3.7 - F8.0 

Image Parameters
Brightness ± 5
Saturation ± 5
Contrast ± 5
RAW data edit
Red-eye fix
Sepia
Black and white 

Shooting mode
Program
Aperture priority
Shutter priority
Manual
Portrait
Landscape
Landscape and Portrait
Night Scene
Night & Portrait
Sports
Indoor
Candle
Self Portrait
Available Light Portrait
Sunset
Fireworks
Museum
Cuisine
Behind Glass
Documents
Auction
Beach
Snow
Shot & Select 1
Shot & Select 2
4 My Modes
 
Exposure compensation
+/- 2EV
1/3 EV steps 
Exposure bracketing  Up to 5 frames in 1/3 EV steps 

Sensitivity
Auto
ISO 80
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400

White balance
Auto
7 presets (Overcast, Sunlight, Evening Sun, Tungsten, Fluorescent1, Fluorescent2, Fluorescent3.)
Manual (custom)
White balance fine tuning (7 steps, Red - Blue)

Storage
xD-Picture Card
10 MB internal memory 

Viewfinder
Electronic viewfinder
201,600 pixels 

LCD monitor
2.5" TFT LCD
115,000 pixels

Connectivity
USB
DC in
AV out 

Power
4x AA (NiMH, NiCd, alkaline, lithium) batteries
Optional adapter (C-8AC) 

In the box
Camera
Strap
USB cable
audio/video cable
4 x Alkaline battery AA
OLYMPUS Master 1.31.
 
Other features
DPOF
EXIF 2.2
PIM III
PictBridge
Optional lens converters WCON-07& TCON-17 (via CLA-4 adapter)
AF assist lamp
Playback and record histogram
Raw Data Edit (in-camera)
Noise reduction on/off (0.5 second exposure or more)
Saved image editing
Time lapse (interval) shooting - 2 to 99 shots, 1 to 60 minute intervals.

Weight
(excl batt)  285 g (10.1 oz)
 
Dimensions
106 x 75 x 71 mm (4.1 x 2.9 x 2.8 in)

Review

Pros:10X Optical Zoom. Lighter and more compact design. AA Batteries. xD Card.
Cons:You need a steady hand. Little stabilization.
Full user opinion
I have had two of the Olympus Ultra Zoom Camera's, C750UZ and C765UZ, and they both pale in comparison to the newest in the line. Olympus has very little competition in the industry when it comes to the "Mega-Zoom" point and shoot digital camera's. The SP-500 is another winner all around. From beginner to expert this camera offers a bundle of features that can make picture taking not only easy but enjoyable. That the SP-500 uses "AA" batteries is definetly a plus. If you've ever had to scramble to recharge a lithium pack you know what I'm talking about. Olympus needs to do something about stabilization but it only affects the pictures that are taken with zoom almost fully extended. It also can use the newer 1GB xD cards that can store a lot of pictures. For the price, find a better camera, I dare you.

Source:
http://reviews.cnet.com\