Olympus Stylus SZ-15 Pro Reviews

The Olympus SZ-15 isn't going to impress you with its responsiveness or with its image quality. Some sluggish situations will leave you a bit frustrated with this model from time to time. However, because so few other large zoom cameras have such a small body size in this price point, the SZ-15 is worth considering as a niche camera that fulfills a particular need you may have as a photographer. Just don't expect to make large prints because of image quality issues.

A great price for a 24x zoom, but let down by its noisy sensor and slow processor

If you keep in mind that the Olympus SZ-15 is aimed at those who are happy to point and shoot and are only going to use their camera on a few occasions a year, then the Olympus Stylus SZ-15 is a suitable camera. It is uncomplicated, with few buttons, a basic design and it isn't bombarded with all the extra settings that may end up confusing rather than helping a point and shoot photographer. However, the Olympus SZ-15 is clearly built to a low price point, which is indicated by the use of a CCD sensor, plastic construction and lack of features such as GPS or Wi-Fi. The image quality is ok if you are only ever going to look at images on the camera's screen or on a computer, but a 100% view reveals that images throughout the sensitivity range lack detail and look very smudged. The noise reduction is simply too strong. All of that said, there is very little competition for the Olympus SZ-15 in this price range, and to buy a camera with a zoom lens that can match the 24x zoom of the Olympus SZ-15 you would have to spend around another £100 or more for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ40, Canon PowerShot SX280 HS, Nikon Coolpix S9500 or the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX50.