Olympus SP590UZ or Nikon P90?

by Jaxon S on March 18, 2009

in Camera Raves and Rants

Recently, reader had asked me if I could suggest which one is better — Nikon P90 or Olympus SP590UZ.

On paper, the SP590UZ seems to be winning over the P90. It loses out only in the continuous shots department — although the SP590 is still fast at 6fps, it is no match to P90′s 15fps.

The SP590 also has RAW capture, longer zoom, but also more expensive, although not too expensive.

Point and shoot, side by side comparison

  Olympus SP590UZ Nikon P90 Canon SX1 IS Pentax X70
Resolution 12 megapixels 12.1 megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
RAW Yes No No Yes (via firmware update) No
HD video No No Yes Yes
Lens 26x (26-676mm) 24x (26-624mm) 20x (28-560mm) 24x (26-624mm)
Digital zoom 5x 4x 2x 6.25x
Conversion lens Yes No No No
ISO sensitivity Auto, High Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 64, 100, 200, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 3200 50 - 6400
Image stabilisation Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aperture f2.8 - f5.0 f2.8 - f5.0 f2.8 - f5.7 f2.8 - f5.0
Continuous shot 6fps (5MP), 10fps (3MP) 15fps 4fps To be updated
HDMI connectivity Yes No Yes No
Self timer Yes Yes Yes Yes
Hotshoe No No Yes No
AF assist lamp Yes Yes Yes Yes
Shutter speed 1/2 - 1/2000 To be updated 15-1/3200 1/4 - 1/1000
Bulb Yes (8min) No No No
Shooting modes Auto, P, Tv, Av, M, My mode, 19 scene modes Auto, P, S, A, M, 2 Custom Auto, P, Tv, Av, M, Custom Auto, P, Tv Av, M
Power 4 x AA batteries Li-Ion rechargables 4 x AA batteries Li-Ion rechargables
Macro Up to 1cm Up to 1cm Up to 0cm Up to 1cm
Tilt & swivel LCD screen No Vari-angle Yes No
Price $450 $399.95 $600 $399.95

If I were to decide which, I would find it difficult to choose. But if I chose Nikon, it would be because of brand recognition and not anything else.

Olympus has some image quality issue a couple of years back when it introduced the first ever 18x optical zoom camera, the SP-550UZ but things have been improving with its newer cameras.

One of Olympus most recent cameras, the SP565UZ received a good review over at Steve’s Digicams, with image quality described as “excellent.”

So, I guess image quality is no longer an issue with Olympus ultrazoom cameras.

So, how would I choose my camera? To me, image quality is paramount. If both cameras are able to give me excellent image quality, then I will go for the one which offer more features, and that will be Olympus SP590UZ.

By the way, the table above is meant to compare the SP590UZ and P90 side by side but since there are still spaces available, I decided to throw in two other cameras, the Canon PowerShot SX1 IS and Pentax X70, just for fun.

  • http://macro-photography-blog.com Jaxon S

    Robert, thank you for pointing that out. Around the time when the camera was announced there were a lot of buzz about its RAW capabilities and some, included top camera review sites like DPReview, were “misled” into thinking this camera supports RAW format.

    Also, thank you for pointing the faulty ISO range in the table; it should be 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 instead and not below 6400 as stated previously.

    Apologise for the fault…

    [Reply]

  • Robert

    OBSERVE!

    SP-590UZ does NOT have the RAW format, like its predecessor SP-570UZ did have. Olympus has not released any firmware update that corrects this. ISO range in the table above is faulty as well. I suggest you check Olympus homepage before taking the table above seriously.

    [Reply]

  • http://astore.amazon.com/buynikonp90-20 ai

    compare is good nikon p90 best low price

    [Reply]

  • AK

    It says 2 GB PER MOVIE clip. You can start a second movie clip with a new file name.

    [Reply]

  • vishwa
  • vishwa

    as the olympus customer care people told the camera is compatable only with 2GB card i wanted to clarify

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    thanks a lot. class 6 card..is it available in sandisk?

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    are there any officialreviews for olympus sp590 uz?

    [Reply]

  • AK

    It won’t. 16 GB class 6 card would be faster than 2 GB class 2 card. Class 6 card can write 6 MB per second. Class 2 card can write 2 MB per second. Size is irrelevant. Get class 6 card.

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    even i was planning totake 16GB card.but the dealer told me the performance will be slow with large memory size card depending upon the megapixels. so i just wanted to clarify.

    [Reply]

  • AK

    I am not sure if there is any limit. Why would there be a limit? I have a 16 GB SDHC card and it works fine.

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    normally how much memory card size does nikonp90/olympussp590uz/canon sx10 support. dothey support 8GBmicro sd

    [Reply]

  • Jaxon S

    AK, Vishwa, I won’t recommend the SX1 IS. I have the SX1 IS with me since the past three months but I find it difficult to love the camera despite all the features. It has all the things I need but fails when it matter most — image quality.

    The image quality is not bad but at $600 and being a Canon, I expect more.

    I heard the SX10 IS is better in terms of image quality.

    [Reply]

  • AK

    SX10 does even better than SX 1 on higher ISOs and it costs half the price. For now, among ultra-zooms, SX10 is the best choice.

    See: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsx1is/page7.asp

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    ya even i heard it. i also personally like nikon brand. but also seen the image quality of olympus sp 570uz…its improved. will have to check out. is the sp 590 uz launched?? and the reviews for nikon p90 are not so encouraging. ya sx10 is very good. but i want RAW and HD also. sx 1 is also better i think.

    [Reply]

  • AK

    Oh, Olympus had image quality problems but the Nikon P80 (the previous version of this camera) didn’t? It was pretty bad. Compare images of P80 of anything over 200 ISO vs SX10 here…

    http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

    Nikon has brand name recognition in DSLRs, but their P&S cameras are worse than the competition. If HD video (and RAW) is not a must requirement, SX10 is cheaper than all the ones listed above. There is also Panasonic FZ28K with 18x zoom that has HD video + raw but the recorded audio is not as good as SX10, which has stereo audio recording.

    [Reply]

  • vishwa

    Thank you for the valuable information. this has helped me able to decide on which one to choose.

    [Reply]

Previous post:

Next post: