19. Exposure: To Taste

With the choice of four possible operating modes (in addition to "full auto"), the SP350 will be a boon to photographers who want to get precise results. It also offers a choice of metering and white-balance modes (including manual if absolute precision is required). The ISO sensitivity is adjustable between ISO 50 and 400, and the noise level was under control throughout the range.

Flash: Choice!

The built-in flash, usable between approximately 16" (40 cm) and 10' (3 m), has all the necessary adjustments, with a flash power adjustment and slow, "second curtain" synch in addition to the standard functions. A major original touch on the SP350 is that it has a hot shoe for an external flash, which supports either Olympus FL flashes for automatic operation, or standard flashes. A servo flash (set off by a small burst from the built-in flash) can also be used. This means that for lovers of flash photography, the SP350 is a particularly attractive option.

Shooting And Saving

The SP350 has the standard shooting modes, with several speeds for continuous shooting. Unfortunately, the buffer memory won't hold very many images before giving up during high-speed shooting. There is an interval timer for making special shots.

It's possible to display a grid in shooting mode to help in composing your shot.

To adjust the exposure, you can display a real-time histogram.

Images are normally recorded in JPEG format, with several levels of quality and size, but it's also possible to save images in RAW format. In JPEG format at maximum quality, files are generally between 3 and 4 MB, while RAW files can reach 12 MB, and take quite a while to save - RAW format is highly worthwhile, but it also makes heavy demands on a compact camera. Naturally, the software supplied by Olympus can process RAW files, but we were pleased to note that the files were also recognized by other programs.