Olympus SZ-12

Olympus SZ-12 is Olympus's Small Sensor Superzoom digital camera originally released on January of 2012. The camera houses a 14MP, CCD 1/2.3" sized sensor and has a peak resolution of 4288 x 3216.

The SZ-12 comes in at #180 out of 244 in Small Sensor Superzoom cameras and all-around #839 out of 1465 for cameras in our list. You can test our Advanced camera filter to see camera results based on your customized factors.

The following is a diagram of various criteria used in the scoring system.

The Olympus SZ-12 is part of a family of products. You can read the detailed range underneath.

You can see the SZ-12 from various angles in the gallery below.

Below is a collection of benefits and drawbacks of the Olympus SZ-12 based on criterias which are usually seen as essential in a digital camera.

The sensor spec on the Olympus SZ-12 is 6.17mm x 4.55mm (1/2.3"). The 28 mm² sensor has the capability to resolve 4288 x 3216 pixels . The camera includes Image Stabilization (Sensor-shift). Optical stabilization is superior than digital stabilization since the latter can easily lead to cropping.

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The CCD sensor boasts 14MP and delivers a standard ISO range of 80 to 1600. Sadly, RAW photos are not supported which means that the user has less margin for error.

The picture underneath illustrates the SZ-12's sensor dimensions in comparison to other popular sizes. The SZ-12 sensor comes with a crop factor of 5.8 and is displayed in green.

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To get an idea of various aspect ratios, you should refer to the graphic below.

Olympus SZ-12 weighs 0.50 lbs (226 grams or 7.97 ounces) and features outside dimensions of 106mm x 69mm x 40mm (4.2" x 2.7" x 1.6"). The weight of general Small Sensor Superzoom camera is 387 grams and the Olympus SZ-12 is lighter when compared with various competitors.

Photography Glossary

Down below is a shot of the Olympus SZ-12 beside a soda so you're able to have a sense of its scale.

The top view underneath will illustrate the button design on the SZ-12.

The SZ-12 comes with a built in lens providing a focal range of 25-600mm giving it a 24.0 x zoom which is exceptional and would allow you to zoom all the way in.

At the widest 25mm, it offers an aperture of f3.0 and that's very slow and not ideal in low light conditions and you will probably find it difficult to capture a shallow depth of field. You would also have to boost the ISO setting giving you noisy photos. For the tele end, 600mm is fantastic zoom and comes at f6.9 which is really slow and you may need to apply slower shutter speeds.

The SZ-12 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Cameras which have NFC and Bluetooth compatibility can easily be controlled wirelessly by smartphones. You can easily send images and usually adjust settings without connecting directly to the camera.

Certain applications even provide a Liveview and press the shutter when you aren't near the camera. If the camera includes a HDMI out, it could be hooked up to an external monitor. Almost all cameras enable you to recharge the battery through the USB port.

The highest video quality on the Olympus SZ-12 is 1280 x 720 and it can capture in MPEG-4 and H.264 file format. 720p is low by today's standards. You should target a minimum 1080p quality for video recording. The camera doesn't include a mic and headphone port which means you have no control over your audio. It is perhaps a better idea to have a look at a different model if you need decent audio in your videos.

Olympus SZ-12 doesn't include weather sealing so rainy conditions may ruin the camera.

The Olympus SZ-12 is equipped with a 3" fixed display boasting a resolution of 460k dots.

Please be aware that the display screen offers no touch support.

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The ViewFinder specs regarding Olympus SZ-12 are below:

• ViewFinder None

In those sunny outdoor conditions which make the camera screens washed out and tough to view, viewfinders are pretty valuable.

Olympus SZ-12 continuous shooting rate is 1.0 frames per second. The max shutter speed is 1/1700 seconds.

Olympus SZ-12 includes only in-built flash lacking external flash ability.

Olympus SZ-12 includes just Contrast Detect AF and is missing Phase Detect AF. Phase Detection focusing is a lot faster and exact when compared with Contrast Detect focusing. The camera supports Face detection which is helpful for portrait photography.

It also includes Tracking AF for moving objects. Olympus SZ-12 lacks manual focus. Manual focus can be useful during low light scenarios or you require more precise control on depth of field.

The battery power (LI-50B) in the Olympus SZ-12 is made to last for 220 photos with respect to the CIPA measurements making it less compared to its rivals. The typical Small Sensor Superzoom camera battery life is 316. Fujifilm HS35EXR features the highest (600) battery life within this type of cameras.

Here is a number of Small Sensor Superzoom cameras which have the highest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm HS35EXR
SZ-12 vs Fujifilm HS35EXR600 yesnono

Nikon B500
SZ-12 vs B500600 nonoyes

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Nikon L840
SZ-12 vs L840590 noyesno

Panasonic FZ200
SZ-12 vs FZ200540 yesnono

Leica V-Lux 4
SZ-12 vs V-Lux 4540 yesnono

The following graph gives a analysis of the Olympus SZ-12 for various forms of photography. To check out more, scroll to the specific paragraph underneath.

The Olympus SZ-12 has a rating of 34 which is terrible, and means the camera is not really good for portrait photos. Photographing portrait photos leans greatly towards sensor size, RAW support together with the capability to use off-camera lighting.

With a decent score of 60, the Olympus SZ-12 is fairly appropriate to use in street photography. A very good street photography camera offers a fine balance of image quality plus portability.

A terrible sports photography score of 41 means the Olympus SZ-12 is not really good for photographing sports. A camera needs to have fantastic tracking and fast shutter speeds for sports photography.

Size is really crucial in buying a camera for travel. Over-all, the Olympus SZ-12 gets a very good 65 for a travel camera which makes it a fine fit to buy for your travels.

If you're looking to purchase a camera for landscape photography, the most critical aspect is going to be image quality. The Olympus SZ-12 at it's terrible grade of 40 as a landscape camera is not really good amongst it's rivals.

A vlogging camera really should offer a articulating display, microphone input and ideally image stabilization. Taking all things in to account, the Olympus SZ-12 is not really good as a vlog camera as it gets a terrible score of 31.

If you are in the market for replacements to the SZ-12, below is a range of the highest placed cameras that fall in to the family of Small Sensor Superzoom.

The diagram listed below gives you a bird's eye view of the SZ-12 compared to it's top ranked competitors shown earlier.

These are some more cameras you may consider as alternative options. To review a comprehensive comparison, visit the "compare" link.