Introduction

For now, the SZ-12 is an intriguing camera to watch. When it becomes available in March, the SZ-12 will boast an extensive feature set, an attractive exterior, and a tempting price point.

Design & Appearance

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Our chrome hands-on model was very sleek and highly reminiscent of the SZ-30MR. It looks much different than the SZ-10, this camera's processor. A few lines and borders have been smoothed away, the right handgrip is no longer textured, and the chassis is more angular and boxy.

The eye is immediately drawn to the lens barrel, in which each element is surrounded by a gleaming chrome bezel. In addition to silver, the SZ-12 will also be available in black and red.

Tour

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Menu

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The excellent Olympus menu system has not received an update since the company's last season of cameras, and we're fine with that. The interface is divided into the always-on quick menu, accessed simply by clicking up or down on the D-pad, and the main menu, which offers more detail at the expense of fast navigation.

The quick menu still has some hiccups and pauses from time to time, but it's fast, intuitive, and requires no scrolling or foreknowledge of the system to operate effectively.

The main menu is more complicated, but is necessary for in-depth camera settings. The tab-based system groups shooting and playback settings together, and navigation is carried out horizontally and vertically by the directional pad.

Ease of Use

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The control layout is relatively simple, with only a directional pad and four additional buttons. Olympus' excellent in-camera help guide is also featured on this model, and gets its own button at the bottom of the panel.

Size & Handling

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The shape of this camera is excellent for handling, but not the texture. No ergonomic elements have been added to the design of the SZ-12, and they are sorely missed. Like the SZ-30MR, the shutter release is way off to the left, out of comfortable reach, however the remaining buttons on the rear panel are within easy reach, even for one-handed shooting.

Modes Overview

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Like the SZ-10, the SZ-12 does not feature a hardware mode dial. Never a great move in our opinion, but a virtual dial performs the same function in the quick menu. Program Auto is available, along with Intelligent Auto, a dedicated Scene mode, and a dedicated Magic Filters mode.

Auto Mode

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The SZ-12's iAuto mode is a scene recognizing auto mode, meaning it will attempt to identify what type of picture is being taken (portrait, landscape, action, etc.) and adjust camera settings accordingly.

Movie Mode

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The SZ-12 is a 720p video device, though it's also possible to shoot in 480p or 240p should the need arise. Zoom control access is unlocked while a recording is in progress, and that's a very nice feature give that zoom will be this camera's main selling point for most people.

Drive/Burst Mode

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Burst mode shooting is possible at full resolution or two levels of reduced resolution. Full 14 megapixel shots are captured at 0.89 frames per second for 18 exposures, 5 megapixel shots are 7.6 fps for 42 exposures, and 3 megapixel shots can achieve 10 fps for 43 exposures.

Self timer options come in 12 second and 2 second varieties, and the SZ-12 also includes an amusing Pet auto-shutter mode, which will snap a shot once your pet finally faces the lens. It was impossible to test this without an animal handy, but we'll give it a try for the full review later on.

Playback Mode

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Playback mode is integrated seamlessly into the main menu (it's just another tab) and incorporates pretty standard options like fullscreen with 10x magnification, index display in a few different dimensions, and slideshow. Videos may also be played back here, but no in-camera editing is available.

Picture Quality & Size Options

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Six 4:3 resolution options of varying size are available on the SZ-12, as well as two 16:9 options. But the camera is not capable of lossless RAW encoding and JPEG compression quality is locked.

Focus

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Like most cameras of this size, the SZ-12 uses contrast detection autofocus. And like most Olympus cameras, the system achieves lock extremely quickly. In fact there is no practical difference between Olympus' technique and a phase detection system.

Manual focus is not available, but the camera supports full scene auto, spot AF, face detection, and AF tracking modes.

Exposure & Metering

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Only evaluative and spot metering methods are available, but all shots seemed correctly exposed during our short time with the camera. The narrow opening can only achieve f/3.0 while zoomed all the way out, but zooming in allows the aperture to close into a pinhole f/20. That's not too useful in practice, but an impressive stat for sure.

Total shutter speed range is 1/1700th to 4 seconds, and exposure compensation extends +/- 2 stops in 1/3-stop intervals.

ISO

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Automatic ISO settings are divided into "Auto," which will choose from the most common value, and "High Auto," which will use all settings including this camera's maximum of 1600 if necessary. We were hoping for ISO 3200 or even 6400 from this camera, especially given its dim aperture, but only a full review will reveal how much of a problem this is.

White Balance

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If the SZ-12's automatic white balance isn't working quite right, the camera supports One-touch custom white balancing right from the quick menu. Four presets are also included: Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, and Fluorescent1, but direct Kelvin color temperature entry isn't possible.

Image Stabilization

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The SZ-12 utilizes sensor shift image stabilization, as well as a few digital techniques like increased shutter speed or ISO values to achieve clean shots. The system is very noticeable while handling the camera, and makes a big difference while framing fully-zoomed shots.

Picture Effects

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Olympus' "Magic Art Filters" are available while shooting stills and movies. There are 12 of them, including Pop Art, Pin Hole, Drawing, Miniature, and Watercolor. This company has some of the most convincing effects in the industry, and choices like Watercolor and Drawing are particularly cool.

Lens & Sensor

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24x is very ambitious for a camera of this size, and only our lab tests can determine whether or not this will affect image quality. What we can say is that the action of the lens barrel is very fast, responsive, and precise; rather than the floaty controls often found in ultracompacts.

The SZ-12 is most likely using the exact same sensor as the SZ-10, this camera's predecessor. It's a 14 megapixel CCD, 1/2.3 inches in size. We were hoping for an upgrade to CMOS, like the SZ-30MR, but c'est la vie.

LCD

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The rear display is a fixed 3-inch LCD that is thankfully not a touchscreen. Again, this may be the same hardware used for the SZ-10, because resolution has not received an upgrade from 460,000 dots.

The screen is bright, possibly even too bright, with harsh whites and very high contrast at default settings.

Flash

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The flash emitter is deployed by a mechanical release, ideally placed on the left side of the lens enclosure, within easy reach of the left hand. Aside from Auto and Off, flash settings for Red-Eye Reduction and background Fill-in are also available.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

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Two connectivity ports are housed underneath a rubber cover on the right panel of the body. There's a microHDMI port here, as well as a USB terminal, however the USB connector is proprietary.

Battery

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The included lithium battery will be charged in-camera via the F-2AC adapter. No word yet on CIPA performance ratings for this battery / camera combination.

Memory

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The SZ-12 will support SD, SDHC, and fast SDXC memory cards. Internal storage may not be included.

Conclusion

Other than a few tweaks to this camera's outward appearance, the SZ-12 is remarkably similar–indeed suspiciously similar to its predecessor. That is, except for zoom. When manufacturers do this, we get nervous. Longer optical zoom does not necessarily suggest better image quality, in fact the two are often inversely related. The SZ-12 appears to be a classic optical zoom cash-in. Identical specs, plus a longer lens, plus a fresh coat of paint, equals profit. Right?

All this is pretty speculative of course. After all, the SZ-12 is cheaper than its predecessor, so even if performance simply stays the same it could represent a decent value. $200 for 24x is a great position to be in.

Still, we're worried about this model. Hopefully when the SZ-12's March release rolls around, our tests won't have to prove–for the hundredth time–more zoom doesn't always mean a better camera.

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Sample Photos

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Specs

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