Just Got an Olympus SP-570UZ Camera

I apologize.

My Olypus C5050 has always been a really slow camera, all the
time I've owned it. It never bothered me before. It takes very
good pictures, so I'm happy with it.

I bought a Canon A640 from Zip Zoom Fly on 01/05/07 for a cost of
$583.93 US Dollars and it was much, much faster.

But it had a very weak flash, had a lot of red-eye and the 10
megapixel results looked blurry to me. So, I gave it to someone
I know and she likes to mainly take pictures outdoors. And then
I just kept looking.

I almost bought an S5 from Canon, but the EVF was not high enough
resolution when I tested it out at Best Buy.

So I kept on looking and heard about the SP-570UZ. Best Buy and
Circuit City did not have any in stock, but I found out that a
local Kits Cameras did have at least one in stock and one on
display. So, we went over to that store, I got to try out the
camera and I liked it so I bought it.

I didn't buy it BECAUSE it was an Olympus, I bought it because it
was the only camera I found that had at least a 10x zoom with
image stabilization, had an EVF that was way higher of a
resolution than I had seen before, and it took standard AA type
batteries. It also has a Hot Shoe, which is why I didn't even
consider looking at the 560 because of that.

I know it uses XD only, and that kinda sucks, but at least if I
want to I can buy one of their H series of cards, which says it
has faster read and write performance than the standard M series.

I really don't even understand what "Shutter Lag" means in terms
of using my camera. I'm just a guy who likes to take pictures
and I'm not a professional, and I wanted the ability to take
closer pictures when I go to Safeco Field to watch baseball, or
am on vacation or whatever. I'm not sure how "Shutter Lag" would
affect that.

Ok - another reason I bought it? Cause I like the way cameras
look when they are black. And another is it has a metal screw
for a tripod mount.

Having to manually pop open the flash thing can be a pain, but I
guess I'll get used to it. I'll probably make it part of my
ritual, just like taking off the lens cap:

Lens Cap Removed? Check
Flash Popped Up? Check
Neck Strap On? Check

And then I'm off to the races, as it were.

Not really. The shutter lag I am most concerned with, and the
lag that is measured by many camera sites is just how long
does the camera take to capture the image after the shutter is
depressed.

There is a prefocused lag that can be quite quick, and then
there is the shutter lag at full autofocus, wide and telephoto.

This lag can be frustrating if you want to capture an action
event such as a swing of a baseball bat but your camera's
shutter lag makes you miss the shot.

Two examples from the same site:


A older Sony H-1 that is quite fast
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H1/H1DATA.HTM


And a Oly SP-560UZ that should be similar to your camera
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SP560/SP560A6.HTM