Olympus unveils 30x Megazoom and Tougher Cameras

Hot on the heels of Fujifilm's 30x optical zoom camera announcement, Olympus rolled out its high-zoom heir to the SP-590 UZ's throne.

The 30x optical zoom Olympus SP-800UZ (28mm to 840mm; F2.8 to F5.6) offers the farthest-reaching telephoto end of any fixed-lens camera we've seen; the just-announced Fujifilm Finepix HS10 also serves up a 30x optical zoom lens, with more coverage on the wide-angle end (24mm to 720mm).

The 14-megapixel SP-800UZ also offers dual image stabilization (sensor-shift and digital) to steady high-zoom shots, as well as manual controls, 720p high-definition video capture with HDMI-out, a 3-inch LCD, motion-tracking autofocus, and a one-shot panorama mode akin to Sony's Sweep Panorama feature.