Olympus's 30x superzoom bridge — 14MP CCD, 28-840mm equiv, dual IS, 720p video, SD storage, 2010.
The SP-800UZ was Olympus's flagship superzoom bridge camera of early 2010, announced alongside the 15x SP-600UZ and carrying a then-headline 30x optical zoom. It marked the range's switch from xD-Picture Cards to SD, and sold in the UK from March 2010 at around £370.
A 14-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sits behind the 28-840mm equivalent f/2.8-5.6 zoom. Dual image stabilisation (sensor-shift plus high-ISO assistance) props up the enormous telephoto end, and there is a 3-inch LCD, 720p HD movie recording, high-speed reduced-resolution burst modes, roughly 2GB of internal memory and SD/SDHC card storage. Power comes from a proprietary lithium-ion pack charged in-camera over USB.
It suits travel and casual wildlife shooters who want one do-everything camera: 28mm wide to 840mm reach without changing lenses. Control is deliberately simple — this is a point-and-shoot at heart, so enthusiasts wanting full manual exposure will find it limiting, and small-sensor image quality softens at the long end.
Used buyers should run the zoom through its full 30x travel listening for grinding, and confirm in-camera USB charging works, since chargers and the proprietary battery are the usual missing pieces. SD storage keeps running costs painless. Check the LCD (there is no optical finder to fall back on) and look for dust blobs at long zoom against a plain sky.