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It's absolutely remarkable how far digital cameras have come. And how much camera you can get for the money these days. And that's precisely the problem camera makers face today: it's hard to make a profit as prices drop ever lower. And, adding insult to injury, almost all of today's smartphones already have increasingly competent high res still/video cameras built in.
That's why we're seeing the traditional camera makers get into specialties and niches that the smartphone cameras can't touch (yet). Things like tough cameras that can go underwater, or, as is the case with the SZ-12 from Olympus, a very long optical zoom. Most inexpensive cameras have 3X to 5X optical zooms. The SZ-12 has 24X. That means you can get really close to far-away objects, and unlike digital zoom that multiplies the reach of most digital cameras, optical zoom results in much better and sharper pictures. And the SZ-12's rather sophisticated image stabilization works remarkably well.
The SZ-12 has other nice features, like a bright and sharp 3-inch LCD display and it can take not only those high-res 14-megapixel pictures, but also very respectable 720p HD video. That's not quite the 1080p that takes full advantage of today's large HDTVs, but you usually can hardly tell the difference between 720p and 1080p.
In terms of features, the SZ-12 has pretty much everything that some of the much more expensive Olympus cameras have (like the $350 Tough TG-810 or so). The controls are simple and easy to figure out. While the camera is described as "stunningly sleek and stylish," the SZ-12 is really an inch and a half thick, and a full 3.5 inches with the lens fully motored out. It's still very handy, though, and the film camera-like bulge on the right side makes for a good grip.
While the SZ-12 looks like it's solid metal, it's really plastic and actually feels a bit, dare I say it, on the cheapish side. And a couple of other blemishes: the battery doesn't last as long as I'd like, and the camera tends to oversaturate color.
Overall, the Olympus SZ-12 offers an awful lot for not much money, and the good greatly outweighs the few issues. I'd buy this one again.
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