Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification
The Olympus Stylus SH-2 is a compact travel zoom camera that offers a 24x optical zoom lens, a 16 megapixel sensor, 3inch touch-screen and built-in Wi-Fi, along with a retro-styled camera body. 5-axis image stabilisation helps keep photos and video steady, and the camera has a number of advanced shooting modes including manual shooting, time-lapse video creation, live view composite shooting, nightscape mode, plus raw shooting.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Features
The Olympus Stylus SH-2 offers a 24x optical zoom lens, equivalent to 25-600mm in 35mm terms, f/3.0-6.9 in a pocketable metal and plastic camera body. 5-axis image stabilisation works for stills and video, which will help when using the optical zoom, shooting in low light, or recording video handheld. On the back is a 3inch touch-screen, with a 460,000 dot resolution.
The camera features classic styling, similar to the Olympus PEN series, as well as the film camera, the Olympus TRIP 35, and as a result looks more interesting than most compact cameras available.
Art filters add creative effects to images, while photo story offers a number of different ways to creatively frame a number of photos.
Built-in Wi-Fi connects to the Olympus Image Share app and is available for Android and iOS devices. OI.Share lets you use it with compatible Olympus cameras for remote shooting, image transfer, image editing, and geotagging.
The camera has iAuto mode to automatically choose the best settings for the scene, and an automatic panoramic shooting mode makes it easy to create panoramic shots in camera. There are a number of scene modes including a Super Macro mode that lets you focus on subjects just 3cm away from the front of the lens.
The camera has a 1080p Full HD 60p movie mode, as well as time-lapse movie recording. It's also possible to shoot photos while recording video without interrupting movie capture. A fast 240fps High-Speed Movie mode is available, albeit at a reduced resolution.
Key Features
- 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor
- 24x optical zoom lens, f/3.0-6.9
- 5-axis image stabilisation
- 3inch touch-screen
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- FullHD video, 60p, stereo sound
- ISO125 - ISO6400
- 3cm macro focus
- 11.5fps / 16 frames continuous shooting
- Raw shooting, Live composite shooting, Nightscape mode
- Available in black or two-tone silver and black (as shown)
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Handling
The classic styling of the camera looks very good, some would even say cool, with a solid black band across the middle, and silver metal plates across the top and bottom. Textured black plastic grips on the front and back of the camera may give the camera a stylish look, however they aren't as grippy as rubber and therefore we'd recommend using the provided neck / shoulder strap. The camera has good build quality, although the battery and memory card compartment cover uses quite thin plastic.
You can use the 3inch touch-screen to set the focus position and shoot photos, simply by pressing the screen. However you can't use the touch-screen to select and browse the menu options. The camera has a mode dial on top, along with a small number of buttons and controls, making the camera easy to use. The info button can be used to change what's displayed on the screen and the camera features a dual-axis electronic level.
The screen quality is good, although with 460k dots it is lagging behind some of the competition.
The 4-way pad is used to cycle through the camera menus. The shooting settings are displayed down the right hand side of the screen, with the available options listed dependent on the mode you are in. The rest of the settings are available via the menu button, and there is built-in help in the camera to help explain the options and settings.
Wi-Fi features - The camera features built-in Wi-Fi and the free Olympus Image Share (OI.Share) app enables easy sharing of files (RAW / JPEG / MOV) with connected smart devices. Geotagging with GPS location information. Remote control of the camera from a smart device lets you set the zoom, self-timer, white balance and exposure (ISO, shutter speed, aperture), shooting and drive modes, AF area, and shutter. You can also edit images with custom signatures, Art Filters, and stamps.
Battery life - Battery life is rated at 380 shots according to Olympus / CIPA test results, which is very good for a compact camera, although extended use of Wi-Fi and flash is likely to reduce the battery life further.
Speed - We took a number of shots to test the camera's responsiveness, from switch on to first photo, shot to shot, focusing speed etc. We take a number of shots and then use the average to ensure accurate and consistent tests, making it easy to compare with other cameras.
| Shutter Response | <0.05secs |
| Wide - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.1secs |
| Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.25secs |
| Switch on Time to Taking a Photo | 1.6secs |
| Shot to Shot without Flash | 0.6secs |
| Shot to Shot with Flash | 1.4secs |
| Continuous Shooting - JPEG (shots before slow down) |
11.5fps (16 shots) |
| Continuous Shooting - Flash | N/A |
| Continuous Shooting - RAW | N/A |
Focus and shutter response are both very quick. After shooting 16 JPEG images, it takes 22 seconds for the camera to write the images to the memory card.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Performance
The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Sample Photos
Sample Photos - Photos have good colour, and reasonable levels of detail, however detail does tend to drop when using a lot of optical zoom. Exposure is generally reliable, as is focus performance. Portrait photos taken with flash have good colour, although there is some red-eye visible.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Lens test images
Lens Performance - The camera produces good photos at the wide-angle end of the lens, although some vignetting is visible with clear blue skies. Detail at the telephoto end of the lens isn't great, and noise is visible at times reducing detail. The super macro scene mode lets you focus on objects just 3cm away from the front of the lens, and this gives good macro photos. The 5-axis Sensor shift does a good job to keep the photo steady when composing the shot, which helps with composition. There is some purple fringing, particularly in areas of high contrast, such as in shots of the trees. The lens is quite resistant to flare, unless shooting directly into the sun. Distortion is well controlled with the camera automatically correcting this in camera.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 ISO test images
ISO Noise Performance - For the lowest noise and best detail possible we would recommend using ISO125 to ISO200, as images have low levels of noise and good levels of detail. For lower light situations ISO400 to ISO800 still provides good results, although noise increases and detail is reduced. At ISO1600 to ISO3200 noise levels become strong and we would recommend avoiding these settings if possible, although results may still be useful if resized and used on the web. ISO6400 is best avoided as noise is extremely high, and detail is very low.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 White-balance test images
White Balance Performance - Auto White Balance (AWB) performs well with a warm colour cast under tungsten lighting, with the tungsten preset giving an accurate result. AWB performs very well under fluorescent lights, with the fluorescent preset giving a magenta colour cast.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Digital filters
Digital Filters - There are a number of scene modes built in, along with "Art Filters" to add creative effects to your images. The backlight HDR scene mode will help recover highlight and shadow photos in images.
Panoramic | 1/640 sec | f/3.0 | 4.5 mm | ISO 125
Panorama mode - The camera features an automatic panoramic mode, where you simply press the shutter release button and pan the camera from one side to the other. Results are good, and well stitched together, with a reasonable resolution image produced, however the metering hasn't beformed brilliantly in the example shown above.
Video - The camera records FullHD video with stereo sound at 60fps, and used Hybrid sensor shift + digital (5-axis) video stabilisation to produce a steady video even when recording hand-held. Photo in Movie allows simultaneous video recording and photo capture in full resolution without interrupting video recording. Time Lapse Movie compresses up to 5 hours of footage into a 20 second time lapse movie. There are a couple of high speed video mores including 432 x 324 at 240fps, plus a 1280 x 720 / 120fps video mode.
Value For Money
The Olympus Stylus SH-2 is available for £219 which makes it good value for money, although a number of the alternatives feature a 30x optical zoom lens:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ70, 12mp, EVF, Wi-Fi, NFC, £292.
Sony Cyber-shot HX90, 18mp, EVF, tilting screen, Wi-Fi, NFC, £333
Canon Powershot SX710 HS, 20mp, Wi-Fi, NFC, £259
Sony Cyber-shot HX60, 20mp, Wi-Fi, NFC, £209
Nikon Coolpix S9900, 16mp, vari-angle screen, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, £229
For additional options, have a look at our Top 10 Best Travel Zoom cameras. You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.
Olympus Stylus SH-2 Verdict
The Olympus Stylus SH-2 will appeal to those people who are looking for a travel camera that looks more interesting than the usual rectangular black box. The camera has a 3inch touch-screen which should appeal, and the built-in Wi-Fi means you can share images quickly and easily. There are a number of advanced features, including raw shoowing, time-lapse video, manual controls, as well as live composite shooting, making the camera great for anyone that wants to be more adventurous with their photography. However, image quality isn't great at the telephoto end of the lens, and as the ISO setting increases image quality drops. For those that want a camera that can easily share images to Facebook (via your smartphone), and want bright colourful images, then the Olympus Stylus SH-2 looks good, is easy to use, and has some advanced features that make it stand out.
The Olympus Stylus SH-2 looks good and takes photos with good colour reproduction.