This Olympus has a built-in flash, shown in Figure 4. The flash will not go off unless you press the Up button to engage it. While some will complain about this feature, we felt that it gave more control over the functionality.

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Figure 4: The built-in flash in the on position.

This Olympus has some features that are not found in other cameras of this caliber. The first of these is the hot shoe for an external flash, shown in Figure 5. This is again, a benefit for those who want better control of their pictures.

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Figure 5: The hot shoe on top of the camera.

The second feature that the 570 offers that is not usually found in other point-and-shoot cameras is the ability to take pictures in the RAW format. In fact, you can take JPEGs, RAW, and/or both at the same time. Taking pictures in the RAW format gives you the ability to edit every aspect of the photo with your computer’s photo editing software. If you are really into producing high-quality photographs, the ability to shoot in RAW is of paramount importance. Often that capability is only found in expensive digital SLR cameras.

Although this camera does not have a view finder in the strictest sense of the word, it does have an electronic viewfinder which displays the same data that you see on the larger LCD screen (except for informational screens). You engage the viewfinder by pressing the monitor button which is shown in Figure 6, next to the viewfinder. This button toggles the display between the viewfinder and the screen. Also shown in Figure 6 is the crisp and clean high resolution 2.7-inch color LCD. Although the LCD performs fairly well in bright sunlight, there will be times that you will be thankful for the viewfinder.

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Figure 6: The back of the camera.

Other controls on the back of the camera are shown in Figure 6 and include the AEL/AFL (Auto Exposure Lock/AutoFocus Lock) button, next to the monitor button. Along the left are the Play button, Shadow Adjustment  (which is the erase button when in playback mode) and the MENU, and Display buttons. The Display button shows and/or hides the overlay information on the screen and also enables the display of a histogram.

A 4-way round control button is seen in Figure 6 to the right of the screen. This is used to navigate menus and select playback images and movies. It also controls the macro settings, self-times, and flash controls.

The controls are all large and easy-to-access. As with any camera with extensive capabilities, the more you investigate the capabilities, the more useful the camera becomes. We recommend reading the manual to get as much as you can from this camera.