Just what I was looking for!
Written: Mar 04 '03
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Pros: Compact,high resolution,razor sharp and bright LCD
Cons: no protective cover on LCD,questionable low-light capabilities,many settings
The Bottom Line: Absolutely buy this attractive camera if you want compactness and quality. Fabulous little camera with plentiful features. Worth the money!
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| dgold2112's Full Review: Olympus Camedia C-50 Zoom Digital Camera |
I thought about buying a digital camera and an anniversary cruise with my wife finally spurred me to action. Remembering the sage words of wisdom from my technologically-inclined step brother I was committed to finding the smallest camera I could at the highest resolution available. That led directly to the Olympus C-50.
In addition to the camera itself I bought a little camera bag and 128 MB memory card, all from B&H Photo (camera for $529,bag for $9 and memory for $70).
When the camera arrived I was NOT disappointed with respect to size: it is very compact/sleek.
An hour of relaxed reading of the manual on the plane, trying out the various features/settings, got me up and running. Turning the camera on and off is as simple as sliding open and closed the lens cover! Picture viewing can be accomplished without opening the lens cover by merely pushing a little button next to the LCD.
The buttons are a bit small but really no big deal to grapple with. On the 128 MB memory card, you can fit 105 (!) 5x7 images at 300dpi resolution. That is fantastic. I could take shots about one every 2-3 seconds. Quality is terrific in adequate light. My concerns about lighting are based on a series of pictures I took of the midnight buffet; many of the pics came out much too dark. HOWEVER, these had been taken in "background" mode. When I switched to "portrait" mode, the lighting was much better so it is entirely possible that the poor lighting on the first few pictures was due to user error.
Resolution: The 5 megapixel res. really goes a long way; I used the default resolution (see above) and the images are crisp and sharp with decent color saturation. Images taken in any mode other than "sports" are blurred if the subject is moving quickly relative to the camera. The sports mode eliminates the blur, for the most part. A test image transferred to the computer looked absolutely great at 5x7. Can't tell the difference from a scanned photo.
Zooming: only 3x optical - doesn't get you very close in but the camera does have 12x digital and it isn't bad. If you're that far away from your subject, get closer!
Settings: these are accessed by a nice little turn dial next to the LCD/viewfinder. The setting icons are quite intuitive (for the most part) and you can switch quickly between portrait, background and other modes quickly.
My major complaint with the unit has nothing to do with features but with the LCD screen. This beautiful little screen is (like all LCD screens) delicate and it would have been very nice to see Olympus somehow build a little hinged or sliding plastic cover to protect the LCD at all times except during immediate use. Even then, it is inevitable that your (and other) fingers will be all over it. Get an LCD cleaning cloth and alcohol-free solution to clean it every couple of weeks and it'll be fine.
Software: haven't done much yet but I at least got around to installing it on my Win98SE system and had no trouble installing drivers or using the software to transfer pictures. It is a breeze. Haven't explored tagging or other organizational features (if any) yet.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 529
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
dgold2112
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 2 members
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