Olympus Camedia C-5050 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I have been an avid photographer for over 35 years. I recently sold over $7,000 worth of Leica equipment because it was gathering dust. Even so, I have not given up on film-based photography just yet and have a complete collection of professional-grade Nikon SLR equipment. This is the context in which I make the following comments about the Olympus C-5050, a 5 megapixel digital camera.

I have been watching the evolution of digital cameras for a number of years, wondering if they would ever approximate film-based photography for the advanced hobbyist. I can report without reservation that based on my brief experience with the Olympus C-5050 that day has come.

Are we there yet? When I reviewed the current crop of "pro-sumer" non-SLR digital cameras, I expected to pick up an interim camera that would hold my "digital curiosity" for a couple years and revisit the issue when 20 megapixel cameras were the norm and film-based photography was dead to all but a few narrowly focused professionals. What I came away with is that 5 megapixel is more than adequate for 99% of your print requirements and strikes a good balance in the areas of file size and write speed. Will 6, 8 and 10 megapixel cameras that come out in the next couple years do a better job? Not necessarily if the bulk of your prints are in the 5x7 to 8x10 range (although even 11x14 fairs rather well) and you crop your subjects with care.

The images After reading a couple of reviews, not the least of which was at dPreview.com, I was concerned about a couple issues; noise levels (the equivalent of grain in film-based photography) and chromatic aberrations in high contrast images. There was also criticism that the sharpness of the images was a little harsh. Resultantly, I set the camera for sharpness, contrast and saturation as recommended by this well respected reviewer. The first thing I noticed was the images were not contrasty enough. Then I started to look at other attributes including the noise and CA issue. I came to the opinion that Olympus may have taken these criticisms to heart and recalibrated their software to correct the noise problem and zeroed out the sharpness, contrast and saturation adjustments. In terms of the CA issue, I simply haven't shot into situations where this is a problem. Then again, maybe I'm not as critical as some reviewers.

Point is, the camera takes wonderfully sharp, contrasty, and "noiseless" photographs that 99% of the people using this camera would be hard pressed to differentiate from a 35mm pro-sumer SLR.

The camera I was an owner of Leica rangefinder equipment for over 10 years so I appreciate a well made camera. I loved the solid feel of the Leicas, the ergonomics, and precision of these photographic instruments in miniature. I wasn't expecting this, but I have the same appreciation for this Olympus. The magnesium body has weight, it feels solid (with the exception noted below), it fits your hands perfectly, the controls are where you would expect them, and there is just the right number of external controls; not too many to be confusing and not too few to require frequent visits to "drop-down menu hell" which is a place even Nikons occasionally send you to.

The caveat to the comments about the "feel" of the camera is the lens that extends and retracts when you turn the camera on and off. It looks cheesy and subjects the extendable plastic lens housing to damage. The solution is to permanently install an Olympus CLA-1 conversion lens adapter, a 43-46mm step-up ring and a UVa filter. This well machined metal extension provides a self-contained extension in which the lens extends and retracts and looks every bit a part of the original design of the camera. The lens is protected and it improves the looks of an already good looking camera.

The competition I didn't start looking for the Olympus. I was initially looking at the Leica Digilux 1, the Nikon CoolPix 5000 and 5700. I also looked at the well-regarded Canon G3. When I asked the salesperson whether there were other cameras I should consider, he pointed me to the Olympus C-5050, "Try this, a lot of people come away with a very favorable impression of the Olympus and end up buying it." Mind you this is at a high-end camera store in the Bay Area.

The Leica was a little bigger and boxier than it needed to be; not a bad camera but didn't necessarily follow in the footsteps of the M6 or M7. I was disappointed by the Nikons. In addition to the reliability problems reported about the CoolPix 5000 elsewhere, the ergonomics weren't quite right and you needed to delve into confusing menu options too change basic settings. The 5700's LCD was simply too small and it was annoying how you either got the LCD screen on the back of the camera or the LCD through the viewfinder, never both. The Canon was nice but felt a little too much like a point-and-shoot.

Other picks, the Leica and Nikons use a proprietary battery which means you will have to add an additional hundred dollars or so to the purchase of the camera if you don't want to run out of power. The Olympus wisely uses standard AA's that you can get anywhere in a pinch and even the best rechargeables cost only $20 for a pack of 4. Additionally, the Olympus is very good on battery power, you can shoot an entire day and the batteries still have a good charge. The Leica uses only SD memory and the Nikons use only CF whereas the Olympus can use 4 different types of memory.

Bottom line, the Olympus exceeded my expectations in every respect. And here's the best complement one can pay any camera with the Olympus C-5050, I don't miss my Leica's.

I was very leary of the digital world, having seen very mediocre pictures from friends' digital cameras in the 1.0 megpixel range. I was very concerned when my wife presented me with an Olympus D-490 2.1 megapixel camera as a gift. The first few shots of our dog (zoomed in to show the whiskers with a wonderful sharpness) changed my mind. While the difference between film and this camera's pictures was apparent, the benefits of digital made this our camera of choice 90%of the time. A fall put the camera out of service, and I "upgraded" to a Nikon 885, thinking that our other Nikon film cameras were top notch, and Nikon wouldn't let a poor performer out the door. The disappointment despite my trials at fixing the poor contrast, smudged appearing results was a constant reminder of this poor choice.

When Olympus announced the C-5050, I decided to try it again, specifically because of the experience with the D-490, and the fact that I had a collection of Compact Flash cards that would now fit into this Olympus product.

The thrill is back! The first few pictures brought back the same excitement of seeing a wonderfully crisp, well exposed photo. There is a significant improvement in the ability to "zoom in" on portions of the image and still get very acceptable 5x7 prints. The lcd screen's sharpness and detail are improved. This is what the Nikon should have been.

Sure, the menus take a bit of getting used to. And the on-off switch invariably gets turned to the on position when I put the camera back into my coat, and the position of the tab on the switch makes it less intuitive to switch it off without looking. The pivoting lcd only pivots 20 degrees down, making it hard to frame a shot while holding the camera above your head and the rest of the crowd. But despite a few rough edges, this camera's performance and features now place it as one of the best I've had the pleasure to handle. I've yet to test the night shots and extended exposure times, and the flash needs augmentation for larger group shots, but after all, there is a hot shoe on top. The feel of the camera is solid and professional, and while a tad hefty, its compact size adds to the feel of quality.

I hope the depenability of my original Olympus flows through to this camera.

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I have had the Olympus 5050 since November and now feel comfortable with many of the cameras features (many of which are different from traditional, manual 35mm cameras). I didn't have the benefit of many reviews at that time; but decided the time, features and price were right. To put things in perspective, I was (and still am) a 35mm photographer of landscapes using slide film although I use the film camera much less now. I have a film scanner that I used to convert the negatives and slides to hi-res digital image files and would print these files after editing in Photoshop LE and/or Elements. The 5050 has improved the process in these areas:

1. instant feedback. I have a good idea as to whether or not the shot will be a good one.

2. no wait for developing, no associated film and developing cost

3. sufficient megapixel count for larger prints. Camera includes internal interpolation to 8 megapixels. Use of Photoshop Elements bicubic (or equivalent) interpolation to larger pixel counts can result in great large prints. I've printed 10x15's that look as good as the 35mm prints. I have yet to print 20x30s; but I expect to be pleased (note: interpolation will be required via photoshop elemets or equiv.).

Additional pluses: uses a CF card, XD or Smart Media... I like having these choices given the uncertain nature of different memory standards.

The camera feels good. It's metallic and heavy feeling which gives at least the illusion of being well made. (e.g. passes the kick the tires test) ;-)

The camera has exposure times up to 16 seconds which can enable fairly low light shooting including night shots (see sample photos links below).

The camera includes a built-in number of modes for point and shoot picture taking as well as a manual mode (which I use exclusively except when taking panoramics).

I use the 1gb CF microdrive and can fit almost 300 pictures on it taken at max resolution (SHQ enlarge size (jpg)). Less for RAW and TIFF pictures.

A couple of minor points:

I took several test shots under controlled conditions and found that a sharpening settings of -2, or -3 yielded prints with less noise

Constrast and saturation settings of -2 seemed to work best

I use iso setting of 64 exclusively for landscape shots. Results in lower noise than at higher ISOs.

Movie mode is ok; but more of a toy than anything else (resolution 320x240) and is QuickTime format which is proprietary and the included Camedia software doesn't include the ability to edit or save to a different format.

Raw import plug-in wasn't available for photoshop at the time; but is available now

Olympus requires use of Olympus media to use the panoramic feature on the camera. You can use the 32mb XD card to take the shots and use the camera's internal copy feature to copy the pictures to a non-olympus brand CF card.

I'm still tinkering with the white balance when shooting sunsets. The colors don't seem to look as nice; but I've been able to correct this in Photoshop.

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My review is going to be very valuable for those who bought already and have problems with Olympus C-5050 digital camera. That's the reason I post this as a Negative review although I think this is a very good camera when you understand how to use it. Here it goes. Read my lips: do NOT use Auto ISO you'll get a lot of noise in your pictures. Configure you own settings (using My Mode) and set your ISO to 64 at all times. Any ISO higher that 64 (even 100) will produce noticeable noise. Also, while configuring "My Mode", set Noise Reduction to "On" and, the most important, set Sharpness to "-4" or "-5". If you do all the above, Canon G3 owners will be jealous of your shots.

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I am an experienced amateur photographer and like this camera a lot because of its great picture quality, its excellent automatic adjustments in program mode, its high burst speed, its excellent low-light capabilities and its use of standard AA rechargeable batteries. It is very easy to use; and after the initial short learning curve, the extraordinary numbers of available custom adjustments are easy to make even from a somewhat confusing interface. I have taken spectacular pictures with it out of the box; and it is a great easy-to-use point-and-shoot camera despite its sophistication.

However, pictures shot at wide angle have an unacceptable amount of noise and purple fringing (from chromatic aberration in the lens) which flaws otherwise gorgeous pictures; and there is too much lag time between pressing the shutter and taking the shot (even in pre-focus mode), which means that despite its burst speed, you won't be able to use it easily for action or candid shots to get the picture you saw through the viewfinder. These problems have been documented in various reviews of the camera on established digital camera review sites. It should be noted, however, that all of the 5 megapixel cameras of this sophistication (such as the Nikon 5700 and the Minolta 7IL) have some issues which make them less than ideal; and if you can accept the flaws in this camera, its price-performance ratio is spectacular.