Rating: 
Summary: Very good except for low light focus
Review: I have had this camera since Dec 2002 and love it. The only thing to watch out for is very, very slow focus in low light (and it does have a nice f1.8 lens). The same holds true if you try to focus on a featureless space.
Rating: 
Summary: shoots in very low light
Review: I have this camera and the quality of the pictures it takes are astounding.I live in Nashville Tennessee and take alot of pictures of aspiring songwriters when they play in clubs this camera takes great professional photos under stage lighting without a flash.you can hand hold it and still get sharp professional images;even when the lighting is low it still performs well.I have had mine a year and had no trouble with it.I also use it to take astounding outdoor pictures of nature;this camera will make you look like a professional photographer.It takes xd,compactflash,and smartmedia cards and can write images between the xd and smart media slot and the compactflashcard slot.It can shoot from the program mode(good for beginers)and can be used fully manual so you can tweak every setting.I am not a techno geek but I found the menues easy to follow.You can start as a beginner and develope your skill as you learn to use it.you can also shoot two different pictures on one frame which comes in handy when taking pictures for inventory. I have no regrets about buying this camera.
Rating:
Summary: this is my review
Review: I have two slight annoyances with this camera. First i wish olympus would solve that lense cap problem where it would strain against the cap when you turn it on wiithout removing the cap. Second, like all the reviews said, the noise is too high until you lower the sharpness setting. But after i fixed it the images were just great. Otherwise The camera is absoltely great. I begin using all the advanced settings right away and i just love the images im getting.
Rating:
Summary: First Impressions - Delighted with Ease of Use
Review: I just upgraded from my first digital camera (340R) and am very pleasantly surprised with the intuitive controls and the wide range of features. I have a lot to learn but can get the results I need now, while I learn how to really use this wonderful camera. I create web sites for small businesses and play lots of roles including occasional photographer of locations, people, and products. I'm glad I waited for the C-5050. I appreciate being able to use my smart media as well as XD. I work mainly with the web but am looking forward to having the ability to create high quality prints.
Rating:
Summary: Consumer Reports top pick...OK number 2
Review: I just went online with Consumer Reports and they have the C 5050 by Olympus as the number 2 spot in the 5 megapixel showdown. The Nikon coolpix was number one. I don't exactly understand that considering that the 5050 gets 400 shots per battery charge, and the coolpix only 100. Additionally, the coolpix has an 8x zoom, and the Olympus has a 3x. Sometimes bigger isn't better. The problem with bigger zooms, is that they have really small lense sizes, therby limiting the amount of light they are capable of taking in. For inside the building shots, that is a super big factor. The Olympus with a 1.8 Super Bright Lense beats the competition. Think about it, if you want to take a shot in low light conditions, you have to have a long shutter speed. With a long shutter speed you need a tripod or a very steady hand. With a bright lense the C-5050 you barely need a flash. I have the Olympus C-2040 which also has the 1.8 lense, and I prefer to take pictures without the flash. It is almost like the camera records light undetected by the naked eye. The pictures are unbelievably bright for a so so light condition. Without the flash, you avoid the red eye problem, and the bleached out flash light. Skin tones and colors look a lot better without a flash.
Think about the brighter lense this way, when someone is moving around, or when you are in an action shot, the brighter lense automatically creates a faster shutter speed, so you get a non blurry shot. With a smaller lense opening, you are stuck with a longer shutter speed which results in a fuzzy shot. I know my earlier experience with 80-210 zooms, I always had to work around a 2.8 aperture. That is a serious limitation. My 2040 has a 3x zoom, and that is all you need. If you go crazy with a high zoom, you once again, should be using it on a tripod. The slightest hand shake is magnified with a big zoom. Then that is amplified even greater with the smaller aperture.
My Olympus C-2040 was consumer reports number one rated camera two years back. As CR puts it, the 2040 had superior printed picture results even above the 5 megapixel cameras. The following year it was comparable to the 5s. When printed on 8 1/2 by 11 glossy photo paper, you can't tell it from a 35mm photo. I have seen shots blown up to that size with a direct comparison to the Nikon Coolpix at twice the price, and the 1.8 lense made the background a lot more defined. Both produced great detail in the subject.
I am keeping my 2040, but I thought something should be said about the 5050.
Rating: 
Summary: great little canera but look out...
Review: I like the pictures this camera takes but when I bought it I was told I could get an extended zoom to go with it to reach x 10 and now I learn that the zoom is very limited and doesn't even reach x10. Accesories are hard to find and way to camera spacific. Look on this site and see how many adapters are listed touse with the 5050 zoom....If I had to do it all over again I would buy something else
Rating:
Summary: Great camera, but one big warning
Review: I love this camera. That said, I have experienced a major glitch you should know about. I originally bought a Viking 1 GB CompactFlash card to go with it. Hours out of the box the card doesn't work. After reading extensive forums on the subject (look under Olympus forum ..., it seems there are major compatibility issues with higher capacity CompactFlash cards and this camera. Specifically firmware version 77 and 76 (and lower if you have it). Version 78 seems to have very few complaints and you only get v79 when you send in the camera for repair and they happen to update it. Now, there seems to be no way to check this version until you take a pic, put it onto you computer and use a program to look at the Exif information (like Exifer, freeware). Olympus, Nikon, and other companies experiencing this are not giving up any info on this subject. Apparently Olympus firmware upgrades can only happen overseas. Some CompactFlash card companies are starting to list camera compatibility charts, but be warry. Viking says the CF1GB works with the C-5050, but it didn't in my case. I'm still trying to figure out whether I will be returning the camera and try to get another one in hopes it will have the better firmware. Fortunately this camera takes 4 types of media. Interesting how Olympus and Fuji make there own, new media type (xD Picture Card) and now the camera has problems with the CompactFlash. Hmmm. Maybe I should buy the Olympus brand card. Kind of fishy, but I bought this camera with plans of using the cheaper CF cards. I'm no expert on this. You now know what to look into if you want or have this camera. This is an annoying issue, but notice I still gave the camera 5 stars. I love it otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Dissapointed
Review: I owned an Olympus C-3040 and had a great experiences with the camera. After reading reviews I upgraded to the C-5050 (worst mistake ever). The pictures were out of focus most of the time and with noticible noise. I adjusted everything from AF spot to Sharpness, but seemed to get the same results. Comparing my old pictures from C-3040 to C-5050 I am very dissapointed. I returned it back to the store and waiting to either go with the Sony DSC-F717 or upgrade to the New Canon Rebel digital which is due mid-sept. I wish I never sold my original C-3040. But I will try out all cameras before buying to see how the crisp the photos come out when I upload them to my laptop.
Rating:
Summary: Automatic and manual features a big plus
Review: I purchased my C5050 just 1 week before heading to AZ for vacation. I had done my homework both on the vacation spots I intended to shoot and also on which camera to purchase. My previous digital was an Olympus D-510 which I had simply outgrown as my needs changed. I would still certainly recommend a 2.1 megapixel camera for anyone whose main goal is to take family photos and print out nothing larger than 5x7. I was even able to use my D-510 for photos which were submitted to a trade magazine for publication and had some great shots - learning the lighting features was a big plus. As anyone who has made the leap to a higher level digital camera knows, however, the real challenge comes in when you want to enlarge your photos. The C-5050 produced some real "knock your socks off" shots. Using the manual features feels a bit like a return to my earlier 35mm days, but because I have an understanding of shutter and aperature priorities, bracketing, etc. it's basically a refresher course for my photo brain. I don't intend to outgrow this one for quite some time to come! Love this camera and all its features!
Rating:
Summary: A Review for First Time Buyers
Review: I think this camera is worthy of a different kind of review than some of the ones I've read here, so I'll try to deliver that. I was a first-time-digital-user & buyer before this camera, and this is what I'd have wanted to know before buying this camera. First: You've probably heard now that this camera offers a thorough selection of manually adjustable options. If you're patient with the camera-manual (first the paper-bound one, then the much-longer CD-based one -which I ended up printing out) you can learn enough about the camera to experiment with every aspect of it. This brings me to my main point about this machine: Even though there are many controls, you can figure them out in a reasonable amount of time, and you get to EASILY experiment by taking pictures with different settings & simply learning what does what. My knowledge of photography has grown SO MUCH (from virtually nothing to a decent basic-understanding) because of trial & error with this c5050Z. You can do this too, and I think you'll like having so much control when you want it (it also has all the same pre-programmed "auto" modes for those who want to just point-&-shoot). AND NOW THE BEST PART ABOUT HAVING THE C5050: This camera features a "superbright" 1.8 lens. What this allows you (essentially) to do is take many pictures indoors WITHOUT using the flash (you can just turn it off). I've taken most of my pictures indoors (low-light settings seem to be the biggest challenge for digital-cameras), and I've been absolutely DELIGHTED with the ability to leave the flash off. This way, the subtle shadows that you see & warm lighting colors of your home don't get lost or bleached out, and you have pictures that are MUCH more realistic looking. MOST other 5MP cameras sacrifice this low "1.8" number for a greater optical zoom. Check out the f-stop range & see for yourself! (The higher the number, the less you have the ability to take living-room-light pictures without being forced to use flash.) Even Olympus sacrificed this feature in it's newer C5060, and I wouldn't make the trade-off for myself. TRUST ME, I LUCKED INTO THIS FEATURE, NOT KNOWING WHAT IT REALLY WAS, and wouldn't trade it for anything! Another nice feature is that this camera is actually MADE IN JAPAN. Call me 'old-fashioned,' but I still think that's better than being made in China or Indonesia (which they do with their more basic models). The feel and build quality of this product is just great. This model's already over a year old (which I knew before buying it last month), and there are fancier things out there now, but I think now's the time to get a great deal on this machine, and I would be surprised if you felt left-behind in any sense. In one of my recent Consumer Reports issues (November or December 2003), they rated this camera #2 in the 5MP group. But the camera that they listed as #1 (a Nikon) makes the kind of trade-off that I described earlier. It's also a good deal more expensive. My bottom line is that I believe you'll get a better value here than with most other cameras right now, and I offer you my encouragement to feel comfortable & excited about this choice. I'm sure there are drawbacks compared to other models & vice-versa, but I'm a very picky person, and I'm entirely satisfied that I bought an excellent product all-around. Good luck!
|
