Olympus C-5050

Bought the Olympus C-5050in Singapore. Camera stop working when the surrounding temperature was -15 degrees Celsius in Beijing. Had to warm it up before able to use.

I did several months of research in deciding to purchase a digital, 5+ MP camera. I almost decided on the Fuji S7000, but the image noise and lack of low ASA/ISO deterred me. Luckily, I found the Olympus C-5050Z. Okay, it does not look as *cool* as the S7000, but it more than makes up for it with performance. Before deciding, I spent hours comparing sample photos at various resolutions and found this model had very little noise and handles low light great, even without a flash due to the fast lens (which is missing from the C-5060, by the way!). Dual CF and CD media, external flash shoe and the ability to adjust or control every aspect of picture taking including a "RAW" setting made this an easy decision. I've now had it a few weeks and have found all of these to be true with the addition of fantastic battery life!

I have used this Olympus C5050 to shoot about 300 photos so far. Half of them where underwater. This is my first step up to the 5 mega pixel range. While I am impressed with the detail this camera can produce, I am still greatly disapointed with it. A few photos have come out spectacular but most are not due to camera flaws. I have to erase so many blurry shots. I have tried increasing the shutter speed. Tried different flash and f-stop settings and still I have gotten no significantly improved result. I think a lot of this is caused by the long delay after the shutter button is pressed and when it actually captures the image. For the money it is a good camera. Had I known of the flaws before buying I would have spent the extra K for a pro body and lens. I am going to try purchasing and using the hotshoe flash and see if that helps.

Images quite good. Camera well weighted for good stable shots, despite being just a tad bulky. Use of AA batteries considered a plys especially on vacations for emergency power source. I use Ray O Vac one hour charge NiMH batteries (amazing!)The flash images seem washed out and too contrasty. I prefer to turn off the flash and use existing light. The white balance on this camera is excellent. There is always just a short delay between when a focused image is triggered and when the shot actually occurs, as with every digital camera I have tried. This can be frustrating especially when shooting action shots like my children.

This camera uses SmartMedia which I have not been able to find in greater than 128 MB (compared to other media formats)