Olympus Camedia C-50 Zoom Review: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

The top of the C-50 Zoom couldn't be more straightforward, the shutter release button surrounded by the zoom control lever. The shutter release button has a soft half-press position and a slightly stiffer 'click' full-press.

Controls (Record mode)

W / T

Zoom

The zoom lever surrounds the shutter release button. Push to the left to zoom towards wide angle (38 mm), to the right to zoom towards telephoto (114 mm). Their are many steps between wide and telephoto, you can stop almost anywhere between the two extremes and even gently 'nudge' the zoom by small fractions.

Controls (Play mode)

	Thumbnail index Pushing the zoom lever to the left in play mode switches to a thumbnail index view. By default this view shows 9 images (3 x 3) although you can change this to 4 (2 x 2) or 16 (4 x 4).
	Magnify image Pushing the zoom lever to the right in play mode magnifies the image (or steps out of thumbnail index view). The C-5050 Zoom has six magnification levels of 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, 3.0x, 3.5x and 4.0x. Once magnified you can scroll around the image using the 4-way controller.

Rear of camera controls

As you can see the rear of the C-50 Zoom is also fairly straightforward, the mode dial, 4-way controller, quick view / play button and two other multifunction buttons. Because of the sculpted area on the right side of the camera your thumb tends to rest on the mode dial during shooting.

Buttons (Record mode)

	Flash mode • Auto • Auto with red-eye reduction • Flash on • Slow Sync flash • Slow Sync flash with red-eye reduction • Flash off
	Macro / Spot metering • Off • Spot metering • Macro focus • Spot metering and Macro focus
	Quick View / Play Single click the Quick View button to switch between either monitor off / live view or dual control panel / live view depending on the selected 'dual control panel' option. Double click (press twice in quick succession) to enter a 'shooting priority' play mode, jump back to shooting mode by a simple half-press of the shutter release. Note that a single press of this button with the front cover closed (camera off) powers the camera on into play mode, press again to power off.
	OK / Menu This button is used to enter / leave menus and confirm menu options. In record mode pressing it enters the record menu.
	4-way controller (Arrow pad) In record mode press left or right arrows to change exposure compensation +/-2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps. Also used to navigate menus or change settings.

Buttons (Play mode)

	Erase Deletes the currently selected image, requires a Yes / No confirmation.
	Protect Pressing the protect button toggles the protection of the current image (on or off). Protecting an image sets the read-only flag on the storage media so that the image can not be accidentally deleted. This does not protect the image from a format.
	Exit Play mode Press the Quick View button to return to shooting mode, the same can be achieved with a half-press of the shutter release.
	OK / Menu This button is used to enter / leave menus and confirm menu options. In play mode pressing it enters the play menu.
	4-way controller (Arrow pad) Press left or right arrows to browse through images. Also used to navigate menus or change settings.

Mode dial

	Auto Exposure In Auto Exposure mode the camera handles almost everything automatically. The normal menu system is replaced by four menu options; Self-Timer/Remote, Image Size/Quality (limited), Card Setup and Date/Time. Additionally you can change flash mode and macro/ metering mode.
	Program / Aperture Priority / Shutter Priority AE / Manual This mode dial position is probably the main shooting mode for most, it provides access to Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE and full Manual exposure. It also opens up all menu options.
	My Mode My Mode is a 'user memory', while in a PASM mode (above) you can save your current settings into the single My Mode memory to be retrieved later. Virtually every setting on the camera is stored in the My Mode memory including zoom position and selected exposure. My Mode settings can also be edited in My Mode through the record menu. See the next page for list of My Mode stored settings.
	Movie clip The C-50 Zoom provides two movie recording sizes of 320 x 240 (up to 16 seconds) and 160 x 120 (up to 70 seconds) both at 15 frames per second. You can not adjust the optical zoom in movie clip mode, only digital zoom. The C-50 Zoom does not record audio.
	Scene: Self-portrait Zoom is locked and the camera can approximate the focus distance before auto focus because the camera is held pointing towards you.
	Scene: Sports Selects fastest possible shutter speed to try and freeze fast action and avoid blurring.
	Scene: Night Scene Allows slower shutter speeds than would normally be available in 'P' exposure mode, also automatically enables noise reduction and selects larger apertures. Tripod recommended.
	Scene: Landscape Selects smaller apertures (high F numbers) to provide larger depth of field (foreground and background appear in focus). This mode also appears to adjust color balance to optimize blues and greens.
	Scene: Landscape portrait Selects smaller apertures (high F numbers) to provide larger depth of field (foreground and background. Designed to take photographs of a person standing in front of a landscape scene.
	Scene: Portrait Selects large apertures (low F numbers) to provide narrow depth of field, this creates the out of focus 'blurred' background effect which enhances portrait photographs.