Well, I did it. I bought myself an early Christmas gift, a C5050. I am VERY pleased with it thus far and I do not predict that will change much in the near future. Although I love my C700, it turns out the majority of my pictures did not utilize the 10X and were indoors. The AF assist lamp and a bright lens made the C5050 the ideal choice.
Here is what I like so far:
http://www.pbase.com/image/8007483
This is not supposed to be a well composed picture, just a demonstration of the camera. Anybody have any questions or would like for me to do any tests? It's Thanksgiving and I have plenty of time to be playing with my new camera!
-JC
Here is what I like so far:
- Build Quality / Ergonomics. This thing is solid. The all magnesium body feels great in your hands. The tilt-out LCD is great, the neck strap is very comfortable (I wore the camera all night and didn't even notice it), the button layout is very good as well as the menu system (i'm already used to it from the C700). I think everything is where it should be and the camera is very comfortable and easy to use.
- Low Light Performance. This is the main reason why I purchased the camera. I am very pleased with the performance. The AF assist lamp seems to work very well in low light and even complete darkness. I know there were some posts regarding the 5050s ability to capture light despite its 1.8 lens. I did not have this problem. I set both cameras to ISO 100, pointed at the same subject, and the C700 wanted 1/2.5 - 1/3 of a sec while the 5050 wanted 1/4 of a sec.
- Speed. What a quick little bugger. AF and shutter release are fast as well as image playback.
- Super Macro. Wow. I was never into Macro photography but now I will be! 5MP + Super Macro is a great combination!
- Dual Slot. I didn't realize the benefits of this. I have a CF and an XD card in simultaneously and can switch between them with the touch of a button. Very useful.
- Image Quality. Excellent. Despite the quirks (see below), I was very pleased with all of the images. I am amazed by the amount of detai this camera can capture and color rendition seemed right on as well.
- Included "extras". NiMH Batteries, a Charger, and the RM1 remote control. My 4th Olympus camera and the first time this stuff was included. More batteries are always nice and the RM1 remote is really cool!
- Speaker. I shut off the annoying sounds and the splash screens right away. Having the speaker for movie playback is a great plus for me.
- Lens cap. Ugh! The lens cap is attached to the body of the camera instead of the lens. When you turn on the camera without taking off the lens cap it makes a grinding noise and beeps at you. I've done this 5 times already (I'll learn eventually)! I'm sure Oly made it so it wouldn't damage the lens motor but it can be quite scary / annoying.
- Over sharpening. The images at default sharpening level come out unnaturally sharp and can be pretty noisy. You definitely MUST set sharpening to -5 for best results.
- Viewfinder. Its a little smaller than i'd like and you usually have to squish your nose against the LCD to use it.
http://www.pbase.com/image/8007483
This is not supposed to be a well composed picture, just a demonstration of the camera. Anybody have any questions or would like for me to do any tests? It's Thanksgiving and I have plenty of time to be playing with my new camera!
-JC