Olympus C-5050 Zoom Review

The Mode Dial has the On/Off power switch mounted around it. New on the C-5050 is the Jog Dial which is operated with your thumb. You press and hold one of the "Direct" buttons and turn the Jog Dial to change the settings.

Next to the flash hot shoe is the Metering mode direct button. Press and hold it while turning the Jog Dial to select ESP, Spot or Multi metering. Above that is the Focus mode direct button. Focus options are: AF, Macro, Manual Focus, Super Macro and Super Macro MF.

On the top left side of the camera are the Exposure compensation and Flash mode direct buttons. Hold the Exposure compensation button down and turn the Jog Dial to select the desired exposure override value (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 steps). The Flash mode button cycles through: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Fill-in, Slow Synch (first curtain), Slow Synch (first curtain) w/red-eye reduction and Flash Off.

Holding down both the Exposure comp and Flash mode buttons lets you adjust the amount flash output power.

Controls on the back: AEL auto exposure lock, Quick View for image review and it also turns the color LCD on/off. The 4-way "Arrow Controls" for navigating menus, changing settings and selecting playback images. The OK button accepts menu selections and calls up the menu. The CF/xD-SM button selects the desired storage media.

Off to the right is the Jog Dial, internal speaker and the "Card Busy" indicator lamp.

On the left side are the I/O ports:

A/V output, video is NTSC or PAL, audio is monaural

USB 1.1 data port

DC INput for AC adapter or battery pack

The C-5050 stores its images on 3.3v SmartMedia, 3.3v xD-Picture Card or CompactFlash Type I or II including IBM Microdrives. On the back side of the handgrip are the multiple media card slots.

The CF2 and xD/SM slots can be occupied simultaneously and swapped by pressing the storage button on the back of the camera. Olympus includes a 32MB xD-Picture Card with panorama function.

The C-5050Z is powered by four AA size batteries (NiMH rechargeable preferred and supplied) or two of the Olympus CR-V3 one-use lithium. The battery door has a safety latch and thanks to the side by side design, battery changes can be swift.

Olympus supplies a set of high-capacity NiMH batteries and a charger.

One of my favorite Olympus accessories, the ever handy RM-1 infrared remote control. This allows you to control the zoom and trip the shutter in record mode and control playback while connected to a television.