Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom Review

Record mode screen showing onscreen data. Exposure mode is in the upper left corner, "A" indicates Aperture Priority, "P" for Program AE mode, "S" for Shutter Priority or "M" for Manual record mode.

This is the new "Direct" display mode that uses little blue and red box overlays to indicate the exposure levels. The aperture is F2.8 and the shutter speed is 1/30 sec. The upper right corner is the EV exposure compensation factor (0.0). The image size is 2592 x 1944. The green "6" indicates the number of pictures remaining at the current size and quality setting. The xD-Picture Card media is selected.

You can enable an onscreen realtime histogram if desired.

You can manually move the AF (auto focus) point using the arrow keys.

The C series family of cameras have always had a good Macro mode, the C-5060 has both a Macro mode and a new Super Macro mode with a focus range of 1 to 8 inches.

Manual mode exposure is set with an onscreen metering gauge.

Using the "direct" buttons and the Jog Dial you select the desired metering, focus, flash and drive modes as well as exposure compensation and flash output intensity. If the color LCD is on you will see a "virtual dial" as you change the settings.

The recording screen in the Movie mode. The green 522" indicates that there is enough memory on the card to record a total of 56 seconds of video.

The C-5060 Zoom can record SHQ (640x480), HQ (320x240 pixel) or SQ (160x120 pixel) resolution QuickTime motion JPEG with audio at 15 frames per second. The length is limited only by available memory. The optical zoom cannot be used during recording but you can use the digital zoom.

Pressing the MENU button while in any of the still image record modes will bring this shortcut menu overlay on the screen. From here you can quickly jump to the DRIVE modes, image size/quality or white balance settings. Choosing the MODE MENU option brings up the entire menu of record options as shown in the next series of animated screens.

The three menu options other than MODE MENU are user-assignable.

CAMERA menu options.

DRIVE - Single, Hi-Speed Sequential, Sequential, AF Sequential, AE Bracketing
ISO - Sensitivity: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400
MY MODE - Select one of four custom My Modes for the Mode Dial
- Select internal+external, external or slave flash
- Flash slow-sync: Slow1 (leading), Slow1+Red eye, Slow2 (trailing)
NOISE REDUCTION - Enable noise reduction for long exposures
DIGITAL ZOOM - Enable/disable digital zoom
FULLTIME AF - Enable/disable continuous autofocus
AF MODE - Autofocus mode: iESP or Spot
ACCESSORY - Accessory lens settings
- Record 4-sec sound clip after picture, On or Off
PANORAMA - Panorama mode (only available with Olympus brand xD-Picture cards)
2 IN 1 - Takes two "side by side" shots and merges into one image
FUNCTION - Off, B&W, Sepia, White Board, Black Board
- Histogram display: Off, On
FRAME ASSIST - Enable portrait overlay lines on LCD display
MyMODE -

PICTURE menu options.

- Image Quality: RAW (2592x1944), TIFF (2592x1944, 2560x1696 3:2, 2288x1712, 2048x1536), SHQ (2592x1944, 2560x1696 3:2, OIE 3200x2400), HQ (2592x1944, 2560x1696 3:2, OIE 3200x2400), SQ1 (2288x1712, 2048x1536, 1600x1200), SQ2 (1280x960, 1024x768, 640x480)
WB - White balance: Auto, Shade, Cloudy, Sunny, Incandescent, Flourescent 1,2,3,4
- White balance fine tune between Red and Blue.
CUSTOM WB - One-Touch custom white balance (4 memories)
SCENE MODES - Normal, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene
SHARPNESS - 5 levels
CONTRAST - 5 levels
SATURATION - 5 levels

CARD menu options.

CARD SETUP - Format the CF or xD card

SETUP menu options.

ALL RESET - Off, On: On resets all settings to default when power is turned off, the Off setting retains all current settings.
EV STEP - 1/2 or 1/3 EV step
- Menu language (English, Japanese, French, German)
PW ON SETUP - Picture/Sound effect for startup screen
PW OFF SETUP - Picture/Sound effect for shutdown screen
REC VIEW - Preview after capture: On, Off
- Beep sound: Off, Low, High
SHUTTER SOUND - Shutter sound effect/volume
MY MODE SETUP - Setup parameters for up to four custom My Modes
FILE NAME - Auto (sequentially numbers files) or Reset
PIXEL MAPPING - Detect and map out bad pixels on the CCD imager
- Adjust LCD backlight intensity
- Set the time and date
m/ft - Manual focus indicator in feet or meters
VIDEO OUT - NTSC or PAL video standard
SHORT CUT - Assign the desired items to the Record short-cut menu
CUSTOM BUTTON - Assign the desired function to the Custom Button
DUAL CONTROL PANEL - Display camera/exposure info on color LCD
AF ILLUMINATOR - Enable/disable AF-assist lamp
USB - USB mode: Normal or Direct Print