Olympus FE-5010 Zoom Review

The FE-5010 is equipped with a 5x (35mm equivalent: 36 - 180mm) optical zoom lens gives you great zoom capabilities. It is made up of 8 Lenses in 6 Groups, 4 Aspherical Lenses.

The CCD contrast-detect auto focus system covers from:


Normal mode:

Wide: 23.6' - infinity (0.6m - infinity)
Tele: 39.4' - infinity (1.0m - infinity)

Wide: 3.9' - infinity (0.1m - infinity)
Tele: 23.6' - infinity (0.6m - infinity)

1.2' - infinity (3cm - infinity)

The built in speedlight features Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill and Forced Off modes.

The maximum flash range at ISO 800 is:

Wide: 0.98ft (0.3m) - 12.8ft (3.9m)
Tele: 1.6ft (0.5m) - 8.2ft (2.5m)

Two types of Red-eye reduction are offered:

1. The Red-eye reduction flash mode ON when taking the picture to reduce the effects of red-eye.
2. The Red-Eye Fix function in the Perfect Touch Playback menu, after the photo has been taken so you can easily fix the picture even after it's been shot.

On the top is the Power button and Shutter Release.

There is no optical viewfinder, you frame, review and perform menu operations on this large 2.7-inch LCD monitor with approx. 230,000 pixels of resolution.

Controls on the back: Top is the zoom control which also functions as the magnified playback and index mode when in play mode. The DISPlay button controls the amount of information displayed on the camera's LCD in both record and playback mode as well as acts as the help function when navigating the menu. The Mode dial has has been replaced with camera and playback buttons. Pressing the camera button allows you to choose your camera setting and playback allows you to view your images. Next is the 4-way selector, which is used to navigate menu screens and select images for playback. In record mode the 'Up' button changes exposure compensation, 'Left' enables the macro focus modes, 'Right' changes the flash mode and the 'Down' button enables the self-timer. The OK/FUNCtion button accepts menu selections and gives access to the Function shortcut menu. The MENU button calls up and dismisses the menu system. Lastly, we have the Delete/LCD brightness button that controls the LCD or allows you to delete a picture from your memory card.

The multi I/O connector on the side handles not only the USB 2.0 (High-speed) connectivity but the Audio/Video output (NTSC or PAL) as well.

Still images and movie clips are stored in the camera's 48MB of internal memory or on removable xD- Picture Card flash memory cards up to 2GB. Olympus also claims the FE-5010 is compatible with microSD cards when using the MASD-1 adapter.

Approx. Storage Capacities:

Power is supplied by a proprietary LI-42B 3.7v 740mAh Li-ion battery pack. Olympus claims a fully charged pack will allow you to capture up to 180 shots. The included AC charger lets you recharge one battery while using another. Lithium battery packs can be charged or 'topped off' at any time without shortening the service life of the battery.