The
C-5050Z captures photos with a 1/1.8 in. CCD with 5,260,000 pixels providing
a maximum image size of 2560 x 1920 pixels. Four sensitivity settings
for the CCD are available: 64, 100, 200 and 400 ISO, in addition to an
Auto ISO setting that lets the C-5050Z adjust the sensitivity as required.
The 3X zoom lens is composed of 8 elements in 6 groups and has a focal
length of 7.1 to 21.3 mm, the equivalent
of a 35 mm to 105 mm lens on a 35 mm camera. Apertures starting
at f1.8 in wide angle — f2.6 at the maximum telephoto — range
to f8; and shutter speeds cover from 1/2000 second (at f8, and 1/1000
below f8) to 16 seconds in the Manual mode and 4 seconds in Shutter Priority.
A
cap is provided for the lens, but regrettably is a clip-on cap of the
type that can cause the lens to strain against it if it is accidentally
left on the lens when the camera is powered up.
Multiple image sizes and formats are available on the C-5050, including
a RAW file format (8 seconds to save the file with the xD card), which
requires the use of specific software to be interpreted. Moreover, images
can be saved in either a JPEG
or TIFF format
(20 seconds to save the file with the xD card) :
•
2560
x 1920 pixels (RAW, TIFF, SHQ, HQ)
•
2560
x 1696 pixels (3:2 TIFF, SHQ, HQ)
•
2288
x 1712 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
•
2048
x 1536 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
•
1600
x 1200 pixels (TIFF, SQ1)
•
1280
x 960 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
•
1024
x 768 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
•
640
x 480 pixels (TIFF, SQ2)
•
3200
x 2400 pixels (Enlarge size SHQ, HQ) [Interpolated]
In JPEG a choice of 2 compression levels are offered: High, which
uses a very low compression to maintain a high image quality; and Normal
which applies a stronger compression to make the file sizes smaller.
As
explained in the Ergonomic section of this review, the C-5050
provides access to many of the most commonly used functions through the
use of buttons, making function selection faster. In addition, Olympus
continues the use of a Shortcut screen to further speed
access to specific parts of the menu.
By default, the Shortcut screen presents four immediate access points
corresponding to the arrows on the arrow pad: Drive (up), Resolution (left),
White Balance (down) and Mode Menu (right).
Of the four, only the Mode Menu option is static. The 3 others
can be reconfigured to access any other part of the full menu directly.
The Mode Menu — the complete menu — consists of 4 distinct
sections: Camera, Picture, Card and Setup.
Starting with the Camera section, options are provided for:
Drive:
provides the same options as are available with the drive button near
the shutter release, but adds a configuration for bracketing. The
bracketing interval can be chosen to be ± 0.3, or 0.7 or 1.0
EV and over 3 or 5 photos.
ISO:
offers settings for 64, 100, 200, 400, or Auto.
My
Mode: serves to save a group of settings into any of 8 separate
My Mode memories.
Flash:
allows Internal (built-in) plus External, External
only, and Slave — poorly explained in the manual —
which allows controlling the amount of light output by the camera's
flash, and/or the FL-40 external flash. 10 increments of power are
provided so as to balance the camera's output with the output of a
third party slave flash unit.
Slow:
controls the type of slow synch that will be available by default
— including when the Flash mode button is used. First or second
curtain can be selected or a first curtain flash with red-eye reduction.
Noise
Reduction: On or Off. when on the camera applies noise reduction
algorithms to an image captured at low shutter speeds.
Digital
Zoom: On or Off. Uses the central part of the frame to interpolate
a larger image.
Full
Time AF: allows the camera to focus continuously shortening the
AF delay but drains the batteries faster.
AF
Mode: iESP which selects the focus point in the frame automatically,
or Spot which can either be set at the centre of the frame or in any
of 9 other points in the frame (2 points in addition to the centre
point along the vertical or horizontal axis emanating from the centre
point).
Sound
recording: On or Off. When set to On, the camera records approximately
4 seconds of sound half a second after an image has been captured.
Panorama:
displays screen guides to make sure each image overlaps part of the
previous one when recording a panorama. This mode only works if Olympus
xD Picture card or Olympus SmartMedia cards are used.
2
in 1: Allows combining two pictures taken in succession and store
them as a single picture. The frame is horizontal but divided down
the middle, vertically. One picture is recorded on the left, then
the next, on the right.
Function:
provides for Black and White, Sepia, White Board (black letters on
a white background to make them easier to read) and Black Board which
reverses white and black.
Histogram:
Off, On during Exposure Compensation, On. Displays a real time histogram
indicating the distribution of brightness within the frame.
Picture,
the second section of the Mode Menu, provides controls over:
Resolution:to
set the image resolution (See above).
White
balance: is divided into Auto, Preset 1, Preset 2, Custom, and
One-Touch. Preset 1 provides settings for Shade, Cloudy, Sun, and
Evening sun. Preset 2 offers 4 fluorescent settings ( 1 through 4)
which cover the light from different types of fluorescent lights (daylight
6700K, neutral white 5000K, cool white 4200K, white fluorescent 3500K),
and tungsten (incandescent) 3000K. Custom provides for 4 different
custom white balance settings which, once a setting is established
with the One-Touch white balance and has been saved, can be recalled.
White
Balance Adjustment: allows making fine changes to all white balance
settings. A scale with blue at one end and red at the other is used
to tweak any given setting.
Custom
White Balance: is the access to the custom white balance memories.
Once a specific white balance has been set, it can be saved for later
use. 4 specific memories are available.
Scene
Modes: applies settings for sharpness, contrast, and saturation
used in any of the Scene Modes to any of the other modes (P, A, S,
M, My Mode, and Movie Mode).
Sharpness:
increases or decreases sharpness over ± 5 increments.
Contrast:
increases or decreases contrast over ±5 increments.
Saturation:
increases or decreases saturation over ±5 increments.
The
next section of the menu contains a single option.
Card
Setup: is to format a memory card, either xD, SmartMedia, or CompactFlash
Type 1, or a 1 GB Microdrive. Worth noting, the C-5050 is not compatible
with 340MB Microdrives.
The
final menu section is Setup. Its options are covered in the Interface
and Software portion of this review.
When the
LCD screen is active in the recording mode, the C-5050 provides a great
deal of information overlaid on the image. The shooting mode is shown,
and so are both shutter speed and aperture. Exposure compensation is indicated
in the upper right corner, and below the ISO setting. Saturation, sharpness
and contrast settings are also indicated, as is the type of memory card
in use. Along the bottom of the screen, the image format and size are
shown, and in green, the remaining number of photos that can be stored.
The left side of the screen is overlaid with flash mode setting, flash
compensation and drive mode.
These
are just some of the possible indications. Indeed, 29 separate
items can be shown.
In the playback mode images can be shown full screen; as 4, 9,
or 16 thumbnails per screen, when the zoom control is pressed to the wide
angle side; or magnified up to 4X when it is pushed towards the telephoto
side.
The Playback mode's Shortcut screen presents 4 options. Slide Show, selected
with the up arrow, starts playing images in sequence automatically. Should
a vertically framed shot need to be rotated, the rotate button near the
shutter release can be used to show the image the right way up.
Pressing the left
arrow when the playback's Shortcut screen is displayed overlays all the
shooting data on the image.
As
in the recording mode, the C-5050 can also display a histogram in playback.
The histogram — a graph that shows the distribution
of brightness in an image — is called with the down arrow.
Still with the
shortcut screen displayed, the right arrow enters the Mode Menu which
provides options specific to the playback mode. Here again, the menu is
divided into 4 sections: Play, Edit, Card and Setup.
The
Play section has a single option:
Sound
Recording or playback: can be used to add a 4 second voice annotation
to a recorded image; or play a recorded sound.
The
Edit section has four options:
RAW
Data Edit: allows editing a RAW image for white balance, sharpness,
contrast and saturation. The edited file can then be saved as a new
file, using either JPEG or TIFF. Moreover, should there be 2 types
of memory cards in the camera, the card on which the new image is
stored can be selected.
Image
Resize: saves a copy of a photo as either 640 x 480, or 320 x
240 pixels.
Trimming:
can be used to crop a part of a picture and save it as a new image.
The Jog Dial can be used to alter the height and width of the cropping
frame; and the trimming frame itself can be moved to any point in
the frame. The cropped section can then be saved as a new image at
any of the available sizes. 3:2 trimming — suited for making
prints — can be applied to any image recorded with a frame size
of 2560 x 1920, or 2560 x 1696 pixels. Movies can also be edited,
but the editing is limited to movie lengths
of 32 seconds in HQ format, and 130 seconds in SQ format. The videos
can be cut and saved either by overwriting, or as a new file.
Copy:
is the last option of the Edit section of the playback menu. The contents
of one card can be copied to another as long as 2 cards are present
in the camera.
The
Card section is similar to the one found in the recording menu:
Card
Setup: provides 2 options, erase all or format.
The
last section of the playback menu is Setup and its options are covered
in the Interface and Software section of the review.
The C-5050 is retailed with a 32MB Olympus xD Picture card. With it the
C-5050 can store: (Note that SQ1 and SQ2 values are for the least compressed
format [High].)
Resolution
RAW
TIFF
SHQ
HQ
SQ1
SQ2
2560
x 1920
4
2
8
25
—
—
2560
x 1696
—
2
10
28
—
—
2288
x 1712
—
2
—
—
11
—
2048
x 1536
—
3
—
—
14
—
1600
x 1200
—
5
—
—
22
—
1280
x 960
—
8
—
—
—
34
1024
x 768
—
13
—
—
—
53
640
x 480
—
33
—
—
—
132
3200
x 2400
—
—
6
16
—
—
It
is worth noting here that saving images using the xD card is twice
as fast as with standard CompactFlash type 1 cards.
All
connections for the C-5050 are on the left side of the camera, and 2 flexible
covers are used. The upper cover is for the A/V Out (NTSC or PAL as selected
in the Setup menu), and the USB (1.1) ports. The lower cover is for DC-In.
An AC adapter can be purchased separately to power the camera from household
current.
The installation of a USB driver isn't required for newer operating systems
(Windows Me, 2000, and XP; OS 9X). A driver is supplied for Windows 98/98SE.
The
C-5050Z tested here came with 4 rechargeable Olympus brand Nickel Metal
Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries and a charger.
