Olympus Camedia C-50 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Five-megapixel resolution is quickly becoming the new standard for digital cameras. But these cameras are often bulky, heavy things to lug around. Enter the Olympus Camedia C-50, a svelte, lightweight image capturer with a fair amount of features.

The 3x optical zoom lens folds up inside the camera case with the covers sliding shut over it when not in use, making the camera's small metal frame easily pocketable. While the camera also uses the tiny XD media for storage, it only comes with a 32 MB card, barely enough to hold a dozen images at the highest resolution, so you'll want to stock up on storage (which is thankfully getting cheaper by the month).

Although only 1.5 inches in size, the bright LCD provides an accurate and easy to view image of framed shots before capture. The C-50 also offers an optical viewfinder for framing shots and saving on battery life.

Speaking of, the battery recharges quickly (averaging about two hours) and lasts for several hundred shots before needing a recharge. Even with the limited surface area, the well-placed dials and menu buttons are within easy reach when using the camera, making it a snap to utilize one of the camera's six different scene modes or five flash modes.

With its 5.0 megapixels, captured images offer incredible details and bright colors and can be printed at nearly poster size without any loss of resolution. The C-50 also captures short QuickTime movies, albeit without sound, small enough to be e-mailed to friends and family. Users of newer computers (both Windows and Mac) don't even need to install a driver to transfer images and movies to their system via the camera's USB cable.

The sticker price on the C-50 is still a bit hefty for a point-and-click compact camera, but not bad when you consider the potential of all those megapixels. --J. Curtis

Pros:

• Very compact
• High-quality images
• Long battery life

Cons:

• Only 32 MB memory card
• No sound in movie mode

Early Adopters Pick: October 2002. State-of-the-art digital camera that is the first 5-megapixel camera to use the new XD memory format; also has a bright (f2.8) 3x zoom lens and precision metering system.

Combining first-rate photo technology with a compact metal body, the Olympus Camedia C-50 will thrill quality-conscious photographers looking for a state-of-the-art digital camera. Incorporating a 5-megapixel CCD, bright (f2.8) 3x zoom lens, and precision metering systems, the Camedia C-50 offers effortless shooting and provides sharp, well-exposed, lifelike results. More ambitious photographers will appreciate the manually adjustable features, such as aperture, shutter, and white balance. The C-50 is also one of the first digital cameras to use the new XD memory format, and it includes a 32 MB card.

Optics and Resolution
Featuring a 5-megapixel CCD sensor, the Camedia C-50 delivers a wide range of detail and color (with images up to 2,560 x 1,960 pixels) and prints up to 11 by 14 inches and beyond to poster size. It boasts a 3x optical zoom lens and 4x digital zoom for a seamless total zoom of 12x.

Storage and Transfer
The Camedia C-50 is one of the first Olympus digital cameras to be compatible with the new XD memory card format. Comparable in size to a penny and weighing less than 1/10th of an ounce, the XD memory card is not only the smallest storage medium, it also uses less power for better battery performance and has faster data transfer rates than other memory cards. The included 32 MB card will store approximately 27 images at 2,560 x 1,920 pixels (at HQ setting).

Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.

Movie Mode
In addition to taking still photos, the Camedia C-50 can also record movie clips at 15 frames per second with sound in two formats: HQ (320 x 240 pixels, up to 16 seconds) and SQ (160 x 120 pixels, up to 70 seconds). The QuickTime Motion JPEG format offers a limited resolution, which is great for capturing a short movie that can be e-mailed to friends and family, but is no replacement for a true camcorder.

More Features
Like other cameras in its line, the Camedia C-50 features Olympus's TruePic technology, which uses all the pixels captured by the CCD at all resolutions to create an image and "smoothes" it to get a smoother and clearer image. Unlike other digital-camera designs that throw away pixel information to create smaller file sizes, TruePic uses all the pixel information to create a better and truer photographic image at the lower pixel resolutions.

Other features include:

• Built-in flash with auto mode for backlight, red-eye reduction, fill-in mode, and slow-shutter synchronized flash
• Shutter speeds of 1/1,000 second to 1/2 second
• Six selectable scene programs
• Panoramic ability when combined with Camedia Master software and optional Olympus brand XD memory card

Power, Size, and Contents
The camera is powered by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery (included). It measures 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.6 inches and weighs 6.8 ounces. This package includes the Camedia C-50 digital camera, 32 MB XD memory card, lithium-ion battery and charger (model LI-10B), wireless remote control, USB and AV cables, wrist strap, and CD-ROM with Camedia Master imaging software and USB drivers for Windows and Mac.