Reviews
Olympus
C-5060
Broaden your horizons
Olympus' trunk-line
C-series has done very well in the market; you see their distinctive,
retro-rangefinder lines everywhere. Keeping up with the many variations
on this theme is a challenge, as the company releases several
every year. While their compact dimensions may lead you to equate
them with The Common Plastic Digicam offered by dozens of me-too
makers, the C series is all about packing the most innovative
features into a comfortable midsize body and selling it at a competitive
price. At this, Olympus has succeeded very nicely, with the lions
share of their number two worldwide sales position coming from
C series cameras.
So it's no
surprise that the new C-5060 Wide Zoom is attracting a lot of
attention among the digirati, with stores selling out of 5060
stock regularly. Offering essentially every feature known to modern
electronic photography in an attractive sub-$600 package, the
5060 deserves all the attention, and serious consideration as
your next camera.
Rather
than waste energy making radical design changes to the C camera
line over the years, they have wisely chosen to continually refine
the original C-2000 winning combination of size and performance.
The 5060 is a bit taller than older C models in order to accommodate
the newly redesigned articulating LCD mechanism, the larger lens
body, and the autofocus assist beam emitter and more powerful
flash. I'd have to rate the new camera's looks as the most professional-looking
consumer Oly to date, with several design cues seemingly taken
from their high-end E1 line of pro cameras and lenses. The only
aesthetic criticism I have is the polished metal ring on the face
of the lens, which is pure flash that serves no purpose. There
is a reason why pros prefer their cameras to be matte black: the
possibility of an unwanted reflection ending up in the final image
is bad for precise studio work, and shiny surfaces gives can away
your position during field work.
Previous Oly
C models such as the 5050 offered ultra-fast f1.8 lenses, but
the 5060 offers a more conventional f2.8 maximum aperture in exchange
for a 27mm-equivalent wide-angle view. There are precious few
digicams (or film cams, for that matter) that offer such a view,
so it is good to see Olympus add this feature to their line. There
is nothing like a wide-angle to capture a subject surrounded by
its environment, or a large group of subjects without clustering
them unnaturally together.
I could write
paragraphs listing the dozens of cool features offered by the
C-5060, but that would be too easy. Instead, I'll bring to your
attention the most interesting. Rest assured, if there is some
particular obscure feature I haven't discussed here, it is probably
in the 5060.
The Movie
mode is particularly interesting. Not only does it capture at
a nice big 640x480 at 30fps, it allows you to zoom while you shoot.
They've even disabled the comparatively noisy mechanical zoom
in favor of the competent digital zoom when you have sound recording
on. You can capture as much as your storage card (xD or CompactFlash)
can hold, with a countdown in the finder.
In
addition to the well-designed articulating LCD, the panel itself
is now daylight-readable and higher density to boot. With a coverage
of 97% compared to the what the newly upsized CCD imager is actually
capturing, you can frame very accurately. (The optical viewfinder
only covers a disappointing sub-90% view.)
I particularly
like the handy AEL (autoexposure lock) button that lets you lock
in exposure without depressing the shutter to achieve autofocus.
Most people seem to think AF and AE are a single operation, but
experienced shooters know how important is can be to separate
these functions in challenging lighting situations. I am also
fond of the multi-pattern AF setting which uses up to eight spot
readings and intelligently averages them for you. This is a real
time saver when you just don't have time to fuss with taking readings
off of individual objects or grey cards, northern sky, or whatever
you usually use. My tests delivered extremely well exposed shots
with zero planning ÷ a real plus when you have an active five
year-old daughter zooming around on a swing.
Most folks
buy a camera to take good pictures and that's the end of it. For
them, any number of fine digicams can deliver the goods for less
than a car payment. For those of us who want all the features
and as little of the weight and bulk as possible, there is the
Olympus C-5060.
÷Edison
Carter
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