Olympus C-50 Digital Camera

The Olympus C-50 is a great digital camera for the mid range price bracket. It has a true 3x optical zoom and an impressive 5 Million pixel resolution for the crispest pictures you can take. The extra features on this camera make it great for both the novice user and has plenty to satisfy the enthusiastic user. The design is very compact and will be easily transported around wherever you should decide to go. The C-50 is at the peak of the digital media technology, using the worlds smallest digital media, the xD-Picture card. This helps the C-50 become even smaller and compact.

Manufacturers Description

Categorically closing the gap between design and performance, the Camedia C-50 Zoom is the camera for those that want it all. Housed inside a body with a stylish, eye-catching and extremely compact fully-metallic design is a wealth of high-quality technical features. From the versatile, bright f2.8/f4.8 precision 3x zoom optical system to its impressive five-megapixel resolution, this innovative model ensures photos taken will excel in every respect. Many automatic and manually adjustable settings guarantee that C-50 Zoom photographers enjoy ease of use while being left with plenty of scope for creative possibilities. Images are saved on xD-Picture Card, the new digital storage standard.

With the metal-bodied C-50 Zoom, discerning photographers can step out in style and create pictures of the highest calibre. This model incorporates a 1/1.8-inch primary colour (RGB) filter CCD to produce razor-sharp five-million-pixel images. Precision optics ensure that light is clearly and accurately transmitted through the lens system to the CCD. The 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 38-114 mm on a conventional 35-mm camera) can be combined with a 4x digital zoom (up to 5x in VGA mode) to give users even greater flexibility for a wide range of situations. The optical system is composed of seven glass lenses arranged in six groups, and features two aspherical elements for edge-to-edge clarity.

Numerous options for exposure control are on hand, including manual and spot metering for advanced users, while the automatic digital ESP (Electro Selective Pattern) option gives complete comfort and ease. The shutter and aperture priority modes allow users to set one adjustment while the camera takes care of the other. Furthermore, auto bracketing is available for automatically taking a series of shots with differing exposure values. A TTL contrast detection auto focus ensures photos are crisp and clear.

Six scene programme shooting modes provide photographers with presets for many common motifs such as night scenes, sports and landscapes. In addition, the user's favourite photographic settings may also be saved in the special "my mode" folder. This retains the selected settings for later use. Thanks to the unique Olympus TruePic image-optimisation technology, captured images will impress with their brilliant colours and gradation. Even for those pictures not recorded at the maximum resolution, the TruePic algorithm utilises data from all the CCD's five million pixels to produce optimal images, thereby saving memory without any great sacrifice to quality.

The C-50 Zoom allows macro photography and panorama shooting and, as well as still photos, can record moving pictures in QuickTime Motion JPEG format. An advanced white-balance system ensures images stand out with their true colours. Besides full-auto TTL measurement, photographers may choose presets to suit the particular ambient conditions, no matter if capturing images on sunny or cloudy days, or shooting indoors under fluorescent or incandescent artificial light.

Thanks to the built-in flash system with a variety of flash modes, including slow synchronisation, perfect illumination is also assured in challenging lighting situations.

After shooting, users have the option to change the photos captured in colour, to black and white or sepia, giving compositions a special effect. Images may also be rotated--which is especially useful when wanting to view photos originally taken in portrait format, on a TV.

To achieve the camera's ultra-compact dimensions, Olympus has incorporated two high-performance yet space-saving innovations. First, the C-50 Zoom is equipped with a slot for the xD-Picture Card--the world's smallest digital camera memory card. This new removable storage standard currently features capacities up to 128 MB. Moreover, a Compact Flash adapter, soon to be available from Olympus, ensures compatibility of the xD-Picture Card with CF slot-equipped devices, e.g., digital cameras, thus allowing a variety of users to utilise the new storage medium. The C-50 Zoom ships with a 32-MB xD-Picture Card.

The second coup is incorporation of an all-new ultra-small rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Not only does it make the camera considerably smaller, the very-high battery capacity lets scores of shots be taken without needing recharging. This camera model is supplied with a quick-charger featuring a recharging time of about two hours.

With the USB Auto Connect interface, images are quickly and easily downloaded to a computer. The Camedia Master software that comes with the camera lets users chose from numerous options for further processing of their digital photos, including editing and archiving. The Camedia C-50 Zoom supports the new EXIF 2.2 standard as well as PIM II, enabling compatible printers to apply the saved data in order to produce optimised image printouts.

This remarkably small camera measures just 99.5 (W) x 58.5 (H) x 41.5 (D) mm and weighs merely 194 g (without battery or xD-Picture Card).

Specifications
 
Product Type Digital camera
Width 9.9 cm
Depth 4.1 cm
Height 5.9 cm
Weight 194 g
Enclosure Colour Silver
Body Material Metal
Localisation English
Resolution 5.0 Megapixel
Colour Support Colour
Optical Sensor Type CCD
Total Pixels 5,360,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 5,000,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size 1/1.8"
Light Sensitivity ISO 160, ISO 320, ISO 80
Digital Zoom 4 x
Shooting Modes Panorama mode, frame movie mode
Shooting Modes Landscape, portrait mode, night mode, landscape-portrait, self-portrait
Special Effects Black & White, Sepia
Max Shutter Speed 1/1000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 8 sec
Exposure Metering Spot, matrix
Exposure Modes Programme, automatic, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Exposure Compensation ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
White Balance Custom, automatic, presets
White Balance Presets Fluorescent, tungsten light, daylight, overcast
Digital Video Format QuickTime
Still Image Format JPEG, TIFF
Continuous Shooting Speed 1 frame per second
Remote Control Camera remote control - infrared
Video Capture 15 fps - 16sec - QuickTime - 320 x 240 - max clip duration ¦ 15 fps - 70 sec - QuickTime - 160 x 120 - max clip duration
Flash Memory 1 x 32 MB Flash - xD-Picture Card
Supported Flash Memory XD-Picture Card
Image Storage TIFF 2560 x 1920 : 2 - with 32MB card ¦ Super-fine JPEG 2560 x 1920 : 13 - with 32MB card ¦ Fine JPEG 2560 x 1920 : 26 - with 32MB card ¦ Standard JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 30 - with 32MB card ¦ Standard JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 66 - with 32MB card ¦ Standard JPEG 1280 x 960 : 104 - with 32MB card ¦ Standard JPEG 1024 x 768 : 153 - with 32MB card ¦ Standard JPEG 640 x 480 : 199 - with 32MB card
Camera Flash Built-in flash
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction
Red Eye Reduction Built-in
Effective Flash Range 0.2 m - 3.4 m
Type Zoom lens
Focal Length 7.8 mm - 23.4 mm
Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 38 - 114mm
Focus Adjustment Automatic, manual
Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
Min Focus Range 50 cm
Macro Focus Range 20-50cm
Lens Aperture F/2.8-4.8
Optical Zoom 3 x
Zoom Adjustment Motorised drive
Lens Construction 6 group(s) / 7 element(s)
Features Aspherical lens
Self Timer Yes
Self Timer Delay 12sec
Additional Features RGB primary colour filter, auto power save, date/time stamp, DPOF support
Viewfinder Type Optical - real-image zoom
Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 1.5" - colour
Display Form Factor Built-in
Display Format 134,000 pixels
Connector Type 1 x composite video output ¦ 1 x USB ¦ 1 x DC power input
Expansion Slot(s) 1 x xD-Picture Card
Software Drivers & Utilities, Ulead PhotoImpact, Olympus Camedia Master 4.0
Cables Included 1 x USB cable ¦ 1 x video cable
Included Accessories Wrist strap
Min Operating Temperature 0 °C
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C
Power Device Battery charger - external
Type 1 x camera battery - rechargeable - Lithium Ion
Included Qty 1
Service & Support 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - parts and labour - 1 year


 

Buy the Olympus C-50

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