Cons: no ISO 50 sensitivity setting, minor noise, and major red-eye problems,
The Bottom Line: The new Olympus C 5060 provides the best balance of creative photography options, advanced features, high quality digital images, and competitive price currently available
Howard_Creech's Full Review: Olympus Camedia C-5060 Wide Zoom Digital Camera
Olympus’ new C5060 is an update of the very popular five-megapixel C5050 prosumer digicam. Olympus’ product development folks wisely retained most of what made the C5050 a runaway success and added a newly designed 4X wide-angle zoom, a much better histogram display, a fully articulated LCD screen (the C5050’s LCD screen had limited articulation), a super fast new passive/active AF system and a more powerful battery pack before stuffing everything into a chunky “pro” black titanium alloy body. Like its predecessor the C5060 encourages creativity by allowing almost unlimited user input and the widest tweakability* range of any currently available digital camera.
NUTS & BOLTS
Viewfinder/LCD
The C5060’s high eye point real image zooming optical viewfinder is bright, fluid, and color correct. There’s a diopter correction for eyeglasses wearers. The C5060 also features a bright fluid 1.8" LCD viewfinder that provides users with a detailed information read-out (aperture, shutter speed, image quality/resolution settings, and most camera/exposure settings).
The fully articulated LCD screen is nested into the rear deck of the camera and lifts out to tilt upward 180 degrees or swivel 270 degrees. This impressive level of flexibility means the LCD viewfinder can be used as an overhead finder, a waist level finder, or as a posing aid in self- portraits. When not in use the LCD screen can be flipped around (screen in) and nested into the body, protecting it from scratches and smudges.
A "live" histogram display (in Program, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority modes) highlights over or underexposed areas (allowing users to fine-tune exposures for a precise balance of highlights and shadows). The C5060’s histogram function also provides a unique and genuinely helpful function (called "Direct" mode by Olympus) that displays the specific areas of the frame that will be over or underexposed by highlighting those areas with a series of overlapping red (overexposed) or blue (underexposed) box shaped outlines. Users can check small areas of the frame for under/over exposure by using a small rectangular box that can be moved around the frame, in effect a very useful spot histogram function.
Top Deck LCD (Status Screen)
The C5060 also provides a very useful monochrome LCD status display that shows major camera settings (focus mode, flash mode, drive mode, white balance setting, ISO setting, exposure compensation, and image quality settings). Top deck LCD status screens are a real boon for digital photographers because they allow the battery drain from the LCD to be better controlled by using the optical viewfinder and top deck LCD status screen for framing and checking exposure rather than relying full time on the LCD screen for composition and exposure data/camera status. The C5060’s top deck status LCD isn’t illuminated which seems a strange omission in such a well-designed and useful digital camera.
Lens
The heart of the C5060 is its’ newly designed f/2.8-f/4.8/27-110mm (35mm equivalent) 4X all-glass wide angle zoom. I would have liked to see Olympus retain the C5050’s fast f1.8 maximum aperture, but that would have added substantially to the C5060’s cost because highly corrected wide-angle to short telephoto zooms with super fast maximum apertures are very expensive to manufacture. Under most lighting conditions (indoors and out) the C5060’s lens produces consistently sharp, properly exposed, well saturated, and color accurate images with resolution and dynamic range equal or superior to any five megapixel prosumer digital camera currently available.
Wide-angle lenses traditionally have higher than average barrel distortion and the C-5060’s wide zoom is no exception, however the distortion is very well controlled and shouldn’t be a problem except in formal architectural studies. Pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the C5060’s zoom range is very well controlled. There’s no vignetting (darkened corners) and chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is extremely low (visible only in very high contrast color transition areas). Corners are very slightly soft at the maximum aperture, but much sharper than the average.
Auto Focus
The C5060’s super fast iESP (through the lens) auto focus system employs a dual active contrast detection and passive phase detection AF system. This yin-yang approach results in amazingly fast (less than half a second in good light) and incredibly exact auto focus (currently the fastest AF system available on any prosumer digicam) with a broad and useful range of focus control options including normal AF, Spot AF, Selective Spot AF, Full Time AF, two macro-focusing modes, and a manual focus mode.
The C-5060 permits users to designate whether the camera bases focus on a small central portion of the frame or on a smaller user selected portion of the image area (Spot) or on the full image area (iESP). The camera’s full time AF mode keeps the AF system continuously engaged, an especially useful feature when shooting action or moving subjects. The full-time AF mode is fast enough to track small children or moderate action. Users can manually lock AF by centering the subject and pressing the shutter button halfway (once focus is locked the image can be recomposed).
A user enabled AF illumination beam provides consistently accurate and very quick low-light focusing. Low light images show great color, a good tonal range, tack sharp resolution, and low noise, (even when the Noise Reduction mode isn’t enabled). Mounting an Olympus Speedlight in the C5060’s hotshoe will substantially increase low light focusing range (due to the flash unit’s more powerful AF illumination beam).
Manual Focus
The C5060’s manual focus mode provides two options, manual focus and super-macro. To engage the C5060’s manual focus mode users need only press and hold the OK button. Focus can then be manually adjusted using the compass pad (four-way switch) and LCD distance scale display. The camera enlarges the central portion of the image 2X to facilitate accurate focusing.
Flash
The C 5060’s built in multi mode intelligent speedlight (Auto—including automatic flash activation in low light and backlighting, Fill, Red-eye reduction, Slow-sync, and Slow synch with red eye reduction) is a very capable unit. The Slow Synch mode provides three shooting options--- Slow 1 fires the flash at the beginning of the exposure (like first curtain synch so that movement blur is in front of the subject) and Slow 2 fires the flash at the end of the exposure (like second curtain synch, so movement blur is behind the subject), and slow synch with Red-Eye Reduction pre-flash. The maximum range of the on-board flash unit is about 13 feet. Users can adjust flash output -2 / +2 EV in 1/3EV increments. Recycle time is about 6 seconds.
The C 5060 also provides a dedicated hot-shoe, permitting users to mount an optional Olympus FL-20, FL-40, or FL-50 speedlights (the FL-50 is Olympus’ top digital speedlight with TTL flash metering and a flash head that zooms with the C5060’s lens) for expanded flash capabilities. The on-board and external flash units can be used together. Third party external flash units may be used, but Olympus warns that some units may not synchronize properly with the camera’s shutter and units with a high trigger voltage may cause damage to the C5060’s internal electronic circuitry. Most third-party flash units should work fine with the 5060, but users will have to use both the built-in and external flash units in manual mode (and manually calculate the proper flash exposure using the old fashioned lens aperture/subject distance guide number equation).
Image Storage Media & Image File Formats
The C 5060 saves images to xD-Picture Cards and Compact Flash Type I or II (including microdrives). The C5060 can mount both types of memory simultaneously and switch back and forth between them for more flexibility in image storage options.
The C5060 saves images in RAW, uncompressed TIFF, and two compressed JPEG file formats. The RAW format is available only with full-resolution images. The C5060 provides users with a RAW format editing function that allows them to adjust color, sharpness, and white balance in-camera. The edited image can then be saved as a unique JPEG file or processed as a TIFF file with the included Camedia Master software (or another RAW conversion utility). It would have been nice if Olympus had provided this editing function with TIFF image files too.
The C5060 provides users with seven image file size options ranging from 2592x1944 (or an interpolated 3264 x 2448 pixels in the Optimum Image Enlargement mode) to 640x480 pixels.
Connectivity
The C5060 is recognized by the latest MAC and MS operating systems as a USB 1.1 storage class (read auto connect) device. In most areas the C5060 is a cutting edge imaging tool so I don’t understand why Olympus didn’t upgrade to USB 2.0 (for much faster uploads of the massive image files the C5060 is capable of generating). The C5060 also provides A/V out for connection to a television (slide shows) and DC in for connection to an external power source.
Power
The C5060 is powered by a proprietary Olympus BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack. This battery was designed to power the new Olympus E1 digital SLR and provides substantially more power (and is lighter in weight) than the four AA batteries that power the C5050. The C5060’s power management circuitry is so thrifty with juice that many purchasers will probably forego purchasing a second battery. My friend and I used the C5060 through two weekends of fairly heavy shooting without exhausting the original battery. I would still recommend the purchase of a back up battery pack, especially for users who plan on extended travel or very heavy all-day shooting expeditions. A back up Olympus BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack costs about seventy bucks. Pro, semi-pro, and serious amateur photographers many want to consider the optional B-HLD20 power battery holder which holds two BLM-1 battery packs and includes a shutter button and zoom lever for vertical compositions.
EXPOSURE
The C5060 (like the C5050) provides users with an incredibly broad range of exposure options including Auto (Program), Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, five preset Scene modes, My Mode, Movie Mode, several Special Exposure Modes, and a Manual exposure mode. All capture modes are easily accessed via the Mode dial on the C5060’s top deck. Shooters can fine tune exposures with Digital ESP multi-pattern and spot metering, user selectable white balance settings, user selected ISO/Sensitivity settings, user adjustable flash settings, auto bracketing, exposure compensation, noise reduction, contrast, saturation, and sharpness adjustments.
Auto Exposure Modes
Photographers who don't want to deal with shutter speeds and apertures will love the C5060’s Program mode. In Program mode the camera selects both the lens aperture and shutter speed. Photographers who want point & shoot simplicity and some individual creative input can enable the Program Shift feature, which allows users to select from a range of aperture/shutter speed combinations.
In Aperture Priority mode users select the lens aperture (from f/2.8 to f/8.0) and the C5060 chooses the proper shutter speed.
In Shutter Speed Priority mode users select the shutter speed and the C5060 selects the lens aperture. Shutter speeds higher than 1/2,000th of a second are available only when the aperture is set to f/8. Longer shutter speeds (up to 16 seconds and the Bulb setting) are only available in Manual mode.
Scene Modes
The C5060 provides users with five preset Scene modes (Portrait, Sports, Landscape-Portrait, Landscape-Scene, and Night scene). In scene modes the camera automatically selects the optimal exposure parameters (longer exposure times and larger lens apertures for night scenes and large apertures and fast shutter speeds for sharp subject focus and blurred backgrounds in Portrait mode).
Manual Mode
In Manual mode users select aperture, shutter speed, and all other exposure variables. In Manual mode the camera indicates whether the user-selected settings will produce a correct exposure by displaying the user selected aperture and shutter speed in green and the C5060’s metered exposure settings in white.
Macro Mode
The C5060 provides users with two macro modes, making it a great choice for shooters who like close-ups. The minimum focusing distance in regular macro mode is 2.6 feet, which is tight enough for general close-up work. Enable the C5060’s super macro mode and the minimum focusing distance drops to 1.0 inch, close enough for breathtaking “in your face” natural light or external flash lighted bugs and flowers.
The C5060 does yeoman duty in the macro modes with subjects that are rendered with consistently accurate well-saturated color, and very good (but slightly higher than average) contrast. Resolution is extremely high and detail capture is outstanding, even in shadow areas. There is some very slight corner softness, but macro image quality is well above average. In regular macro mode the C5060’s built-in flash covers evenly with no hot spots or lens shadow. The built-in flash is disabled in super macro mode so users will need to shoot natural light close-ups or mount an external flash unit for supplemental lighting.
Movie Mode
The C5060 provides a pretty good movie mode that records video clips (with or without audio) at 640 x 480 pixels @ 15fps (30 fps would have been better). Clip duration is limited only by memory card capacity. Sound recording can be turned off via the Movie menu, allowing use of the optical zoom during filming, which is a nice feature. Recording time remaining on the memory card is displayed on the LCD screen and in the Top Deck status display.
Adding to the C5060’s tweakability and usefulness movie shooters have a much wider range of exposure options including spot metering, exposure compensation, focus lock, ISO/Sensitivity settings, and white balance settings.
Like earlier Olympus digicams the C5060 features in-camera movie editing. Users can scroll through video clips (frame-by-frame) and mark cut points at the beginning and end of each segment they wish to save. Content on either side of the cut points is deleted (users can also elect to preserve the original clip unmodified and save the edited portions to a separate file).
Special Exposure Modes
The C5060 also provides shooters with several special exposure modes. The Sequence mode is used to capture images at up to three frames per second. The Panorama mode allows users to shoot up to 10 sequential images and then merge those shots into a seamless panorama with the C5060’s Camedia Panorama Stitch software. In order to enable the Panorama mode an Olympus branded xD picture card must be used. The 2-in-1 mode captures two vertically oriented images in sequence and saves them as a single image---a great feature for profile and front view mug shots or before and after images (just kidding).
The C5060’s My Mode allows users to save up to 8 sets of personal shooting/exposure preferences (exposure settings, ISO settings, exposure compensation settings, auto bracketing, internal and external flash settings, metering, etc.) and then access those settings by simply turning the Mode Dial to the "My" position. My Mode is genuinely useful feature that allows users to personalize the C5060’s operation.
Audio Record Mode
C5060 users can record audio notes (up to four seconds in duration) for still images. Audio notes can be recorded immediately after an exposure is made or added to image files later.
In-Camera Image Adjustment
The C5060’s versatile range of in camera image adjustment options provides skilled photographers with an almost infinite range of incremental exposure/color/contrast tweaks. In camera image adjustment is an often overlooked but very important tool for overcoming lighting problems, ensuring precise exposure, balancing contrast, and fine tuning color saturation. The C5060 addresses the needs of serious photographers by providing an incredibly broad and well-designed suite of in camera image adjustment parameters.
Color Saturation
The C5060’s color saturation can be adjusted in +/- 5 incremental steps allowing users to precisely increase or reduce color intensity. Users can also opt to capture images in B&W or sepia tone (or White Board/Black Board settings for text).
Contrast
The C5060’s contrast can be adjusted in +/- 5 incremental steps allowing users to balance, enhance, or reduce image contrast for better mid tones and improved tonal range.
Sharpness
The C5060’s images can be tweaked over a ten-step range permitting shooters to precisely enhance or reduce apparent image sharpness.
Noise Reduction
The C5060’s Noise Reduction System utilizes dark-frame subtraction technology to minimize image noise in high ISO shots, low-light images, and long exposures. When NR is enabled the camera captures a second exposure (with the shutter closed) and this “dark frame” (with no noise) is matched to the primary exposure and the noise is deleted. Noise reduction processing does slightly lengthen the shot to shot interval.
Metering
The C5060 provides users with three light metering options. The default mode is Olympus’ ESP TTL multi pattern evaluative metering. With ESP multi-pattern metering the camera takes readings from multiple areas of the image frame and evaluates brightness and contrast for each segment separately before selecting the optimum shutter speed/aperture combination. The Spot-metering mode evaluates brightness and contrast in a very small area at the center of the frame allowing users to align the center of the frame with the most important element of the composition (like the eyes or smile in a head and shoulders portrait) and then lock-in the correct exposure by pressing the Shutter button halfway and holding it down until the image is recomposed.
The Multi-Spot metering mode allows users to take up to eight individual spot-meter readings from a much larger central area of the frame. All spot readings are noted on a relative exposure scale at the bottom of the LCD screen and then averaged to obtain an optimal shutter speed/aperture combination. Multi Spot metering is a very useful exposure option, especially in high contrast and wide tonal range compositions.
C5060 users can also lock in exposure values with the Automatic Exposure Lock (AEL) button. The AEL function locks in the exposure reading while users reframe the composition independently of the Auto Focus system.
Exposure Compensation
The Olympus C5060 lets users subtly adjust the camera selected shutter speed/aperture combination in auto exposure modes by +/- 2EV (in 1/3 EV increments) to compensate for tricky lighting, special circumstances (snow, fog, large bright/dark areas), mood, and personal or subjective exposure preferences.
Exposure Bracketing
The C5060's Auto Bracketing function allows users to automatically capture either three or five shots of a specific composition each with slightly different exposure values, virtually guaranteeing a perfectly exposed image. The camera can be set to vary exposure (from the user selected starting point) by up to +/- 2EV (in 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 EV steps) to capture one (or two) images with slightly more exposure and one (or two) images with slightly less exposure than the base image. Many prosumer digital cameras provide a three-step exposure bracketing range, but the five-step range adds appreciably to the C5060’s creative versatility.
White Balance
The C5060’s almost infinite tweakability is especially evident in the camera’s versatile white balance system which features the broadest and most useful color balance adjustment range of any currently available digital camera. The C5060 provides eleven WB settings including TTL Auto, and pre-sets for Shade, Cloudy, Sunny, Evening Sun, Daylight Fluorescent, Neutral Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, White Fluorescent, Incandescent, and a One-Touch/Custom (manual) setting. With the One-Touch setting white balance is set by taking a reading from a white card/wall/ceiling. The Custom setting permits users to save up to four custom WB settings.
The C5060 also provides a WB color adjustment function that allows users to fine tune WB by shifting the warm/cold balance toward either the red or blue ends of the color spectrum with a fourteen step ( /-7 steps from the initial setting) range displayed on an adjustment bar graph on the LCD screen. This function works with both the pre-set and manual settings virtually guaranteeing precise and accurate color.
ISO/Sensitivity
The C5060’s sensitivity range is fairly typical, which is disappointing considering how broad and useful the camera’s WB and In-Camera image adjustment ranges are. The C5060 can be set to auto or ISO (35mm equivalent) 80, 100, 200, or 400. The C5060’s narrow (but adequate) sensitivity range is certainly not a deal breaker, but I would have liked to see it start at ISO 50 on the low end of the scale and go to at least ISO 800 at the upper end.
CONTROLS, DESIGN, & ERGONOMICS
The C5060 feels solid and professional, but it’s small enough to be dropped in a cargo pocket, a small fanny pack, or a medium sized purse and it’s tough enough to go just about anywhere. The fully articulated LCD is a great creative asset (very useful for candid/street/environmental portraits, macro shots, and as a posing aid for self portraits or “I was here” record shots). The control layout is a little busy but very logical and the C5060’s user interface quickly becomes intuitive. The C5060's controls are so responsive and infinitely tweakable that the camera's operation is almost sensual -- everything is where it should be and the camera is remarkably easy to use and comfortable to handle for extended periods. Menus are complex (this is a very feature rich camera) but relatively straightforward and access is uncomplicated.
The C5060’s optical viewfinder, LCD screen, rear deck control layout, top deck status display, and advanced histogram functions work together beautifully to make this the most usable and photographer friendly digital camera I’ve ever used. I actually prefer the more traditional look of the C5050 (the C5060 doesn’t look much like its’ predecessor), but my friend liked the chunky high tech look of the new titanium/polycarbonate body.
Creative Photography Options
The C5060 features four continuous shooting modes: the sequential mode locks focus and exposure settings and then captures 10 images at 1.7 fps, the AF sequential mode adjusts focus and exposure for each shot which slows the burst rate down noticeably, and the high speed mode captures up to 4 shots at 3.3 fps.
The C5060 also provides four framing assist LCD templates; a gridline display that divides the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically for shooting “rule of thirds” compositions (and helping to make sure the composition is level/straight) and three overlay options for shooting portraits or centering subjects.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: Five Megapixels (2560X1960) or 3,264 x 2,448 interpolated
Viewfinders: Optical real-image Zooming finder and 1.8” fully articulated tilt/swivel LCD screen (180 degrees tilt x 270 degrees swivel)
Lens: f/2.8-f/4.8/27-110mm (35mm equivalent) 4X all-glass (with aspherical elements for improved sharpness and enhanced color fidelity) wide angle zoom
Auto Focus: Multi-pattern active contrast detection and passive phase detection AF system
Auto Focus Assist Beam: Yes
Manual Focus: Yes
Exposure: Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Scene Modes, and full Manual exposure
Exposure compensation: +/- 2 steps EV by 1/3-stop settings
Auto bracketing: Yes, 3 or 5 images +/- 2 EV in 1/3EV increments
Metering: Digital ESP TTL Multi-Pattern, Spot, and Multi-spot
Sensitivity: Auto, 80, 100, 200, and 400 (ISO equiv)
White Balance: TTL Auto, Shade, Cloudy, Sunny, Evening Sun, Daylight Fluorescent, Neutral Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, White Fluorescent, Incandescent, and a One-Touch/Custom (manual) setting
Flash: Built-in multi mode (Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill, Slow synch, and Slow synch w/ red-eye reduction) with hot shoe for optional Olympus or third party external flash units
Shutter Speeds: 16 seconds to 1/4000th of a second (in Manual mode)
Image Storage Media: CF types I & II (including microdrives) and xD Picture Card
Image Formats: TIFF, RAW, & JPEG
In-Camera Image Adjustments: Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation, Each adjustable +/- 5 steps
Video Out: Yes
Connectivity: Auto-connect USB 1.1, A/V out, & DC in
Power: Proprietary Olympus BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack
Price: MSRP $699.00 Street Price Range $529.00--$599.00
Included
32MB xD Picture Card, BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack, battery charger, RM-2 IR remote USB and A/V cables, Software CD/ROM, neck strap, lens cap, user manuals
Optional
The C5060’s zoom is threaded, but users will have to purchase the optional Olympus CLA-7 adapter to mount add-on lenses. The CLA-7 provides a bayonet mount that obliges users to buy proprietary Olympus add-on wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
RM-1 remote (which is more versatile than the included RM-2 remote), 0.7X wide-angle and 1.7X telephoto Olympus auxiliary lenses, Olympus UV and polarizing filters, Olympus FL-20, FL-40, and FL-50 external flash units, Olympus soft case, B-HLD20 power grip, and PT-020 underwater case
In the Field/Handling & Operation
I have a good friend who sells new and used photographic equipment. He recently turned up with Olympus’ new C5060 wide zoom digicam and asked if I wanted to help him put the camera through its’ paces. We started by running some color tests of a selection of colorful plastic children’s beach toys laid out on a white background. The C5060 consistently produced color accurate and well-saturated images in both the automatic and manual white balance modes.
After we finished our color tests we drove to Cave Hill Cemetery, a favorite local photography location for both of us. The weather was absolutely beautiful with cloudless cobalt blue skies and temperatures in the high twenties with bright oblique mid winter light. We shot a variety of old nineteenth and early twentieth century mausoleums along the road above the lake. Our favorite mausoleum is a pink sandstone Moorish edifice that looks great in low angle winter front lighting. Our outdoor shots at Cave Hill were sharp and well exposed with really good colors, but the C5060 has a slight tendency toward hard-edged contrast that can overpower shadow detail fairly quickly.
After we finished up at Cave Hill we headed for nearby Cherokee Park to shoot some intimate landscapes and macro images along the banks of Beargrass Creek. It’s possible to capture great stuff just a few yards from the road, images that look as if they were shot out in the wilderness. The C5060 consistently did a great job outside, no matter what we tried.
The weather was warmer Sunday with Robin’s egg blue skies, small wispy clouds, and temperatures in the low forties. We drove across the river to the Falls of the Ohio State Park. The Falls of the Ohio River are actually 380 million-year-old Devonian fossil beds (the exposed remains of an ancient reef) that once formed a short drop that impeded boat navigation on the river.
Photography at the Falls is much easier in the summer, picture opportunities are much harder to find in the winter partly because the Ohio Valley isn’t the prettiest place in the world when everything is brown and dull and partly because most local folks have better sense than to hang out along the banks of the frigid Ohio River in the middle of the winter. We found one lunatic fisherman who made an interesting silhouette with the brightly lit Louisville skyline as a back drop and wandered around for a while shooting shape/form/pattern/texture close-up compositions of driftwood. The images showed incredible shadow detail and we were able to utilize the C5060’s nifty "Direct" mode histogram function to fine tune exposure in order to preserve the grain and fine detail in the weathered and water smoothed driftwood.
After two hours of freezing our butts off we returned to Louisville and headed for the Wynandotte Café, a funky old Southside Louisville tavern. The interior of the Wyandotte Café is one long wood paneled room with a couple of pool tables, Several TV’s, and a long noisy bar. The Wyandotte’s major charms are its’ friendly neighborhood atmosphere, cheap beer, and excellent cheeseburgers topped with melted Monterey pepper Jack cheese and grilled onions. My friend (like me) is a bar food aficionado, so we ordered a couple cheeseburgers and a pair of cokes and walked to the rear of the old tavern to shoot a couple games of eight ball and sneak a few candid (high ISO -- no flash) shots of our fellow bar patrons while we waited for our food. The C5060’s AF assist light works beautifully, so accurate focus in the dim light at the Wyandotte Café was a snap (no pun intended). We reviewed the images we’d shot while we ate. The C5060’s outdoor images at the Falls were razor sharp, color correct, and just a tiny bit too contrasty. The shots inside the old bar were color accurate but shooting at the ISO 400 setting left the images looking a bit grainy and there was some noticeable noise.
PERFORMANCE
Image Quality
The C 5060’s image quality is excellent, easily as good (or better) than any top tier five megapixel digital camera currently available. Color is accurate and well saturated and skin tones are the best I have seen. My friend and I printed two 8X10 inch enlargements with an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 (on Kodak photo paper) and they were both excellent (even when inspected with a 4X Mamiya Loupe). We also printed a couple of shots from our trip to the Falls (at 5X7) and both were exceptionally good with accurate colors, good shadow detail, and tack sharp resolution. Outdoors, in bright light the C5060’s slightly high default contrast produced marginally darker colors and a noticeable hard-edged look, but the in-camera contrast adjustment was able to quickly and easily balance contrast.
Timing/Shutter Lag
The C5060’s boot-up cycle is about average (3 seconds) but once the camera is ready to “rock and roll” it’s one of the fastest digicams around. Auto focus is consistently very fast and highly accurate, AF lag is not a problem. The shutter fires virtually immediately, with no appreciable lag (less than half a second). Shot to shot times are also very quick, about 1.5 seconds. Write to card times are very quick, well above average (especially when using an xD picture card), but the C5060 locks up while writing RAW (about 9-10 seconds) and TIFF (about 16-18 seconds) image files to card.
A Few Concerns
The C5060’s exposures are consistently accurate with good dynamic range and good detail in both highlights and shadows, but the default contrast is a bit too high---but like almost every other exposure parameter the C5060’s in-camera contrast adjustment can be tweaked through an almost infinite range virtually guaranteeing well-balanced images with good mid-tones, even in high-key outdoor lighting.
The C5060’s default sharpening is fairly aggressive making images hard edged and a bit over sharp--- noise is present (as it is in all digitally generated images) but it is well controlled at ISO 80 and 100. Noise levels begin to rise noticeably at ISO 200 and by ISO 400 noise is fairly high. Noise is very high at the C5060’s interpolated seven megapixel OIE setting. Experienced shooters will experiment with the minus settings until they find the setting that produces the best balance between apparent sharpness and low noise. There is minor visible barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the C 5060’s zoom range but pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the zoom is very well controlled. Very minor chromatic aberration is visible at the maximum aperture in high contrast color transition areas but this can be easily managed by adjusting contrast levels (or shooting at f4).
The chunky new body of the C5060 (and the C5000) place the on-board flash very close to the lens axis, making red-eye a consistent problem in flash portraits. Users who shoot lots of portraits should seriously consider Olympus’ new FL50 speedlight (or plan to spend lots of time fixing red-eye post exposure).
Most of the C5060’s exposure/creative photography options, adjustments, and functions are available through the camera’s Mode Menu. The C5060 is NOT for neophytes----beginners and casual photographers will likely to find the Mode Menu too complex and some may find it intimidating. The C5060’s slowest shutter speeds are only available in manual mode and the complete user’s manual is on CD.
Conclusion
There’s no such thing as a one size fits all “perfect” digital camera, but the C5060 can do just about anything photographic and consistently do it very well. The C5060 encourages users to stretch their personal creative boundaries and maximize the broad potential of the digital imaging medium---clearly a camera that was designed by photographers for photographers. The C5060 could end up being the poster child for the digital cameras of tomorrow; an innovative mix of cutting edge technology, advanced features, superb usability, excellent ergonomics, high quality images, and genuine affordability. At this moment in time the C5060 is as good as it gets for under a thousand bucks.
*A note for epinions eminent thesaurian, jankp --“Prosumers” are consumers who buy top of the line consumer products and demand a professional level of capability, functionality, ergonomics, and usability from their purchases. “Tweakability” describes the inherent functional flexibility of an electro-mechanical product that allows users of that device to subtly vary a significant number of operational parameters in order to achieve a more precise level of individual control.
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