Olympus’ new C5000 is the third generation update of the very popular C4000 prosumer digicam and offers much of the upscale C5060’s cutting edge technology and the C5050’s professional level of usability. The C5000 is targeted toward advanced amateur photographers, personal website creators, savvy family shooters, and globetrotting travelers who want a dependable five megapixel digicam that consistently provides lots of bang for the buck. The C5000 provides users with what is probably the best balance of features, usability, and cost of any currently available digital camera
What’s New
The C5000 ups the resolution from 4 megapixels to five and discards the clunky plain brown wrapper “C” series platform of its predecessors (C3000 and C4000) in favor of a more compact and fashionably curvy new body. The C5000 also has a dedicated TTL hot shoe (instead of the C4000’s sync socket) for use with Olympus’ compact new FL-20 or the more powerful tilting head (for bounce flash) zooming (matches the focal length setting of the 3X zoom lens) FL-50 speedlights.
On the negative side of what’s new the C4000 used universally available AA batteries and featured a live histogram display and the C5000 doesn’t.
NUTS & BOLTS
Viewfinder/LCD
The C5000’s high eye point real image zooming optical viewfinder is bright, fluid, and color correct. The C5000’s optical viewfinder is noticeably better than average, showing about 90% of the frame (average is about 80 %), but there’s no diopter correction for eyeglasses wearers.
The C5000’s 1.8" LCD viewfinder provides users with a detailed information read-out (aperture, shutter speed, image quality/resolution settings, and most camera/exposure settings. Shooters can also use the LCD screen to review saved images, zoom in on displayed images (up to 4x), and view the Index display (four, nine, or 16 thumbnail images). The "Quick View" function allows users to quickly switch between the shooting and playback modes.
Lens
The C5000 features an f2.8-f8.0/38-114mm (35mm equivalent) all-glass zoom. The 3X zoom telescopes out of the camera body when the C5000 is powered up (and retracts into the body when the camera is powered down). The lens projects less than an inch from the camera body and is surrounded by a body flange with a threaded lip that accepts an optional Olympus adapter that permits users to mount auxiliary macro, wide-angle, and telephoto converters and 55mm filters. Minimum focusing distance (in Super Macro Mode) is 1.6 inches.
The f2.8 maximum aperture may seem a bit slow for optimum low light shooting, but images are consistently sharp. I did notice very minor corner softness at the maximum aperture and barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range is slightly higher than average. Pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the zoom range should not be a problem except in formal architectural studies. There’s very little visible chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in most outdoor shooting situations, which is impressive for a bargain priced mid level digicam.
Auto Focus
The C5000 uses Olympus’ standard contrast detection iESP TTL AF with nine user selectable AF points. AF is quick and consistently accurate. The C5000’s low light AF capabilities are slightly better than average.
Manual Focus
When Manual focus is enabled (through the C5000’s menu) the LCD displays a bar graph-distance scale focusing display (the up/down arrow keys are used to adjust the focus distance) and the center of the image area is magnified 2x to aid precise focusing.
Macro Focus
The C5000 (like many Olympus digicams) has two separate macro modes, a standard macro mode with a minimum focusing distance of 7.9 inches and a Super macro mode (enabled via the LCD menu) with a minimum focusing distance of 1.6 inches. This makes the C5000 a great choice for shooters who like close-ups. In standard macro mode the C5000’s built-in flash covers evenly with no hot spots or lens shadow. Shooters can use the zoom to compose or crop the image in Standard Macro mode, but in Super Macro mode the zoom can’t be used (it’s limited to one setting at the wide-angle end of the zoom range) and the built-in flash is disabled, so users must shoot natural light close-ups or mount an external flash unit for supplemental lighting.
Flash
The C5000’s multi mode built in flash provides a fairly average range of lighting options: Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill Flash, Flash Off, and Slow Synchro modes. Maximum range for the built in Flash is about 12-13 feet. Nifty C5000 flash features include Slow Synch mode which combines a slow shutter speed with flash to balance ambient light and subject illumination allowing users to avoid the dark or black backgrounds seen in most low light flash pictures. The Flash Brightness adjustment allows users to adjust flash brightness (flash output) +2/-2 EV in one-third EV increments. When using the built-in flash with an external unit, shooters can use this feature to balance lighting between the two flash units for a combination of subtle direct flash and natural looking bounce flash lighting effects in the same image. The built-in flash re-cycles in about 7-8 seconds (with a fully charged battery).
The C5000’s dedicated flash hot shoe replaces the flash sync socket found on the C-4000. Users can now mount Olympus’ compact new FL-20 or the more powerful tilting head (for bounce flash) zooming (matches the focal length setting of the 3X zoom lens) FL-50 speedlight. Users can also mount third party flash units (with a trigger voltage of 5 volts or less) for manually calculated flash coverage. Flash results are consistently above average and the hot shoe is a valuable and very useful feature not usually seen on digicams in this price range.
Image File Formats
The C5000 saves images in seven jpeg format sizes (2,560 x 1,920; 2,272 x 1,704; 2,048 x 1,536; 1,600 x 1,200; 1280 x 960; 1024 x 768; and 640 x 480) or as uncompressed TIFF format files.
Memory Card Format
The C5000 saves images to xD Picture Cards. XD Picture Cards are currently available in capacities up to 512MB. The C5000 ships with a 32MB Olympus brand xD Picture Card.
Connectivity
The Olympus C5000 connects to computers via an "Auto Connect” USB 1.1 port (for downloading images) and connects to a TV via the video out (for reviewing images or instant slide shows). There’s also a DC-in connection for the optional Olympus AC adapter.
Power
Unlike the C4000, which used universally available AA batteries, the C5000 is powered by a proprietary (included) Olympus Li-10B rechargeable Lithium ion battery (the same battery used for the Stylus 300/400 and the C-50Z). An AC charger (LI-10C) is included with the camera. Charging the battery requires about 2 hours. Battery life is a bit below average, approximately 200 exposures on a fully charged Li-10B. Power should be adequate for a moderate full day shooting outing, depending on how heavily the flash and LCD monitor are used.
I’m not sure why Olympus dropped the AA batteries used in C4000 (and didn’t move up to the BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack used in the C5060 in favor of the somewhat underpowered Li-10B, but a back-up battery ($40) will be required for everyone except the most casual shooters.
EXPOSURE
Like its’ predecessors (C3000 and C4000) the C5000 provides just about all the exposure control anyone could ask for, including: Auto, Program, 6 Scene Modes, My Mode, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes. In addition, the C5000 offers advanced amateur shooters an almost professional level of “Tweakability” (the inherent functional flexibility of an electro-mechanical product that allows users of the device to subtly vary a significant number of operational parameters in order to achieve a more precise level of individual control) and usability.
Exposure Modes
Users who don't want to deal with making decisions about shutter speeds and apertures will love the C5000’s Auto mode. In Auto mode the camera makes all exposure decisions. In Program mode the camera selects both the lens aperture and shutter speed, but allows users to select other (ISO sensitivity, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Metering mode, etc.) exposure parameters. In Aperture Priority mode users select the lens aperture (from f/2.8 to f/8.0) and the C5000 chooses the proper shutter speed. In Shutter Speed Priority mode users select the shutter speed and the C5000 selects the proper lens aperture. In Manual mode users select aperture, shutter speed, and all other exposure variables.
The C5000 also provides users with six preset Scene modes (Self-Portrait, 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 faster shutter speeds for sharp subject focus and blurred backgrounds in Portrait mode) for the scene type selected.
Movie Mode
The C5000 features a disappointing and uninspired movie mode that records video clips (without audio) at 320x240 @ 15 fps until the xD Picture Card is full.
Special Exposure Modes
Like most Olympus digicams, the C5000 provides shooters with several special exposure modes. The Sequence mode can be used to capture images at up to 1.7 frames per second. The Panorama mode allows users to shoot up to 10 sequential images and then stitch those shots into a seamless panorama with the C5000’s Camedia 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 and saves them (side by side) as a single image---a great feature for profile and front view mug shots or before and after images (just kidding).
The C5000’s “My Mode” allows users to save 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 setting the Mode Dial to the "My" position. My Mode is genuinely useful feature that allows users to personalize the C5000’s operation.
Exposure Compensation
Very bright or very dark subjects can trick light metering systems, resulting in underexposed or overexposed images. C5000 users can combat this problem by adjusting the camera's default exposure to compensate for difficult lighting/subject reflectance problems with the "exposure compensation" adjustment. The C5000 allows exposure to be modified (in any exposure mode except Manual) מ/+2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
Exposure Bracketing
Very minor exposure differences can affect the overall tone and dramatic appeal of an image. C5000 users can ensure that they’ll get the perfect exposure with the C5000’s auto bracketing function. The camera will capture either 3 or 5 exposures in rapid sequence (with one press of the shutter button) varying the exposure between shots from 0.3 to 1.0 EV.
Metering
The C5000 offers users two metering options, Spot or ESP multi-segment metering. The default ESP multi-segment metering system takes readings from several areas of the frame and instantly evaluates brightness and contrast between the areas to determine the best exposure. In Spot mode the metering system reads the exposure from the center of the image area allowing users to align the center of the frame with the most important element (like the eyes in a portrait) in the composition, press the shutter button halfway to lock the exposure setting (and focus), and then re-compose. Users can also lock exposure (independent of focus) with the AEL button.
White Balance
The C5000’s white balance system provides the broadest color balance adjustment range of any digital camera in its price range: TTL Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten, Daylight Fluorescent, Neutral Fluorescent, or Cool Fluorescent. The C5000 also provides a WB color adjustment function that allows users to fine-tune WB by incrementally shifting the warm/cold balance toward either the red or blue ends of the color spectrum, a feature very rarely seen in consumer digital cameras. The C5000 also provides a manual white balance option as well, that allows shooters to use a white card to ensure perfect color in almost any lighting.
Sensitivity
TTL Auto and ISO (35mm equivalent) 50, 80,160, and 320 settings. Higher sensitivity settings usually come with increased image noise, but the C5000's noise pattern appears to be unusually tight and very fine-grained, making it less offensive than that of most competitive models.
In-Camera Image Adjustment Options
Like it’s upscale siblings the C5060 and the C5050, the C5000 offers a flexible and very useful range of In-Camera Image Adjustment Options that allow skilled photographers 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.
Color Saturation
The C5000’s color saturation can be adjusted in +2/-2 incremental steps allowing users to precisely increase or reduce color intensity. Users can also opt to capture images in B&W or sepia tone.
Contrast
The C5000’s contrast can be adjusted in +2/-2 incremental steps allowing users to balance, enhance, or reduce image contrast for better mid tones, improved shadow/highlight detail, and a broader tonal range.
Sharpness
The C5000’s images can be tweaked +2/-2 increments permitting shooters to precisely enhance or reduce apparent image sharpness.
Noise Reduction
The C5000’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.
CONTROLS, DESIGN, & ERGONOMICS
The C5000 feels well constructed. The camera is 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 C5000 handles like a compact film SLR. Everything is where it should be so the camera is remarkably easy to use and comfortable to handle for extended periods. The control layout is logical and the user interface quickly becomes intuitive.
Advanced photographers can control exposure, light metering, white balance, resolution, exposure compensation/bracketing, ISO setting, flash mode, and much more. Less demanding users can select Auto, program, or one of the preset scene modes to handle pretty much any shooting situation that may arise.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: 5.4 megapixels (2560x1920)
Viewfinders: Real Image Optical and 1.8” LCD
Lens: f2.8-f8.0/38-114mm (35mm equivalent) all glass zoom
Auto Focus: iESP TTL AF with nine user selectable AF points.
Manual Focus: Yes
Exposure: Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual
Metering: ESP Multi Segment and spot
Flash: built-in multi mode and hot shoe for external flash units
White Balance: TTL Auto, six pre-sets (Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten and Fluorescent), and manual
Shutter Speed: 1/1000th of a second to 16 seconds
Sensitivity (ISO equivalent) Auto, 50, 80, 160, and 320
Image File Formats: Jpeg & TIFF
Image Storage Format: xD Picture Card
In Camera Image Adjustment: Yes +2/-2 incremental steps (Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation)
Noise Reduction: Yes
Power: Li-10B rechargeable Lithium ion battery
MSRP $499.00 -- Street Price Range $329.00-$379.00
Included
32MB xD-Picture Card, Li-10B Li-ion rechargeable battery and charger; USB/video cables; Carrying strap; Lens cap; RM-2 Wireless Remote Control; QuickStart Guide, Printed Basic Manual; Warranty Card; Software CD-ROM
Optional
Wide-angle, telephoto, and macro auxiliary lenses, CLA-6 lens adapter, and Olympus FL-20, FL-40, and FL-50 speedlights.
In the Field/Handling & Operation
My friend and I started our C5000 test at the “Great American Train Show” at the Kentucky International Convention Center. The show featured over 10,000 model trains, and some of the most complex model railway layouts in the world. These folks (Model Railway Hobbyists) take their tiny worlds seriously and this stuff is so realistic that it makes for great images The big layout was more than 15,000 square feet with as many as 40 “N” scale trains running simultaneously. The tiny world encircled and crossed by dozens of speeding model trains was absolutely fascinating. The super realistic miniature towns were complete with cars, dogs, houses, factories, airports, shops, restaurants, supermarkets, parks, RR stations, freight depots, mountains, and lakes.
As we walked around checking out the displays, it looked like a convention of retired railroad workers, with dozens of middle aged guys in full engineer/conductor outfits. They all made excellent environmental portrait style photographic subjects. I got one shot of an old guy in full engineer costume leaned over checking out the model train layout with several wide eyed and very spellbound youngsters standing on either side of him. We had a great afternoon and both of us were absolutely fascinated with the tiny trains and their oversized conductors and engineers.
After we finished up at the train show we walked down to the foot of Fourth Street to shoot the colorful old Belle of Louisville. The temperature was 24 degrees and the wind whistling off the Ohio River felt like it had come all the way from up in Northern Canada, but the sky was blue with dark and moody storm clouds gathering and we both felt the old steamer would look great in the weak mid winter light under a sky filled with dramatic clouds. The Belle is the oldest paddlewheel steamboat still plying the rivers of the United States. She’s brightly painted and has an old Victorian gingerbread pilothouse between her two tall stacks. She makes a wonderful photographic subject. For the past forty years the gallant old steamer has raced the Delta Queen almost every year as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. When she isn’t racing, the Belle is very popular with locals for her summer dance cruises.
After finishing up at the Belle we were both freezing, the wind off the river was like a knife that cut right through our coats and gloves, we both wanted to get inside and sit down to something hot and hearty to warm us up. We headed straight for Jay’s Cafeteria, Louisville’s premier Soul Food establishment. Jay’s is best known for BBQ’d Ribs, Southern style pork chops, “real” Kentucky fried chicken, fried okra, chittlins, baked Macaroni & Cheese, scrumptious cornbread, and diet defeating home baked deserts. After we warmed up with some fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, and home-made cornbread we spent a while sneaking (high ISO -- no flash) shots of our fellow diners with the C5000, which did a great job under Jay’s weirdly mixed lighting.
The C5000’s images were consistently excellent. We printed two 8X10’s (one from the train show and one of the Belle) with an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 (on Kodak photo paper) and both showed accurate color, exceptional resolution, and a wide dynamic range. The indoor shot (ISO 320) was a bit grainy and showed some minor noise. The outdoor image (ISO 80) of the Belle was razor sharp, color correct, and just a tiny bit too contrasty.
PERFORMANCE
Image Quality
The C5000’s image quality is excellent, although just about everything we shot was a tiny bit too contrasty and with just a little too much saturation, especially red and the other primary colors. Both the Auto and Daylight white balance settings produced images that were slightly warmer than normal, but the manual WB setting is remarkably neutral. Images are consistently sharp with good detail in both shadow and highlight areas. Image noise is very well controlled. Low light (indoor) shots at higher ISO settings were better than expected.
Timing/Shutter Lag
The C5000’s boot-up cycle is a bit longer than average about 6-8 seconds. Shutter lag is a bit slower than average at higher shutter speeds and with pre-focusing, but noticeably slower than average at longer shutter speeds. My friend tells me he’s heard that the C5000’s shutter lag worsens with larger capacity (512MB) xD Picture Cards. Shot- to-shot times are noticeably longer than average (2-5 seconds) and agonizingly slow when dumping TIFF files to card (which locks the camera). AF lag appears to be about average.
A Few Concerns
The C5000’s most serious shortcoming is the underpowered Li-10B rechargeable Lithium ion battery (the same unit used in the smaller and less power hungry Stylus 300/400 and C-50Z). Olympus’ engineering staff did an exceptional job with the C5000’s power management circuitry, however the battery is just too small to do a proper job. Olympus’ similar sized and featured C5060 uses the BLM 1500mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery pack (developed to power the new Olympus E1 digital SLR) and the C4000 used four AA batteries. The C5000’s arbitrary and stingy (to prolong battery life) power management circuitry hurts the camera’s speed and responsiveness.
The C5000 also suffers from fairly severe red-eye problems (the flash is directly above the lens) and there are only two ways to overcome this predicament (and the red-eye reduction mode ain’t one of them) either remove the red-eye post exposure in photoshop or spring for an Olympus external flash unit.
Conclusion
I loved the Olympus C3000 and absolutely adored the superb C4000. The C5000 is a good digital camera and it’s image quality is on par with any five megapixel digital camera currently available, however due to a couple of design stumbles I just can’t recommend the C5000 as enthusiastically as I recommended it’s predecessors. The C5000 is priced noticeably lower than most of it’s competition so for casual users and landscape shooters this may be the perfect digicam, but if speed, responsiveness, and extended shooting sessions are important considerations----bite the bullet and cough up the extra dough for the C5060 instead.
Links
Check out my reviews of a bargain priced and very capable photo quality ink-jet printer.
Epson Stylus Photo 785 EPX ink-jet printer
http://www.epinions.com/content_60776812164
For definitive advice on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1
For more information about comparable/competitive Digital Camera models you may find the reviews below informative:
Nikon Digital Cameras
Nikon Coolpix 5700
http://www.epinions.com/content_70131814020
Canon Digital Cameras
Canon Powershot G5
http://www.epinions.com/content_104580419204
Canon Powershot S50
http://www.epinions.com/content_93226503812
Sony Digital Cameras
Sony Cybershot DSC F828
http://www.epinions.com/content_124605206148
Sony Cybershot DSC F717
http://www.epinions.com/content_79857684100
Olympus Digital Cameras
Olympus C5060
http://www.epinions.com/content_125810871940
Olympus Camedia C 5050
http://www.epinions.com/content_82693164676
Olympus C50
http://www.epinions.com/content_81891724932
Fuji Digital Cameras
Fuji Finepix S7000
http://www.epinions.com/content_120479321732
