A very impressive digicam!

Author's Rating:

Pros: lots of practical features; gorgeous image; raw/tiff format; great ergonomics & a real beauty

Cons: tiny, cheap viewfinder; clunky software with no Adobe PS plugin for raw files

The Bottom Line: 
Lots of professional features that are immensely useful. Owning the Oly 5050z has made me a better photographer. What more could you want!

Author's Review
The Oly 5050z is a fantastic intuitive compact camera with so many professional & useful features that it's hard to list them all. I'll describe the qualities & technical features I like best & why (all 10 of them!) and will then move into my complaints.

First, it's a real beauty with great ergonomics, & a sturdy, solid build. Still, it's compact & light enough to carry around your neck most of the day. If you're tired of lugging around your large unwieldy SLR but still want control over image production, this is your camera. It's not a point & shoot camera (even though you can leave everything up to camera if you wish) but is best suited for someone who can make use of its many technical features.

Second, this camera produces wonderfully sharp & clear images, especially at 64 and 100 ISO. It also captures both light & dark skin tones well--the tones are realistic & neutral. This ability is not always a given in digicams, which tend to make skintones ruddy &/or artificial looking. There's been complaints about noise & CA (purple fringing) by certain folks at the Olympus forum on the Digital Photography Review website (www.dpreview.com) but I haven't had these problems. However, if I did, I'm sure Adobe Photoshop could easily take care of the noise & fringing with just a few clicks of the mouse. So far, I've been very pleased with the quality of its images, preferring it to my other digicams, the Fuji 2800 (a great automatic point & shoot by the way with an impressive 6x optical zoom) and the Canon G2 (wonderful digicam but tends to be aggressive in its sharpness). I have more control with the Oly 5050 (can choose saturation & sharpness levels)& can make decisions later when processing with Photoshop.

Third feature: Fast bright lens. This camera works great in low-light situations, unlike most other digicams. Here the AF illuminator, a strong red beam that helps you to focus, is indispensable.

Fourth feature that I'm especially taken with is the live histogram, which helps you with exposure and dynamic range. You can also pull up the histogram both prior to & after shooting.

Fifth: Bracketing! This is really a wonderful feature that allows you to take a number of shots at various settings so you can get everything just right. I cannot stress enough what a useful feature this is!

Sixth feature: The camera takes several types of digital media (SM, CF, xD, IBM MicroDrive) & you can even have both a SM or CF card and an xD card loaded simultaneously. With the switch of a button you can move between the two cards. Handy!! A good feature for those who are afraid that SM might be disappearing!

Seventh great feature: Not only does it take non-proprietary AA batteries (yah!!) but it has very impressive battery use with rechargeable NiMHs.

Eight feature: The built-in flash works better than most compact cameras & with the optional FL-40 you get TTL metering.

Ninth feature: Large, super bright LCD monitor that you can pull out & tilt at various levels.

Tenth great feature: records in raw/tiff format, ensuring that you don't lose image quality through compression.

I have only two complaints about this otherwise fantastic camera. 1) The viewfinder is cheap & small, resembling that of a one-time use camera (I'm only slightly exaggerating here!). You can barely see through it & have to press it uncomfortably close to your face, smashing your nose. I've had to train myself to use the tilting LCD monitor which is quite large. However, while the monitor is large, bright, flexible & fun to use, I still regret not being able to use the viewfinder. 2) Simply awful Camedia 4 software. Layout is clumsy & not all attractive. If you want additional features you have to update, that is, purchase the pro version. However, I'm forced to use it for the raw format. I wish Olympus would come up quickly with an Adobe Photoshop plugin for raw files. It has a plugin for the E-20 but it doesn't work with the 5050z.