Olympus c-5050

I'm thinking of buying this camera to supplement my film camera.

 

My question. I realize that all 5 megapixel digicams with the 1/1.8"

sensor have a problem with noise and CA. But this one seems to have

more flexibility in terms of the size of images you can shoot than

the Canon G5/s-50 have. You can pretty much set it to work as a 4

megapixel camera, as well as shoot interpolated shots at 3200 x 2400.

 

The c-5050 has theseResolution Options:

 

3200x2400(OIE Mode)

2560x1920

2560x1696 (3:2 mode)

2288x1712

2048x1536

1600x1200

1280x960

1024x768

640x480

 

The G-5 only has these:

 

2592x1944 (Large)

1600x1200 (Medium 1)

1024x768 (Medium 2)

640x480 (Small)

 

If I keep it set at 2048x1536, will that elimate the noise and CA?

 

Then I'll always have the option of stepping it up to 2560x1920 when

I have time to fuss with the lighting.

 

Or is this just irrelevent in terms of CA and noise?

The CA is a lens feature. It's mostly at the widest angle. It's worst when objects are against a bright background. You have to work around it with composition and framing. Noise is a product of low light level. Even in a normally, adequately exposed scene, there can be noise in shadows. Noise is amplified along with signal; when you select a higher ISO you raise the noise level. So you see none of this has anything to do with image size.

I use the C-5050 to photograph closeups of food for our restaurant. In that real world situation, the camera is perfect. I've emailed photos, printed a few cropped 8x10 and posted on our website with out any issues. I can email you some photos if youd' like.....Warren

My whole family has C5050 cameras and we're just learning. We use them at the HQ 2560x1920 setting. That gives me 52 images on a 64 xD card. I tried a shot at the highest resolution and it reduced the number of images to about 33 images and gave a fine image. At the 3:2 format I get 58 images.

 

I find the HQ 256x1920 setting to be excellent for finely detailed 5x7 and 8x10 inkjet prints and I want to try to get some larger images done at a lab.

 

We love these cameras. Once you get used to the button functions, they are easy to use.

Stanley: I too was concerned with reports on noise and CA with the Olympus, but the results in practice have been pretty good.

One issue with noise is simply to tune down the in-camera sharpening a little bit (-2 on a scale -5..5). This reduces the apparent noise and maintains resolution of fine detail.

The other issue is to keep the ISO low. I find that the camera program mode almost always chooses iso 64 and occasionally goes to iso 125 (this was shooting indoors, handheld without flash).

I have seen a slight evidence of CA at the wide-end, but this only visible if you zoom over 100% on Photoshop, otherwise it is just a slight softening of edge contrast. No it is not as good as my Contax G lenses, but I find it very acceptable given the price and features of the Olympus.