WHAT'S HOT: There's a lot to like about the C-5050 Zoom, starting with the quality of its photos. In our lab tests, this 5-megapixel model earned some of the highest image-quality scores we've recorded to date. The camera produced exceptionally fine detail, accurate exposures, and bright colors, with solid whites. The only exception was an underexposed flash shot of our model. We were equally pleased with most pictures taken outside the lab. Close-up photos of a butterfly had very fine details and excellent color. Indoor shots with flash were a bit less impressive. All preserved fine details and had sharp focus, but the color seemed a bit cold in some.

Each generation of Olympus cameras we review seems to have a better interface. With the C-5050, Olympus took a new approach to combining control buttons and menus. Press a button (for the focus modes, for example), and a menu with large, easy-to-decipher icons pops up. Spin a dial on the back of the C-5050 with your thumb, and the menu options rotate into a selection box. This routine works for many of the camera's most commonly used image settings, including flash modes, exposure value (EV) settings, metering controls, bracketing, and the self-timer. This arrangement is much easier to cycle through and interpret than the obtuse buttons and layered menus used on the Nikon Coolpix 5000--a camera whose design closely resembles the C-5050's.

You can use a wide array of memory media with the C-5050. It comes with a 32MB XD-Picture Card--the tiny memory media that's currently used primarily in cameras from Olympus and Fujifilm--but alternatively you can install a SmartMedia or CompactFlash card, or an IBM Microdrive.

WHAT'S NOT: As usual, we were unimpressed by Olympus's documentation. The included four-language printed manual supplies only the basic information needed to take photos with the C-5050. More advanced instructions are inconveniently sequestered in Acrobat files on an accompanying CD. Consequently, we had to fire up our PC just to figure out how the manual focus works. Another annoyance: If we turned the camera on without first removing the C5050's lens cap, the camera emitted a distressing grinding noise and beeps of protest.

WHAT ELSE: The C-5050's boxy shape is too big to fit in anything smaller than an overcoat pocket or small bag. Still, it is well designed, with a solid grip and several controls--such as zoom shooting mode (manual, movie, programmed, and so on)--that can be operated with the right hand alone. Most of the button/menu combinations are easier to control two-handed. In particular, the "one-touch" white balance calibration is anything but; in addition, it's buried well down in the menus. We would have preferred a dedicated button, like the one Olympus used on its E-series cameras

The C-5050 has a fold-out LCD panel that can rotate 90 degrees. It's suitable when you need to hold the camera overhead or down low, but it's less adjustable than the panels found on the competing Canon PowerShot G3 and Nikon Coolpix 5000. Olympus bundles rechargeable nickel-metal hydride AA batteries and an external charger with the C-5050; it can also take standard AAs or high-capacity (but nonrechargeable) lithium ion CR-V3 batteries. We took 372 shots on a single charge of the included batteries--a little better than the average of the cameras we've tested.

Available accessories include a 55mm circular polarizer filter, a macro extension lens, and a teleconverter lens. Step-up rings enable you to attach lenses designed for 46mm and 55mm camera lens barrels.

UPSHOT: A powerful challenger to Nikon's Coolpix 5000, the Olympus C-5050 should be a top choice for advanced photographers. It takes great photos, is easier to use than its rival, and earned a Best Buy when it debuted on our Top 10 chart.

SUMMARY

Olympus C-5050 Zoom $