Olympus Readies Camera for Shutterbugs

Looking for a digital camera that both photo enthusiasts and novices can share? The new Olympus C-5000 Zoom, scheduled to ship in October, offers something for everyone.

Olympus has set a $600 list price for the 5-megapixel camera, and expects it to sell for about $500. Accessories, however, could drive up the cost of ownership.

The C-5000 offers a wide range of controls, including the capability to enhance the lens with add-ons, and to manually set a picture's exposure. For users who just want to take pictures without thinking about the technical details, it features the basic point-and-shoot capabilities found in most consumer cameras. There are also six presets for specific types of pictures, such as nighttime shots and sports photos.

The C-5000 also offers the sort of full manual control operation that camera geeks have expected for years from their 35mm single-lens reflexes (SLRs).

You can customize the controls as well, creating your own presets for shooting things Olympus didn't think of. And there are programmable buttons to take you to your favorite menu options quickly.

All About Accessories

As any real shutterbug knows, the camera is only the beginning of your expenses. The C-5000 offers plenty of opportunities to spend more money.

For example, Olympus offers optional wide-angle and telephoto lens adapters that work on top of the existing lens. However, to use one of them, you need an additional adapter, listed at $25. The telephoto and wide-angle adapters are priced at $200 each.

Of course, most people will probably be happy with the 3X zoom lens that comes with the camera. It's 38mm to 114mm equivalent, and even supports macro photography of objects as close as one inch away.

Power Problems

But getting away with not buying an additional battery will be more difficult. The camera comes with a lithium ion battery and a recharger that, according to Olympus, can recharge the battery in just two hours.

The problem with this battery is that it isn't a standard size. You can't, in an emergency, run to the nearest drugstore and buy some standard batteries. The only way you can prepare for the battery dying in the field is to buy a second Olympus battery. The cost is $70 list, probably about $50 street.

But the C-5000 does accept some standard accessories. It has a hot shoe for attaching add-on flash devices. There are plenty of flashes that will work with it, and they're generally more powerful and/or more versatile than the built-in flash.

At 4.1 by 2.9 by 1.8 inches, the C-5000 is about 20 percent smaller than the C-4000 Zoom, the 4-megapixel camera that Olympus released last year at about the same price. It comes with a 32MB XD-Picture Card, USB and video cables, a wireless remote for those times when you want to be in the picture, and Camedia Master picture editing software.