Olympus Camedia C5500 5.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom

by Olympus

Product Details

Product Manual [15.21mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0007CZ2UO
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,636 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 20, 2006

Product Description

If you want great-looking shots in a compact, easy to use camera, then Olympus C-5500 SportZoom is for you. The 5.1-megapixel CCD delivers outstanding image color and clarity. With its 5x optical Sport Zoom and 4x digital zoom captures every detail of your image. The 2" LCD makes image framing, recording, and viewing easy, and its 15 shooting modes produce optimum results for any shooting session. Record nice and steady video with the Anti-Shake function or print your photos directly without fussing around with cables or drivers. Super Macro mode enables shooting from as close as 0.8 Histogram reviews and adjusts exposure settings prior to image capture Autofocus (AF) Target Selection focuses on any area of your composition Organize, find and view images with the Calendar function Slideshow features play back pictures on the LCD screen USB Auto-Connect - no software required Ergonomically designed for comfortable extended use PictBridge compatibility for quick and easy photo printing Takes xD-Picture Card (1 16MB card included) Includes OLYMPUS Master image editing/management software Requires 4 AA batteries (not incl.) Dimensions(WxHxD) - 4.9 x 3.3 x 3.9 (110mm x 67mm x 47mm) Weight - 8.6 oz (267g) without battery and media card

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT Camera!, June 27, 2005

By 

Robert J. Deans "Stacy & Bob" (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus Camedia C5500 5.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my second Olympus Camera. I have been using it for 2 months now and it is an exceptional camera. The camera is very easy to use if you give a quick review to the advanced manual on the cd it comes with. The pictures are beautiful quality. I have a cheap photo printer and you really can not see any quality difference between these and ones you would have printed. Set the camera to auto, and ANYONE can use it. The "Mode" settings are great. If you want to take pictures of your kids running around playing, set the dial to scene and the mode to sport, and the camera is automatically set to take pictures in motion. Like I said, just review the guide! Great for begginners to frequent users. Lots of options for setting it up manually also. Seems very sturdy and I love not having a lens cap to keep up with. Videos are nice and sound is clear. I do wish the flash would pop up on its own instead of having to manually do it. PictBridge makes it incredibly easy to print photos from the camera instead of having to transfer them to the computer first :) The red eye and cropping features on the camera are easy to use and work great. It fits nicely into your hand. It will not fit into your pocket, but you wont loose it in your purse either. (I would loose a credit card sized camera in 2 minutes) Off, the camera is 4 1/4" wide and 2" deep. On and with the lens fully extended, the camera is 3 1/4" deep. The 2" screen is clear and bright. You should purchase a larger XD picture card, the included card is waaay to small. You may also want to get an XD card reader that plugs into your USB port. This will allow you to trasfer your pictures to the PC much quicker. It comes with software, wrist strap, all the cables you need to connect to your PC, TV, & printer. Use rechargable AA's to save money, but if you get in a bind, the best feature is that you can stop at the gas station and pick up batteries :) Hope you enjoy it as much as I :)

81 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice camera with a few drawbacks, July 14, 2005

By 

Joseph A. Bergeron (Binghamton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus Camedia C5500 5.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This camera replaced my Olympus C-3020Z. In general it is a substantial improvement over the earlier camera: higher resolution, bigger zoom range, bigger LCD, sound and AV capabilities, a greater range of useful scene modes, and more. The camera is smaller. The flash must be manually popped up for use, which is fine with me, as the flash on the 3020 would go off whenever the camera thought it was a good idea unless it was manually deactivated, which resulted in a lot of pointless or unwanted flash firings. The pictures are excellent. The macro modes are especially impressive.

Nevertheless, the camera falls short of the older model in a few annoying ways:

No neck strap. The camera has only a wrist strap. I for one do not want to walk around with a camera dangling from my wrist. There's not even a provision for atttaching a strap. Ridiculous.

No lens cap. This is actually sort of a wash. The cap on the 3020 had to be removed before powering up the camera, which could be tough for some to remember. It did not attach to the camera very securely, causing it to pop off frequently when placed in a bag. The 5500 has a built-in cover which closes when the camera is powered down. This is convenient, but the thin leaves of the cover seem fragile and cannot provide the same level of impact protection as a cap. They can also easily be drawn back by any object that impinges upon them.

Slow lens. This is the worst part. The wide open speed of the lens is actually the same as on the 3020: f/2.8. However, the lens on the 3020 was physically larger and retained the full f/2.8 aperture throughout its zoom range. The tiny lens of the 5500 starts to lose aperture as soon as you start zooming. It winds up at a slow f/4.8. This is a serious limitation for low-light photography. I would prefer a slightly bigger camera with a lens that was equally usable throughout its zoom range.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Update - this camera has problems for me, July 10, 2005

By 

Meridith Rosendahl - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus Camedia C5500 5.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my second digital camera, the first also an Olympus. With so many features and shooting modes, I did study the manual. I first found that shooting without a flash indoors using the "auto" mode or the "P" (program) mode produced fuzzy images, but using the "Scene - Portrait with Available Light" function, indoor shots are clear. I love not having a removable/losable lens cap. The built in lens cover retracts as the camera turns on. The "Scene - Sports" feature produced incredibly sharp action photos at our local rodeo. The macro and super-macro feature is very good. Closeup flower images come out clear even with a little breeze blowing. I like having an optical view finder. The 5x zoom coupled with the seamless 4x digital zoom (20x max zoom) produced a surprisingly sharp closeup. The one thing that isn't good - and it may be so with all digital still cameras - is the movie feature. The resolution is very low and capturing one frame for use as a photo is useless. Seems to me my older digital did a better job of using a movie to capture a child leaping from a dock so that I could select one frame from the movie to print. Perhaps I need more experience. My previous camera used AA batteries, and this one does too, so my stock of rechargeable AA batteries hasn't gone to waste. The size and weight of the camera are good. The camera comes with the Advanced Manual on CD rom, in PDF format. This is a bit of a pain if you want to have the manual with you, but at least you can print it in any size, and omit the parts (like how to print photos) you don't need. The manual is fairly easy to understand and navigate. The camera is easy to use (once you know where everything is) and I'm very happy with it. I still have much to learn and will probably like it even more. I gave it a 4-star rating only because of the movie problem.

Update: After using the camera for several months I've noted several problems with it. It badly over-exposes when using the "scene" menu. So far, only the point-and-shoot auto settings have resulted in good photos. Doing comparison shots with my old 2.1mp Camedia 2040, and a Nikon Coolpix, all three did a good job on automatic settings. When switching to "Scene" mode for the Sport Zoom, either in "sport" or "landscape" mode, the photos were horribly over-exposed in late afternoon lighting. Olympus has a way to fix this, I think, but when you're in a hurry for a photo, just use the "auto" mode or buy another camera. Instead of 4 stars, I'd give it a 2 1/2.