Olympus FE-5020 12MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Dark Grey)

Other products by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 1 x 3.6 inches ; 3.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002HWRKUM
• Item model number: FE-5020 Dark Grey
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #739 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 21, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Whether you’re enjoying a wedding or a fun weekend afternoon, the new Olympus FE-5020 digital camera will consistently capture extraordinary, in-focus pictures of your family and friends. Inside its new premium crystal shell finish, the FE-50202 packs 12 megapixels, creative in-camera Magic Filters like Pop Art and Pin Hole that make your images stand out, and new AF Tracking that keeps kids, pets, tossed wedding bouquets and other fast-moving objects in focus. It also has a wide-angle zoom lens inside the new super-slim body, so you’ll be able to capture even more friends in one memorable image.

Olympus FE-5020 Highlights

Always Stay Focused
The new AF Tracking technology locks your subject in focus, and continuously adjusts focus and brightness whether you or your subject are moving. This mode can remember the subject if it moves out of the frame. This enables you to keep fast-moving and unpredictable subjects like small children in focus for the perfect shot. There's even a specially designed AF Tracking "Pet Mode" for animal lovers.

Express Your Inner Artist with Magic Filters
In-camera Creative Features recently debuted on Olympus E-System DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras. Similar in-camera Magic Filters have been developed for the new FE cameras. The new Magic Filters enable the user to enhance and customize images as they're being captured. This translates into more fun and flexibility as customization is no longer limited to using expensive and time-consuming computer software.

The new Magic Filters include:

• Pop Art: Enhance and saturate colors to create vivid, high-impact pictures that express the joyful, lighthearted feeling of the Pop Art style of the 1960s
• Pin Hole: Reduce the peripheral brightness of an image as though it were shot through a pin hole, connecting the viewer intimately with the subject at the center
• Fish-Eye: Emulates the wide-angle of a fish-eye lens by taking extremely wide, hemispherical images and magnifying the center of the frame

Capture More of the Photo You Want
Shooting in small spaces where you're unable to back away from your subject has always been a challenge. Now, thanks to the cameras' new wide-angle zoom lenses, it's easy to capture everything and everyone--including group shots at weddings, family reunions and dinner parties. The FE-5020 provides an impressive wide-angle 5x zoom lens (24mm-120mm equivalent). The new lens almost seems to defy the laws of physics as it fits into the slim, ultra-compact body; of course, you'll love how the camera easily fits into a pocket or evening clutch.

Intelligent Auto Thinks For You
Tired of changing the settings on your camera every time you're shooting something different? The new cameras' Intelligent Auto Mode automatically identifies what you are shooting (Portrait, Landscape, Night + Portrait, Macro, Sports) and adjusts settings to capture the best quality results depending on the situation. First-time users will enjoy this quick and hassle-free feature, which does the thinking for them and produces incredible images like a pro.

In Sunshine or Shadows, Never Miss a Detail
Photographers know that shooting scenes with both highlights and shadows can be tricky because of the extreme contrast between dark and bright areas. When using Intelligent Auto on any of the three new FE cameras, Shadow Adjustment Technology is automatically activated to address this challenge. It adjusts for extreme light variations and maintains visible detail in both the shadow and highlight areas of the scene.

Always Find a Face in the Crowd
The new camera's Advanced Face Detection reduces the chance of blurred subjects in photography by distinguishing between people's faces and the background. It tracks up to 16 faces within the image area, even if people are moving, and automatically focuses and optimizes exposure for sharp, brilliant portrait pictures (ideal for large family or group photos).

Perfect Fix In-Camera Editing
The FE-5020 offers Red-Eye Fix, Lighting Fix, Resizing and Cropping so photographers can edit images right in the camera without the need for any editing software.

Versatile Memory
The new FE-5020 offers the flexibility to use either xD-Picture Card or microSD memory cards, which is just one more advantage of Olympus point-and-shoot cameras.

Easy Operation and Help Guides
The new FE cameras feature enhanced In-Camera Help Guides that make digital photography simple and fun for users of all ages and skill levels. In addition to the Help Guide that displays a brief description of camera settings and features on the LCD, all three cameras allow consumers to easily adjust ISO and white balance settings using the Program Auto mode. Additionally, Exposure Compensation enables users to preview and select various exposure effects on a live, multi-frame window on the LCD before snapping the shot. This smart feature allows users to see precisely what the image will look like when adjustments are made, ensuring they are capturing the exact image desired. Program Auto and Exposure Compensation are great modes that enable novice users to get results like the pros while learning about the effects of different photography techniques. Menus are available in 39 languages for convenient operation.

TruePic III Image Processor
The FE-5020 features Olympus' exclusive TruePic III Image Processor, which was developed for the demanding performance of professional Digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. Olympus' enhanced TruePic III Image Processor produces crystal-clear photos using all the pixel information for each image to deliver superior picture quality with more accurate colors, true-to-life flesh tones and faster processing speeds. TruePic III also captures crisp, clear images at high ISO settings.

Olympus Master 2 Software
Use the included Olympus Master 2 software (Mac and PC) to easily download images from the camera or other external device, such as a USB drive, and automatically organize them into albums, edit and print. Update camera and lens firmware through the software and download additional menu languages. A direct link makes uploading your images and videos to YouTube easier than ever.

What's in the Box
FE-5020, LI-42B Rechargeable Battery and Charger, USB Cable, Audio/Video Cable, MASD-1 (microSD Adapter), Wrist Strap, Quick-Start Guide, CD-ROM Manual, OLYMPUS Master 2 Software and Warranty Card.

Product Description

The high-tech and user friendly Olympus FE series is sure to be a hit with users who want high image quality regardless of their budget. The 12-megapixel FE cameras boast up to 5x super wide optical zoom for great panorama shots or close-ups of distant subjects. The Olympus FE-5020 looks especially striking thanks to a double layered crystal shell finish. In addition, it offers a practical AF tracking feature which ensures that even moving subjects are in focus at all times. Also on board are advanced face detection technology and the i-Auto mode, which automatically identifies five commonly-encountered types of scenes and adjusts settings accordingly.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT LITTLE CAMERA, October 18, 2009

By	Phenix (Seattle) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I really love the Olympus FE-5020. It produces very acceptable images for this price range. Olympus is a brand you can rely upon. I also own an Olympus Stylus 500 which I bought 5 years ago and it has produced many great images.

I see that the two previous reviewers here have decided to return their cameras. Don't let that turn you off this camera. I am very fussy about picture quality. I was a professional photographer for 20 years before I left the business. Sure, there will always be cameras that take better pictures, but for this price range you won't go wrong.

The thing about this camera that really appealed to me is the 24mm lens. I also own a Panasonic FZ28 and a Sony HX1, and while they are both superb cameras, they only go down to 28mm on the wide end of the zoom. The Olympus FE-5020 nicely fills that gap. Another thing I love about the FE-5020 is it's compact size. It fits in my jacket pocket and will go with me everywhere. That's a bonus because you can't take photographs when the camera is sitting home because you didn't feel like lugging it around.

I don't find the controls too small. I'm a guy with large hands and have severe carpal tunnel syndrome but I manage nicely in navagating the camera settings.

It is true that you will probably need to manipulate the photographs on a computer. I believe that the beauty of digital photography is the ability to work on a computer rather than breathing the toxic fumes of a darkroom. To me, digital photography is 50% camera work and 50% computer enhancement. If you're not onboard with this, you may want to look elsewhere. The images I enhance on the compter are great. You can either use Picasa which is free or the Olympic Master software included with the camera. I start out with Photoshop Elements 6, enhancing contrast and color saturation.

I opted for the dark gray FE-5020 because I'm old school and think a camera should only be one color--black. I was happy to discover that the dark gray is actually closer to a dark navy blue so I got pretty close to having a black camera.

The neopryne Olympus camera pouch advertised by Amazon fits the camera beautifully and is very nice. I'm going to order another Lithium battery because I'm running it down in about 2 hours of shooting. It would probably last most people longer than that, but I'm always checking each image, zooming in and out of the captured image which really eats up power. I also walk around with the camera powered up when I prowling for shots.

I hope this information is helpful to anyone interested in the camera. I've had mine for about 5 days and just love it. I will try to post a photograph in Customer Images, but I've tried this before and my pictures exceed the size they allow you to post.

Enjoy your image making. I hope you enjoy photography as much as I do.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Features, but Poor Picture Quality, September 19, 2009

By	JMS (Superstition Mountains, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

The features offered are excellent. And the wide angle is unsurpassed--from about 4 feet distance from the camera lens to my object, it captured the 20 ft. to its side which I've never seen capable without a special wide angle lens attachment.

The camera is light-weight, very slim and the menus are easy to access and understand and navigate. There is a built-in memory that will allow for a minimum amount of photo taking and video. You can even put approx. 4 seconds of voice recording to still photos which is great for memos or things you want to remember with a particular photo.

The features allow one to: add brightness in several different levels...select objects in photos to make a 2nd photo out of the original...rotate photos...resize photos...remove red eye...remove shadows...14 different scene modes from portrait to landscape to night to sports to candle to sunset to documents to beach to pets, etc...stabilization mode...fine and standard quality...macro for 5.9" proximity and super macro for 3.9" proximity...10 second self-timer...7 image sizes and each one can also have fine or standard quality...2 movie image sizes with 2 frame rates...lighting features for cloudy, sunny, indoor home, indoor office, indoor lamps, etc...panorama images can be created from 3 images with the software provided...auto focus and auto focus for moving objects...a magic filter which offers special effects and distortions for fun...silent mode if you don't want to hear the sound effects the camera makes...all kinds of fancy playback and viewing/editing features...and even a few more features than this.

I took a dozen photos with the Olympus and then took my 4-to-5-year-old Sony DSC-P200 7.2 megapixel camera and took the same exact photos just seconds apart--same proximity, same lighting, same everything. Then I put them up on the computer. The photos from the Olympus were grainy and bland and the colors were the absolute worst I've ever seen! The photos from my old Sony were crisp and clear and sharp and the colors were vibrant and rich and lustrous. I could not believe my eyes. The green trees with the Olympus looked washed out and with the Sony it was like I was in person looking at the vibrancy of the green palm fronds. Same with skin color, wood cabinetry, and the overall "atmoshpere" around everything. With the Olympus it was washed out and bland and muted, whereas Sony was so crispy, so sharp, and I just can't say enough about the difference in vibrancy and richness of color.

Thus, I have no choice but to return the camera. I will miss the ease and convenience of the wide angle and the menus. But that's why there is such a price difference between a Sony and an Olympus. You get what you pay for. I paid about $300+ for my Sony when it first hit the market years ago. But the most important features are richness and color and clarity of pictures for memories, and this Olympus just does not deliver.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Looks good for the price, but lots of flaws, October 14, 2009

By	Russell N. Balliet - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My Canon SD850 got claimed by the sand dunes recently so I needed to replace it. I was looking for something with a wide angle lens at a decent price. After some research I decided to purchase the Olympus 5020 and here are my thoughts after some time with the camera:

First off the image resolution is decent, but the colors are very flat and don't seem very accurate. Sure you could fix this in post processing, but you shouldn't have to do that. The camera does seem to do well inside with flash as long as the subject is within a few feet. I actually probably could have dealt with the color issue, but the more I played with the camera the more I got annoyed by some other things. Olympus boasts about AF tracking and face recognition, but these modes do not operate simultaneously, you have to pick one or the other and at that neither seems to work well. Also, the stabilization that is a standard feature on most cameras doesn't operate all the time, but has to be selected as a separate shooting mode. One really odd thing that I couldn't figure out is when in the standard "P" mode the camera doesn't shoot in full 12mp, but only 5mp; I went through all the settings, but couldn't figure out why this was happening. Macro mode leaves a lot to be desired, the documentation claims 3cm, but the best I could do was about twice that distance. There's pretty much 0 user control; in some settings you can change the white balance and ISO, but that's it.

Most of the controls are within the menu system, which is easy to navigate, but it means a lot of button pushing to change the type of AF or shooting mode. There are a lot of different scene modes to choose from, but if you want to change the one you're using you have to cycle through all the shooting modes back to the scene mode and pick the new one you want. In my opinion all this stuff should be at the fingertips; not buried in menus. The construction of the camera also feels cheap, the D-pad on the back feels very flimsy and "clicky" when used and the battery door feels like it would snap off very easily. Overall the construction and controls are very clunky and poorly designed.

The bottom line is that this might be a decent first digital camera for someone, but if you're someone like me who has used digital for 7-8 years you'll quickly see that Olympus left a lot on the table with this camera. I really wouldn't recommend this camera to anyone as there are many cameras of this size and resolution out there; I had hope for the 24mm wide angle, but more cameras are offering wide angle now too.

Mine is going back and I decided to spend some more money and get the Panasonic Lumix FX580