After three weeks of using my new C-5050, I have these words to say about it: I have been a dedicated film user for many years but always wished for the ease and speed of digital. I've been waiting for the digital quality to match the quality of film before spending this kind of money on a new camera. My family has a 2MP Olympus that we have used for vacation photos and snapshots, and the quality of those pictures is what has kept me from using a digital camera for more serious work. When Canon released the EOS-1Ds, I thought that was the perfect digital camera, albeit with a price ten times higher than this Olympus. I thought nothing short of the 11 mega-pixel Canon would produce images nice enough to fool any normal viewer. I have read many of the reviews posted here and elsewhere and even have a relative who uses this model, and after reading what they all had to say I decided to take the plunge and go digital. Out of the box, the pictures this thing takes are amazing. With the right system tweaks, the pictures are shockingly good. I usually print 8x10 inches on an Epson printer, but the pixel count is high enough for larger prints. Even better than the resolution, though, is the amazing clarity and detail you can capture with the nice lens of this camera. Admittedly, you have to turn down some of the camera's sharpening and ISO settings for the best quality, but you would use slower film for smaller grain in any camera. The RAW option is also nice if you want to export directly to Photoshop in 16-bit mode (the Olympus web site has a RAW Import Photoshop plug-in available as a free download), or you can shoot TIFF files (very large file sizes!) for the best quality 8-bit pics. The range of manual overrides is the best thing about the camera as far as I'm concerned - few serious photographers want the camera to do all the work - and the auto modes are simple enough for any family member to use. An all-metal body gives the camera a "pro" feel, too. If you want to show prints to your friends and family that make their eyes pop, you will not be disappointed with this camera. And I almost forgot: It uses the included rechargeable AA batteries, or standard AA batteries, or longer lasting lithium photo batteries. Of all the cameras that I compared this one to, this is the only one that supports AA batteries that you can buy anywhere in the world. Great feature!
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I love mine
It's mid 2015 and my iPhone has become my camera of choice. I got this second hand to use while hiking the mountains overseas where I didn't want to chance having my phone lost or stolen. It got thrown around in my pack a lot, but never complained. Even though the shots are only 5MP, they are amazing clear. The great thing, however is the optical zoom. The resulting picture quality is actually better than on the iPhone 6 with its digital zoom. Landscapes over a mile away come out clear. The quality in doors is good, too. There is a built in flash, plus a hot foot. I expected the 5MP to limit the photos to web and facebook use, but I can actually blow these up to 11 by 14 and still have great quality due to the quality of the optics. The memory card is a weird type, but Amazon carries them. If you can get this for less than $50, then I'd say you are getting a great deal.
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