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

Had it for about 2 months now and have really been working it out. I've used it in many different lighting conditions and have taken quite a few short movies with it. Overall I'm extremely satisfied with the results and general ease of use.

Keep in mind that like most cameras in this price range, it performs better in good lighting conditions and starts to get grainy in lower light (at least without the use of the flash). Startup speed is excellent. Burst mode works very well.

The preset modes are usually spot on for their indended uses. I'd suggest getting a nice set of rechargables as it will go through double-A's in a hurry. I've also seen XD memory cards getting much more affordable so go for the biggest you can get. My 512 gets me about 12 minutes of video or over 400 pics.

This camera is a nice bridge between higher end/higher dollar SLR-like cameras and the 3x zoom drop-in-your-pocket convenience cameras. At a steadily decreasing price it's becoming a better value all the time.

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Not so sure about its clarity...., December 5, 2005
Reviewer: Nereid (Bay Area, CA)
Just got this camera for a good deal on black friday but after some intial photos, I am not so convinced about its clarity.
Many of the photos that had even a slight amount of movement seems to have blurred edges. I am not an expert photographer but this isnt my first digital camera either.
I compared similar photos in my nikon coolpix 3200 and the nikon pics were very clear.
I havent seen any reviews here that complain about the camera except the first one - "worst digital camera in the world" and so i am wondering if i may have got a defective piece (what are the chances of that..i wonder)
otherwise, a pretty good camera. looks big and bulky but fits into your hand pretty neatly.
the pop-up flash is a bit annoying.
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High resolution photos, October 5, 2005
Reviewer: Professor Joseph L. McCauley "Joseph L. McCauley"

25% higher resolution than the Olympus Stylus mu 410, but the Camedia photo program is much better for the latter (at least for the European model). Why such a primitive computer program with such a fine camera? I prefer this camera when weight doesn't matter, but when I look at slides taken with our old Canon 500 or Minolta, I see that they still beat digital, unless you go to the expense of a professional camera.

I should add that the camera manual (booklet and computer versiontoo) is primitive, not informative. Why is this, when the manual written for the European mu 410 is so good? Why this irritating drop in quality? Actually, there is an 8 Mp Olympus now avaiulable, sounds better.
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camera, September 19, 2005
Reviewer: Pawel Boczon "paul"
i like this camera because i can make realy very good pictures ________________________________________________________________

I LOVE IT- I LOVE IT- I LOVE IT, September 12, 2005
Reviewer: Picture Crazy
I was looking for a digital camera, and knew nothing about them other than my word of mouth, that said the higher the mega pixels, and zoom the better off you are. I went out on a limb and got this one, at an excellent price. It is perfect for my needs. It is so easy to use, and easy to download pictures to any pc. The only problem that I have seen, is that it took to long for it to ship. But I am glad that I got.
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Great Camera!, September 10, 2005
Reviewer: Robert Avery "Self Proclaimed Music Expert"
I've now had this camera for about a month now, and it's fantastic, I doubt you could find a camera this good for a better price. The image quality is spectacular. The automatic settings usually will do the job, but when it can't (in poor or unusual lighting conditions), the camera is full manual. The 5x optical zoom, combined with the 5.1mp resolution can make for some great enlargements. Other good features include a tripod adapter, time lapse photography, a variable brightness flash, low light focus assist lamp, audio/video out cable, great macro and super macro modes (allowing you to focus as close as 8cm), customizable presets, histogram overlays(to see what will be under/over exposed), and a delay timer so you can get yourself into the picture.

Also, the camera can record video and audio in .mov format. The quality is like VHS in good lighting, and in poor lighting is dark and grainy. Still, I bought this camera for photography, so this is just a bonus anyway, and it's not bad really.

About the only possible downside to this camera is a little bit of a delay between shots (dropping the resolution a bit lets you use the camera's burst mode, which allows for quicker shooting, and still good quality shots). Also, I recommend you get a larger memory card (I've got a 1gig card that can hold about 280 pictures at the highest quality mode or 26 minutes of video!) and a battery charger.

As for the first review which gave this camera only 1 star(Possibly the world's worst digital camera, April 24, 2005) I can only suggest that he had a defective camera. In most conditions, the automatic settings should have worked fine, and the battery life is very good. If action shots come out blurry, switch to either shutter priority or full manual and turn up the shutter speed to a faster setting. As far as durability, its plastic body seems to be pretty solid.

In conclusion, this camera is fantastic!

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