Olympus C-5060 Wide ZoomOlympus makes a strong update to the top of their prosumer lineup<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 11/21/2003 |
In keeping with my standard test policy, the comments given here summarize only my key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the C-5060 Wide Zoom's "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource product tests, I encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the camera performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how C-5060's images compare to other cameras you may be considering.
- Color: Excellent color, appropriate saturation, and
excellent ability to "tweak" the white balance settings. The
C-5060 produced pleasing, accurate color in most circumstances, with
appropriate saturation. Outdoors, in the high-key lighting, the cameras
somewhat high native contrasted tended to produce slightly dark-looking
colors, but the contrast adjustment was largely effective in taming
the contrast.. I most often chose the Auto white balance setting, though
it had a tendency to produce slightly warm results. Note though, that
the excellent white balance "tweak" adjustment could be set
to pretty effectively compensate for this, even though I chose not to
use it in most of my shots, since I wanted to provide a valid reference
for the camera's baseline capabilities. - The C5060's ability to make
fine adjustments in the camera's white balance settings independently
for each white balance operating mode is not to be underestimated: This
is a flexible, powerful capability that greatly extends the usefulness
and color accuracy of the camera. The 5060's manual white balance option
proved itself capable of handling a very wide range of lighting situations,
neutralizing the very strong yellow cast of the household incandescent
lighting in my Indoor Portrait test with little difficulty. (In the
process, it introduced a slight greenish cast, but here again, the white
balance tweak adjustment easily corrected it.) Overall, color looked
very hue accurate and appropriately saturated, but I did find myself
liking the slightly brighter color of the earlier 5050 a bit more. That
said, the 5060 delivered excellent color under a wide variety of conditions.
- Exposure: Accurate exposure, good dynamic range,
but high default contrast. Excellent contrast adjustment capability
though. The C-5060 did a good job with exposure, requiring less
exposure compensation than average on the high-key Outdoor Portrait,
and about an average amount on the Indoor Portrait (without flash).
Contrast was high under the harsh sunlight outdoors, but a minor contrast
adjustment helped bring the midtones up. (As with its flexible white
balance adjustments, the C-5060's fine-grained contrast and saturation
adjustments really let you customize the camera's response to match
your personal preferences and the demands of your shooting conditions.)
Despite its somewhat high default contrast, the C-5060 proved to have
a very good dynamic range, capturing good detail in both highlight and
shadows on the outdoor house shot.
- Resolution/Sharpness: Very high resolution, 1,250-1,300
lines of "strong detail." The C-5060 performed very well
on the "laboratory" resolution test chart. It started showing
artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 900~1,000 lines
per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical directions. I found
"strong detail" out to at least 1,300 lines horizontally,
1,250 lines vertically. "Extinction" of the target patterns
didn't occur until about 1,700 lines.
- Closeups: Excellent macro performance, even with
the flash, "Super" macro gets really close. The C-5060
performed very well in the macro category, capturing a minimum area
of only 3.04 x 2.28 inches (77 x 58 millimeters) at the normal setting.
In Super macro mode, results were quite a bit better, at 1.32 x 0.99
inches (33 x 25 millimeters). Resolution was very high, with excellent
detail in the dollar bill, coins, and brooch. Corner softness was very
slight in the right side of the frame. The C-5060's flash throttled
down well for the macro area, producing a very even exposure with only
a slight reflection in the brooch. (Note though, that the flash is disabled
in Super Macro mode, so you'll need external illumination for the very
closest shots.)
- Night Shots: Really(!) excellent low-light performance,
with great color balance and very low noise, even without Noise Reduction
enabled. A bright autofocus-assist illuminator, too. With full manual
exposure control, adjustable ISO, and a maximum exposure time of 16
seconds, the C-5060 has no trouble with low-light shooting. It produced
clear, bright images down to the 1/16 foot-candle (0.67 lux) limit of
my test, with good color at all four ISO settings. Most impressive was
the C-5060's handling of image noise. Even with the optional Noise Reduction
disabled, noise was very low. An excellent job(!)
- Viewfinder Accuracy: A tight optical viewfinder,
but nearly accurate LCD monitor. The C-5060's optical viewfinder
is quite tight, showing about 77 percent frame accuracy at wide angle,
and about 81 percent at telephoto. (A shame, given how low the camera's
power consumption is with the LCD turned off.) The LCD monitor proved
much more accurate, showing about 97 percent of the frame at both zoom
settings. Given that I like LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent
accuracy as possible, the C-5060's LCD monitor has only a little room
for improvement, but I'd really like to see a more accurate optical
VF.
- Optical Distortion: High barrel distortion at wide
angle, though telephoto has virtually no distortion. Optical distortion
on the C-5060 was a little higher than average at the wide-angle end,
where I measured approximately 1.0 percent barrel distortion. (Average
is 0.8 percent barrel distortion, which is still too high, IMHO.) The
telephoto end fared much better though, as I couldn't find even one
pixel of pincushion or barrel distortion. Chromatic aberration was fairly
low, showing only a few pixels of relatively faint coloration on either
side of the res target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very
slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of
view on the resolution target.) The 5060's lens also holds sharpness
across the full frame better than most, with relatively little of the
softening in the corners that I've come to expect from prosumer-grade
digicam lenses. All in all, the 5060's lens appears to be of higher
than average quality.
- Shutter Lag and Cycle Time: The C-5060 Wide Zoom is a pretty fast
camera overall. It starts up and shuts down a little slowly, but its
full-autofocus shutter lag is better than average relative to other
cameras in its class, and shot to shot cycle times are quite good as
well, at about 1.5 seconds per frame, with a buffer that holds a minimum
of four shots in single-shot mode, and seven shots in low-speed continuous
mode. Continuous shooting speed is a little mixed, merely average at
1.3 seconds/frame in normal continuous mode (buffer size of 7 large/fine
frames), but very fast at 3 frames/second in high-speed continuous mode
(buffer size of 4 frames, regardless of resolution). All in all though,
a fairly impressive performance, a good if not exceptional choice for
sports and other action shooting. (A few cameras have higher-speed continuous
modes, as well as modes that capture images continuously before you
release the shutter button. That's a handy feature that the 5060 lacks,
but its performance otherwise is very good indeed, particularly its
autofocus speed.)
- Battery Life: The C-5060 shows really excellent battery
life, among the best in its class. In particular, it consumes almost
no power when its LCD is off in capture mode, meaning you can leave
it on and ready all day long without significantly affecting your battery
life. In its worst case power-drain mode (capture mode with the LCD
on), a freshly-charged battery should last for 3.9 hours, much better
than average. As noted above, I always advise readers to purchase a
second battery along with their camera, so they'll always have a spare
ready to go, but the C-5060's excellent battery life means that some
people will probably be able to get away with just the battery that
comes with the camera. (Personally, I'd still purchase a second battery,
but you may prefer to save the expense and put the money into a larger
memory card instead.)
Conclusion
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