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THE OLYMPUS C-5500 Zoom, a 5.1-megapixel point-and-shoot with an impressive set of features is the kind of camera that's perfect for every type of user. Newbies will quickly warm up to its extreme ease of use, while more seasoned shooters will be equally enamored by its wealth of advanced features.
Despite its bulky dimensions, which make it a little tough to easily stow in your pocket, the C-5500 bears a smart, ergonomic design. With your hand wrapped around its sturdy grip, the camera's control dial is perfectly positioned neatly beneath your thumb's resting place. Essentially, this puts most of the camera's functions within reach of your thumb and forefinger, giving you complete control with one hand.
The camera offers full Auto and Manual modes, plus Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority settings. Also of note are the C-5500's 15 different scene modes—including Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Sunsets and more—which automatically optimize the camera's exposure settings for common, but sometimes tricky situations.
My Mode lets you custom build your own personal presets, which you can program, store and recall on the fly. Additional features, such as built-in Red- Eye fix and Histogram function, give you the ability to adjust and correct photos directly on the camera's 2" color LCD.
With the Olympus 5x SportZoom, shooters can get up close to the action from a safe distance. An additional 4x digital zoom puts you right in the middle of it, but you'll have to sacrifice some image quality.
A Super Macro setting lets you shoot objects as close as 0.8", for excellent, detail-rich close-ups. The camera's Autofocus Target Selection offers 143 focus zones that enable you to line up a shot and focus in on a variety of areas without reframing the shot.
However, the C-5500 is a little slow on the draw, which makes fast-paced activity slightly difficult to shoot. Similarly, the camera's mild shutter lag presents some challenges at first, but this is easy to compensate for once you're used to it.
–COLLIN KEEFE
C-5500 Zoom: 
Olympus | www.olympus.com | 888-553-4448 | $280
Pros: Easy to use, plenty of features and settings for photographers of all skill levels, 2" LCD screen, PictBridgecompatible.
Cons: Slightly bulky, does not include rechargeable battery, slow autofocus and shutter lag.
Requires: USB port, OS 9.1 or higher, OS X.
macHOME recommends: At least a 256 MB xD card.
Issue reviewed: September 2005
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