Olympus C5050?

[DiverG]

Hi guys, first post in this forum, and first post on Sb in a good while. I found a new Olympus C5050 at a retail shop for $500. The salesperson said he could get the price even lower plus throw in a 2 year warranty at no cost. should I go for it?

Plus what is the difference between the xD picture card and a compact flash card? The way I understand it the xD is a faster medium. Is this true? Is it a lot faster then a compact flash card, and is it worth the extra cost.

 

[Talisman]

I would mate at that price, sounds like a bargain to me and a crackin camera too..

Rob

 

[plsdiver4377]

like a good deal to me. I personally would stick with Compact-flash cards for use though. I personally have noticed a big difference in the speeds of my 512MB Rydata compact-flash card and the 16MB xD card that came with the camera. The Rydata cards are definitely worth the money ($225 for the 512 card if I remember correctly).

 

[Dryglove]

Wow thats a really good price. I just paid 485.00 a few weeks ago for a refurbished unit with a 90 day warranty. It works great so i have no complaints.

Mine came with a XD card but purchased a 256 compact flash card as i picked it up on sale very cheap. It holds a decent amount of pictures depending on wether you choose HQ or SHQ mode. Right now im using HQ as i am just a beginner photographer.

 

[lragsac]

I can't speak to the price issue on the camera, but re the CF vs. the xD card, I would purchase at least a 256 CF card. But do hang on to the xD card as I believe if you ever want to shoot in panorama mode (where you patch together the frames) you need to use the xD card. Someone pls feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this...

 

[Wristshot]

another advantage to keeping the original xD in addition to a Compact Flash card is that with the C-5050 you can have both in the camera, and you can switch back and forth. It is a little like having the "reserve" tank on a motorcycle. No matter how full the CF card gets, you can still have the original 32MB of xD available for that extra special shot.

(just read about it in the manual!)


Wristshot

 

[Dee]

I'd grab it. As already said, get the biggest CF you can afford and use the 32mg XD for back-up.

 

[ssra30]

XD card is supposed to be faster than CF, at least that's what Olympus and Fuji claimed anyhow. However that is not quite true. CF card speed is quite variable, depending on the brand.
If you shoot RAW picture (uncompressed mode, about 7 mb file size), CF card will take anywhere from about 4-8 seconds depending on brand. XD card will take about 5-6 seconds so XD is faster than some CF cards but not all. If you shoot JPEG only ie SHQ, HQ, I doubt you will notice much speed difference. However I would still recommend CF card as last time I check the price (a little over a month ago), CF card is still cheaper than XD card, for the same size card and I was compared fast CF card such as Transcend 45X or Ridata card to Olympus XD card (I was told that Oly XD card is faster than Fuji XD card, not sure if that is completely true or not).

I have old smartmedia card from my old camera so I use smart media card as a backup card in the SM card/XD card slot since the SM card is 128mb. XD seems to be a bit faster but my freebie XD card is quite a bit smaller.

 

[TedJ]

And don't forget you can do those great panorama shots on the xD card but not on others (unless you hack the card).

Edit: I think I also read somewhere that SanDisk has been licensed to produce xD cards which should bring the price down. But I think the CF advice given here is right on target. I'm about to get another 512.

Another thought. Apparently the really big cards may not be readable on the 5050 but the 5060 is compatible with FAT32 so they will be readable with that camera. I'm really not positive about this. Maybe someone who is more knowledgeable will chime in.
TedJ

 

[ssra30]

Hmm, don't know about the size limit on CF card on the Oly 5050. Personally I use a 1 GB card with no problem. I think I did come across something about older C5050 with older firmware version, -75 or earlier may have problem with card bigger than 256mb or something like that.