With every vendor vying to offer more megapixels, we're not overly surprised by Olympus' 6-megapixel entry in the ultracompact category. Find out what else is new in this preview.It's not even the middle of the year, but Olympus has already had a busy start. In February, the company unveiled six new cameras at the Photo Marketing Association trade show, and earlier this month at CeBIT, two more Olympus models debuted, including this 6-megapixel update to last year's Camedia C-50 Zoom.
Upside: Like its predecessor, the C-60 is basic enough for beginners but has the manual controls that enthusiasts crave. This Camedia's F2.8-to-F4.8, 38mm-to-114mm (the 35mm-camera equivalent) 3x zoom lens can handle most shooting situations. PictBridge support enables direct printing, and a new version of the TruePic Turbo processor reportedly speeds up processing and playback. Olympus also added its Dual Auto Focus system, which is supposedly smart enough to determine your subject's distance from the lens and respond accordingly. This feature has trickled down from higher-end models, such as the Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom.
Downside: At a list price of AU$799, the C-60 will likely be too expensive for some newbies. And while the camera has what the photo chops enthusiasts look for, they may think it's not advanced enough to be worth the money. The C-50's LCD worked poorly in dim conditions, but Olympus claims that the C-60's screen automatically adjusts to the surrounding light. We'll see.
Outlook: When it came out last year, the C-50 was the most compact 5-megapixel camera we'd seen. Now, the market is crowded with high-res, ultrathin options; take Sony's 5-megapixel Cyber Shot DSC-T1, for example. If our tests bear out Olympus's processing claims, chances are that the Camedia C-60 Zoom will be a worthy competitor in this burgeoning category.
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