Olympus C-5500

Manual Control Options
The C-5500 Zoom includes Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority modes as well as a full Manual mode on the camera’s main Mode Dial. This allows the user to set and control various aspects of the exposure, using aperture, shutter speed, and ISO ratings to create the desired image.

Auto Focus
The auto focus uses a contrast detection system and can focus as close as 1.9 feet in normal shooting mode. In the Macro mode, the C-5500 can focus from 3 inches to 3.9 feet. In Super Macro mode, the camera can focus from .07 to 3 inches. This camera has an extremely impressive Macro mode; .07 inches is nearly unheard of in this price range.

Metering
The Olympus C-5500 has both Digital ESP and Spot metering modes.

Exposure
Like many digital cameras, the exposure compensation settings lie within the standard -2 to +2 range in 1/3 steps.

White Balance
The Olympus C-5500 uses a through-the-lens multi-pattern system to determine its automatic white balance. If that is not sufficient, users can access the following modes: Daylight, Overcast, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, and a White Balance Compensation mode.

Shutter Speed
The C-5500 can shoot as fast as 1/1500th of a second and as slow as 15 seconds. This is a decent range for the versatile shooter and is manually accessible in Shutter Priority and Full Manual modes.

Aperture
The Olympus zoom lens has an aperture range from f/2.8 to f/4.8 in 1/3 steps. While this appears to be a somewhat restricted range, users can control the diaphragm in both Manual and Aperture Priority modes.