Olympus's pocket 5MP enthusiast compact — 2002 magnesium body, 38-114mm f/2.8-4.8 zoom, xD card, Li-ion power
The Olympus Camedia C-50 Zoom was revealed at Photokina 2002 as a pocketable 5-megapixel compact aimed at the advanced amateur. It kept the Camedia family's sliding front cover but upgraded the finish with a magnesium alloy body, sitting near the top of Olympus's small-compact range of its day.
It pairs a 5-megapixel 1/1.8-inch CCD with a 3x optical zoom equivalent to 38-114mm at f/2.8-4.8, plus 5x digital zoom. Aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes give more control than typical compacts of the era, though there is no manual focus or manual white balance. Storage is on xD-Picture Card (a 32MB card was supplied), and it was the first Olympus digital camera powered by a dedicated lithium-ion battery, the 1090mAh LI-10B with LI-10C charger.
The C-50 Zoom suits shooters who want an early-2000s CCD compact with priority modes in a genuinely small metal body. The bright f/2.8 wide end helps in average light, but flash range is modest and high-ISO performance is limited by the era's sensor technology, so it is best treated as a daylight and fill-flash camera.
Check that an LI-10B battery and charger are included and hold charge, as proprietary cells this old often need replacing; third-party equivalents exist. The xD-Picture Card format is discontinued, so a working card (16-128MB era) adds real value. Test the sliding cover switch, zoom action and LCD, and look for the usual dead-pixel and sensor-age issues on sample shots.