Olympus C-2040 Zoom

Richard Hallas examines the 2.1 Megapixel digital compact camera

This review is one of a series of articles, of which the main feature is Choosing a Digital Camera. You may jump to one of the other related articles by using the following links:

• Choosing a Digital Camera (main feature)
• Olympus Camedia C-2100 Ultra Zoom
• Olympus Camedia C-3040 Zoom

The C-2040 Zoom is a digital compact camera with a 2.1 Megapixel imager, offering a maximum resolution of 1600×1200 pixels. It is a brand-new model, and the latest in the range that began with the C-2000 Zoom (introduced in 1999).

In terms of overall specification, the C-2040 Zoom is broadly similar to the C-2100 Ultra Zoom, but in a compact case and with the notable absence of the 10× zoom lens. A 3× zoom, which is fairly common for a compact camera such as this, is very useful in itself, so if you don't need the 10× zoom then this camera makes a much cheaper alternative to the SLR model. The viewfinder on this compact model is of course a regular optical one, and includes a dioptre adjustment wheel. Although it's reasonably accurate (probably no better or worse than any other camera), it's certainly not wholly dependable, and shooting with the LCD monitor as a viewfinder is a much better option, even though it does eat up battery power.

This camera is extremely small and neat, and both ergonomic and easy to use. The only major shortcoming of the design is that, when you turn the camera on, the lens housing extends out of the camera's body, which means that the lens cap must be removed first. If you do forget to remove the lens cap, then you'll hear a rather sickening grinding sound when you turn the camera on! Having done this several times with my own C-2000 Zoom, I can confirm that it's an alarming noise, even if no lasting damage is done (and I've experienced no adverse side-effects, so far at least!). This single consideration mars what's otherwise a very neat design.

As the cheapest compact camera in its class, the C-2040 Zoom appears to have had some minor compromises made to its design. No infra-red remote control is included in the box, though the camera is fully capable of being used with one. The choice of 1280×960 resolution is inexplicably missing from the range of resolutions it offers, and there is no sepia shooting mode. All of these shortcomings are trivial. However, two further omissions are more serious.

First of all, whilst a movie mode is available on the camera, there is no built-in microphone, nor any other sound input capability, so all movies will be silent. This also means that there is no still picture captioning facility on this model. Depending on your intended uses of a digital camera, this may not matter to you, and movie and sound capabilities are quite a recent addition to digital stills cameras anyway.

Secondly, a point which is important to users of RISC OS computers is that this camera has no RS232-C serial connection, and features only a USB port. (Its predecessor, the C-2030 Zoom, did have a serial port.) This means that, if you intend to use the camera with current RISC OS-based hardware, you will have to purchase a separate SmartMedia reader, such as the one which (at the time of writing) is just about to be introduced by Surftec Ltd. Photodesk Ltd is also apparently able to supply card readers with cameras bought from them.

Aside from the trivial omissions mentioned above, the C-2040 Zoom offers the same range of advanced photographic options as the C-3040 Zoom. The C-2100 Ultra Zoom has a few further minor options of its own, but there is little difference between any of the three models in this respect. All provide an admirable range of options which work well. Consult the camera specification table at the end of the main article for precise details.

As an owner of a C-2000 Zoom (the original model in this range), I was interested to see how this new camera's physical design has been improved. Some of the controls have moved around slightly (an improvement overall, though it took me a while to get used to the new layout), there is a greater range of photographic options on the menu system, and the motorised lens housing now feels (and sounds) smoother and more robust. However, there are three physical improvements which, though they may sound trivial, I found particularly pleasing. Namely:

1. The lens cap now comes with a cord and can be attached to the camera's body, so you can now just release the cap and drop it (leaving it to hang under the camera) rather than worrying about losing it.
2. The door of the battery compartment is vastly improved. Previously it was very difficult to close (you had to press it down hard while trying to turn an embedded lever), but now it slides a short distance before hinging open, which makes it far easier to close when the batteries have been inserted.
3. The hooks for the neck strap are now sited such that the camera is level when hanging around your neck; previous models used to hang at a peculiar twisted angle.

There are other minor improvements, such as a screw-on cover for the external flash connector (rather than a push-on top that's easy to knock off and lose), and support for a wider range of battery types (including long-life CR-V3 lithium packs). Overall, the impression is that a lot of careful thought has gone into the physical design, quite apart from the excellence of the camera's internals.

The overall conclusion has to be, therefore, that this is a really excellent camera. Certainly I have been absolutely delighted with my C-2000 Zoom in the two years that I've owned it, and this new model is 'the same but better'. It's certainly at least as good as any other 2.1 Megapixel model on the market. The only real question is whether to pay more and go for the C-2100 Ultra Zoom with its 10× zoom lens.

USB note

Sample pictures

The following miscellaneous pictures were all taken with my own C-2000 Zoom, which has an identical still-image specification to the C-2040 Zoom.

Thanks to Olympus Optical Co. (UK) Ltd for providing a C-2040 Zoom for review

The photographs supplied with this article are copyright © Richard G. Hallas