Olympus C-40Z (D-40Z) Review: 4. Body & Design: Digital Photography Review

SmartMedia Compartment

Your first intelligence test when picking up the C-40Z is finding the SmartMedia compartment, it's cunningly tucked away at the back corner of the camera beside the battery compartment. The door itself hinges upwards to reveal the SmartMedia slot.

I'm always careful not to favour one type of media to another but it's clear that if the C-40Z has an Achilles heel, it's storage capacity. This is a four megapixel digital camera, in SHQ mode you'll get approximately 46 images on a 128 MB SmartMedia card (the largest available at the time of writing this review). Compare this to other compact digital cameras which support Compact Flash and/or Microdrive.

Connections

On the right side of the camera behind a plastic door with a rubber hinge are the C40-Z's connections: a combined A/V out and USB connector and a DC-IN connector (3V).

We have seen the idea of a multipurpose connector before, Olympus supply an A/V out cable and a USB cable both of which end in the same plug.

Lens

The C-40Z has an extending 2.8x, F2.8 - F4.8 lens with an equiv. focal length range of 35 to 98 mm. Its slightly strange vertically offset lens elements (note, they're closer to the top of the lens barrel than the bottom) is remarkably similar to the extending Canon lens used on Toshiba's PDR-M81 and Sanyo's DSC-AZ1, all lenses have identical specs but on the Toshiba and Sanyo are labelled as a Canon lens. Is this another case of Canon OEM lenses labelled as different things by different manufacturers?

Base / Tripod Mount

On the bottom of the C-40Z we find a plastic (boo) tripod mount mounted fairly centrally within the confines of the base. Clearly with the C-40Z mounted on a tripod it wouldn't be possible replace the batteries or change SmartMedia card. Although this isn't likely to be an issue to the cameras target user.

Internal Flash

The C-40Z's small flash has a specified range of 0.8 - 3 m at wide angle and 0.25 - 1.75 m at telephoto. It does look to be mounted sufficiently far enough away from the lens not to cause too many redeye problems. Note that the C-40Z doesn't have an auto focus assist lamp, the window beside the flash is the receiver for the Infrared remote control.

Supplied In the Box

The contents of the retail box are:
(may vary by region)

• Olympus C-40Z (D-40Z) Digital Camera
• Wrist strap
• CR-V3 Lithium battery (non-rechargeable)
• 16 MB SmartMedia card
• A/V cable
• USB cable
• Basic manual, Quick Start Guide
• Remote control
• CD-ROM - USB driver, PDF manual

Accessories

Availability of accessories may vary by region.


SmartMedia Additional SmartMedia cards, available up to 128 MB in size.	MA-2 PCMCIA adapter. Access SmartMedia cards (up to 32MB) as an external hard disk on PCMCIA compatible computers.	MAFP-2 Floppy adapter. Flash Path adapter allows SmartMedia cards (up to 32MB) to be read in a 3.5" drive (with drivers).


BU-40SNH 4 x NIMH batteries and battery charger	PT-012 Underwater housing Allows the C-40Z to be used underwater (to a depth of 30m). Available only in certain regions.

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