Olympus C-40Z (D-40Z) Review: 5. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

There is very little in the way of controls on the top of the camera, all you'll find here are the shutter release and zoom control. The zoom control is a single speed (non-proportional) type which doubles up as a magnify / thumbnail control in play mode. I found the shutter release button very sensitive. The half press position is literally half a millimetre down and you will therefore find yourself pressing a little harder to 'find' the half-press position.. By this time you've taken a shot. It takes a little getting used to.

Rear of camera controls

A closer look at the rear of the camera and you can more clearly see the moulded thumb grip. Beside this is the large exposure mode dial, display button (which doubles as shooting priority play), the flash / focus mode buttons and the 4-way controller with central OK button.

Exposure Modes

Full Auto

Automatic exposure, no access to exposure compensation, focus modes or any other creative camera options. This is the camera's point and shoot mode.

Program Auto Exposure

Automatic exposure with full access to all manual controls. Camera calculates exposure (shutter speed, aperture and ISO if is set to Auto) based on current metered value (which depends on metering mode). Exposure can be compensated +/-2 EV in 0.5 EV steps by pressing the left or right arrows on the 4-way controller (rear).

Aperture / Shutter Priority / Manual Exposure

Provides access to three manual exposure mode, aperture and shutter priority allow you to select either the aperture (camera calculates shutter speed) or shutter speed (camera calculates aperture). Full manual exposure is also available, in this mode you select both the aperture and shutter speed, the camera indicates how far 'off' the metered exposure your selection is by showing a +3.0 to -3.0 in the top corner of the LCD monitor.

Available apertures:
Wide angle: F2.8, F3.4, F4.0, F4.8, F5.6, F8.0
Telephoto: F4.8, F5.6, F8.0

Available shutter speeds:
16, 13, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3.2, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1, 1/1.3, 1/1.6, 1/2, 1/2.5, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/320, 1/400, 1/500, 1/650, 1/800, 1/1000 sec*

* Shutter speeds above 1/500 sec are dependent on selected aperture and zoom position.

My Mode

My Mode is a special exposure mode which can be pre-programmed with your own set of personal exposure preferences. This is useful for creating a custom exposure mode for particular scene types (such as macro under artificial light, etc.). Each of the following settings can be pre-programmed for 'My Mode' through the record menu:

F. Number	Slow Sync flash
Shutter	Noise Reduction
Exposure Compensation	Digital Zoom
Zoom position	Full-time AF
Flash mode	Voice annotation
Focus / spot meter	Function
Auto / Manual focus	Image Size / Quality
Self Timer mode	White balance
Drive mode	White balance fine tune
ISO sensitivity	Sharpness
Exposure mode (P / A / S / M)	Contrast
Flash compensation	Saturation

Movie Clip

For recording movie clips, press the shutter release to start / stop recording. There are two quality modes available HQ and SQ, both shoot QuickTime Motion JPEG (.MOV) @ 15 fps with or without Audio. Maximum recording times:

• HQ: 320 x 240, max 30 secs
• SQ: 160 x 120, max 140 secs

Self-portrait shooting

Sets zoom (fixed), focus position and exposure settings to the optimum for a hand held self-portrait (holding the camera at arms length with lens pointed towards you).

Night Scene shooting

Selects camera settings for shooting at night, can change zoom, exposure compensation, flash mode (slow / off). Macro mode not available. Presets white balance and ISO sensitivity.

Landscape shooting

Selects smallest possible aperture (for best depth of field). Can zoom and change exposure compensation, white balance and ISO sensitivity are preset. Macro not available. Manual says "blues and greens are reproduced vividly in this mode".

Landscape-Portrait shooting

Similar to Landscape shooting, although we assume uses a different white balance and colour output setting. You can zoom and change exposure compensation. White balance and ISO sensitivity are preset. Macro not available.

Portrait shooting

Uses a large aperture (small F number) to produce a relatively shallow depth of field to 'pull out' the subjects face from the background detail. Can choose between fill-in flash and flash off. Can zoom and change exposure compensation. White balance and ISO sensitivity are preset. Macro not available.

Other Buttons (Shooting mode)

	Flash Mode Toggles through the flash modes: • Auto Flash • Auto with Redeye reduction • Flash Forced On (Fill-in) • Slow sync flash • Flash Off
	Macro Focus / Metering mode Toggles between four macro focus modes / metering modes: • Normal focus / Center weighted metering • Normal focus / Spot metering • Macro focus / Center weighted metering • Macro focus / Spot metering Macro focus mode allows a minimum auto focus distance of 10 cm (3.9 in) instead of 80 cm (normal focus mode).
	Monitor display / Play mode A single press of this button switches the LCD monitor display on or off. A 'double tap' enters the C-40Z's play mode. The camera employs a shooting priority play mode, this means that if at any time there is a half-press of the shutter release the camera returns to shooting mode.
	Shooting Menu / Manual Focus mode A single quick press of this button enters the camera's menu system. Holding the button down for 1.5 seconds or more displays the AF / MF selector. Switching to MF allows you to manually select a focus position using a sliding ruler scale between 10 cm (at full Wide) and Infinity. During focusing the center portion of the frame is magnified.

Other Buttons (Play mode)

	Delete Selects current image for deletion, requires a press of the OK button to confirm deletion.
	Protect / Unprotect Toggles the read-only flag of the current image, protects against accidental deletion.
	Shooting mode If you press this button while in Play mode you return to shooting mode.
	Play Menu / OK In record / play mode enters the menu system. This button also doubles as the OK (confirm) button when selecting menu options.

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