Olympus C-40 Zoom (D-40 Zoom) Review

November 2001 | Phil Askey

Phil Askey, November 2001

(Place your mouse over the image to open the lens cover)
Review based on a full production C-40Z

The tiny Olympus C-40Z (known as the D-40Z in North America) was announced on the 2nd September this year, it entered the market as the first pocket sized (ultra-compact) four megapixel digital camera (and still is at the time of writing this review). In a small almost square case the C-40Z features a familiar Olympus sliding lens cover which also acts as the power switch, behind this we'll find a 2.8x (equiv. 35 - 98 mm) F2.8 - F4.8 lens.

Olympus haven't "dumbed down" this camera, it has a full set of manual controls and is completely configurable, to the extent that it could be seen as a pocket sized C-4040Z, there are very few features which haven't made there way over to the C-40Z.

The rest of the (current) Camedia range

Model name (Japan / Europe)	Model name (America)	Type	Resolution	Zoom
E-20	E-20N	ZLR (professional)	5 megapixel	4x optical
E-10	E-10	ZLR (professional)	4 megapixel	4x optical
E-100RS	E-100RS	SLR-like	1.5 megapixel	10x optical*
C-2100UZ	C-2100UZ	SLR-link	2 megapixel	10x optical*
C-700UZ	C-700UZ	Compact (semi-pocketable)	2 megapixel	10x optical
C-4040Z	C-4040Z	Compact	4 megapixel	3x optical
C-3040Z	C-3040Z	Compact	3 megapixel	3x optical
C-2040Z	C-2040Z	Compact	2 megapixel	3x optical
C-40Z	D-40Z	Ultra-Compact	4 megapixel	2.8x optical
C-990Z	D-490Z	Compact (semi-pocketable)	2 megapixel	3x optical
C-100	Brio D-370	Compact (semi-pocketable)	1.3 megapixel	Fixed
C-200Z	Brio D-510Z	Compact (semi-pocketable)	2 megapixel	3x optical
C-2	Brio D-230	Compact (semi-pocketable)	2 megapixel	Fixed
C-1Z	Brio D-150Z	Compact (semi-pocketable)	1.3 megapixel	3x optical

* Stabilized

Olympus lens?

This is an interesting question, the C-40Z's appears to be identical (all but a very slight spec difference) to the lens found on Toshiba's PDR-M81 and Sanyo's new DSC-AZ1. Both the Toshiba and Sanyo are 4 megapixel digital cameras with a 2.8x F2.9 - F4.8 lens, that lens, on both cameras is labelled as a Canon lens. The other thing that makes this lens so distinctive is the vertically offset position of the lens elements within the barrel.. Spot the similarity in the images below.


Olympus C-40Z (D-40Z)	Toshiba PDR-M81

Toshiba PDR-M81 lens crop courtesy of Imaging-Resource.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions.

Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window.

To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top.

DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2001 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.

Next >