C3040 bad Focus in corners

Hi,

I just bought the C3040.
It looks great and very polyvalent. I surely have to read and try a lot.

Something bothers me right away tough :

When the lens is extended, it is not firmly maintained and allows a slight side to side movement, as if it was slightly loose. Is this normal ? Should I worry and bring it for a check ?

It is working fine and pictures are all right. Except that I noticed that the corners of the images are slightly fuzzy, as if out of focus. It is not obvious in all pictures as it is often the subject in the center of the picture that is properly focused, but one corner (upper left) is definitely less sharp than the others.

I didn't notice such an aberrance in the sample pictures of dpreview site. So, I am asking the same question : is it normal ? Or should I let it check ?

Thanks

Yves

Congrats on your purchase.

Yves48854 said:

When the lens is extended, it is not firmly maintained and allows a
slight side to side movement, as if it was slightly loose. Is this
normal ? Should I worry and bring it for a check ?

Click to expand...

This is normal. And you may be concerned with a tick, tick noise in addition to gear noise when the lens is moving on power on. That is normal too.

Yves48854 said:

It is working fine and pictures are all right. Except that I
noticed that the corners of the images are slightly fuzzy, as if
out of focus. It is not obvious in all pictures as it is often the

Click to expand...

Please post the picture for us to review. Any image will have shortcomings in a tough situation. However a picture of a brick wall taken straight on in daylight at around 50mm equivalent on autoexposure should be sharp in all areas.

Cheers,
Peter

From Yves to Peter A. Stokes.

Thanks Peter for your answer.
It reassures me to see the "looseness" of the lens is normal.

Moreover I did take a brick wall and I did notice an obvious difference in the upper left and right corners. I also took a picture up-side-down and rotated it to compare. My conclusion is that one side (left side) is definitely less sharp than the rest of the picture.

When you say "post us pictures for review", what do you mean exactly : should I send them to your e-mail adress ?

Thanks in advance

Yves

For help on posting photos, click on "+Help/Suggestions" on your screen while composing a message. It will explain what to do. You need to have a Web site where you can place the picture.

That was a smart idea to take the picture upside down. So maybe there is a difference. I guess you need to decide how much it bothers you.

Regards,
Peter

Yves said:

It is working fine and pictures are all right. Except that I
noticed that the corners of the images are slightly fuzzy, as if
out of focus.

Click to expand...

Before I bought my 3040 I read a lot of posts here about some of the 3040 cameras having a "soft left side." In other words, the pictures were not consistently sharp. Many said they returned their cameras to Olympus for repair.

When I bought my camera that was the first thing I checked and happily it did not have that problem.

If your camera is new, and you can exchange it, I would strongly suggest you do so.

Why keep a camera that you are not totally happy with? And why have to return it for repair and be without for any length of time.

And, if I may get this off my chest...

I find consumers in the digital camera world (myself included) to be unique. If any of us bought a new TV and the picture wasn't clear, would we keep it? How about a toaster that consistently burnt the toast no matter what the setting? A car that wouldn't go in reverse?

The answers are obvious, and yet we buy these cameras, find problems with them ("Sudden death," "Errant pixels," "Soft sides" ...) and we question whether or not we should return them. (even worse, we accept the fact that when we buy from some places, even when the camera is defective, we cannot return them, or we have to pay a restocking fee). Or we must return them to the manufacturer and be without while our brand new cameras are being repaired?

Actually, I wish we could all get together and once and for all let the manufacturers (be they Olympus, Nikon, Canon, or whomever) that we will not pay hundreds/thousands of dollars for products that aren't properly tested and released too soon. And we won't buy from dealers that will not allow returns of defective products.

OK... I'll step down now.

Roberta said:

When I bought my camera that was the first thing I checked and
happily it did not have that problem.

Click to expand...

Thanks Roberta for your feed back.
I already contacted my supplier and he fully understood my concerns.
I clearly said I will only accept a new one. No repair...

However, I am still very happy about the camera. I took many shots this WE and having used a C-830L for two years, the difference in quality and possibilities is simply amazing.

I read more about C-3040 problems on this forum and saw that I was indeed not the only one to have that left side softness problem (Dave Lewis - 9 May).

However, this seems to be a know problem for all C-3040.
QUESTION :

Do you confirm that you really did have no sofness at all ? In other words, does some C3040 have it and some not ?

Thanks again

Yves

Yves said:

However, this seems to be a know problem for all C-3040.
QUESTION :
Do you confirm that you really did have no sofness at all ? In
other words, does some C3040 have it and some not ?

Click to expand...

Frm what I've read, this does not seem to be a problem with ALL- just a few.
My 3040 doesn't display any side softness at all.

I'd suggest you exchange the camera for a new one and as soon as you get the new one test that one too.

I agree the camera is terrific. Here's a pic I just took of my cat (macro- straight from camera except for reducing in size) that I think shows terrific detail..

Very cute and sweet photo of your cat, Roberta!

But......you neglected to tell us her/his name. Such a photo deserves an identity!

As newby perhaps would say.......Curiously yours,

David

DF said:

But......you neglected to tell us her/his name. Such a photo
deserves an identity!

Click to expand...

Hi David.

Her name is Chloe. I found her in my back yard when she was about 6 months old. A few months later my first cat, BeauGeste, died so I took in another young stray and named her Daphne (a take-off on Greek mythological gods Chloe and Daphnis).

Daphne is not quite as photogenic.

Chloe and Daphne........very nice.

And wonderful photos, Roberta!

David

Roberta said:

DF said:

But......you neglected to tell us her/his name. Such a photo
deserves an identity!

Click to expand...

Hi David.
Her name is Chloe. I found her in my back yard when she was about 6
months old. A few months later my first cat, BeauGeste, died so I
took in another young stray and named her Daphne (a take-off on
Greek mythological gods Chloe and Daphnis).

Daphne is not quite as photogenic.

Click to expand...

DF said:

Chloe and Daphne........very nice.

And wonderful photos, Roberta!

Click to expand...

Thank you David. It was fun to share them.