LENSBABY'S

Steve's Digicams


Olympus C-2040 Zoom




First Look posted 1/24/01
Final review posted 2/6/01



Click to take a QuickTime VR tour of the Olympus C-2040 Zoom
Click to take a QTVR tour of the C-2040


The Olympus CAMEDIA C-2040 Zoom is an updated C-2020 Zoom and offers all the functions of the earlier model combined with new Super Bright F1.8-2.6 3x (40-120mm 35mm equivalent) optical zoom lens. This large aperture lens extends the flash working range for shooting at greater distances and in lower-light conditions. The new camera also features the Digital ESP exposure and iESP focusing systems found in the C-3030 Zoom.

The camera's newly-designed 2.11 megapixel, 1/2-inch RGB CCD helps improve the image quality. Still images can be captured in 1600x1200, 1024x768 or 640x480 resolution in JPEG format or as uncompressed TIFF. Motion sequences (without sound) can be captured in QuickTime format at 320x240 resolution for a maximum of 15 seconds or up to 66 seconds at 160x120 resolution.

Image data can be quickly transferred via a new "Storage Class" USB design which instantly mounts the camera on your USB Mac or Windows computer. As with other recent Olympus cameras, the C-2040 Zoom can be powered by CR-3V (LB-01) lithium batteries or AA type Ni-MH, alkaline, lithium or NiCd.


Olympus C-2040 Zoom


Features and Benefits

  • New super-fast F1.8 zoom lens
  • 2.11 Megapixel RGB CCD (new CCD design)
  • iESP AF, Spot AF and manual focus possible
  • ESP Multi-patterned and Spot metering modes plus the new Multi-Spot metering mode that uses up to 8 different spot readings to calculate the exposure.
  • Auto and 4 preset White Balance modes (plus a one-touch custom function)
  • Control for both contrast and sharpness settings
  • Program AE, Aperture priority, Shutter speed priority and Manual exposure mode
  • 8MB internal buffer memory (SDRAM); up to 1.6fps sequence shooting
  • USB Storage Class connectivity (mounts to the Windows 2000/Me, Mac OS 8.6 - 9.04 on USB Macs/ Windows 98 rev 2 requires the included drivers be installed)
  • Can use LB-01 (CR-3V) long life lithium batteries or conventional AA-type cells.
  • QuickTime movie mode (with movie edit function)


Physical Views



Olympus C-2040 Zoom

On the back is a 1.8-inch WideView TFT color LCD. It can serve as the viewfinder, picture review, menu and data display.  The backlight is adjustable via the setup menu. The control layout is very similar to the C-3030Z.


Olympus C-2040 Zoom



Olympus C-2040 Zoom



Olympus C-2040 Zoom

Olympus C-2040 Zoom



Olympus C-2040 Zoom

The Olympus C-2040 and Canon Pro90 for comparison.






Continue on to
Page Two







C-2040 Zoom Specifications

Storage media: Removable 3 V (3.3 V) SmartMedia (SSFDC) cards (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 & 64 MB).
One 8 MB card including panorama function is supplied with camera.
Number of storable frames with 8 MB SmartMedia card:

1: TIFF 1600x1200, 5.8 MB
3: TIFF 1024x768, 2.4 MB
8: TIFF 640x480 920 KB
7 or more: SHQ high 1600x1200
16 or more: HQ normal 1600x1200
13 or more: SQ1 high 1024x768
38 or more: SQ1 normal 1024x768
32 or more: SQ2 high 640x480
82 or more: SQ2 normal 640x480KB

Recording system: Still image; JPEG (DCF: “Design rule for Camera File system”), TIFF (non-compress), DPOF support.
Motion picture; Quick Time Motion JPEG*.
Sound; wave format.
Imager: 1/2 inch CCD. Total pixels: 2,110,000. Effective: 2,020,000.
White balance: iESP (intelligent Electro Selective Pattern) full-auto TTL, one-touch manual (daylight, overcast, tungsten light (lamp), fluorescent light).
Lens: Olympus 3x zoom lens. 7.1 - 21.3 mm, F1.8 - F2.6 with 10 elements in 7 groups.
(Equivalent to 40 - 120 mm lens on 35 mm camera).
Digital Zoom 1 - 2.5x seamless (max. 5x with VGA).
Light metering: Digital ESP metering system with imager. Spot and multi-metering possible.
Exposure control: Programmed auto exposure.
Manual exposure compensation: ±2 EV in 1/3 EV steps.
Aperture priority: Wide; F1.8 - F10.0, tele; F2.6 - F10.0, 1/3 EV steps.
Shutter priority: Still image; 4 - 1/800 sec. (with mechanical shutter), 1/3 EV steps.
Auto bracketing: Selectable from 1/3 EV, 2/3 EV and 1 EV; 3 or 5 images.
Manual exposure: Shutter speed up to 16 sec.
QuickTime Motion JPEG image mode: 1/30 - 1/10,000 sec.
Focusing: TTL system iESP autofocus (contrast detection system), spot AF possible, manual focus possible.
Working range: Standard mode: 0.8 m - infinity.
Macro mode: 0.2 m - infinity
ISO Sensitivity: Auto (100-200), fixed 100, 200 or 400.
Viewfinder: Optical real-image viewfinder (Close-up correction marks, Autofocus mark/Backlighting correction mark). LCD monitor
LCD monitor: 4.5 cm (1.8 inch) wide-angle colour TFT LCD monitor with 114,000 pixels
Flash: Built-in flash.
Flash modes: Auto flash (low light and backlight), red-eye reduction, fill-in (forced activation), off (no flash). External terminal: ON/OFF, auto, forced activation.
Slow synchronisation (first-curtain synchronisation effect, second-curtain synchronisation effect).
Flash working range: Wide: approx. 0.8 - 5.6 m (at ISO 100).
Tele: approx. 0.2 - 3.8 m (at ISO 100).
Flash recycle time: Less than 6 sec. (at normal temperature with new batteries).
Sequence mode: SHQ: approx. 1.4 frames/sec.; 3 shots or more.
HQ: approx. 1.4 frames/sec.; 7 shots or more.
SQ1 Normal: approx. 1.5 frames/sec.; 16 shots or more.
SQ1 High: approx. 1.5 frames/sec.; 5 shots or more.
SQ2 Normal: approx. 1.6 frames/sec.; 37 shots or more.
SQ1 High: approx. 1.6 frames/sec.; 14 shots or more.
(Excluding TIFF mode).
Motion picture mode: Format: QuickTime Motion JPEG.
HQ: 320 x 240 pixels, 15 frame/sec. up to approx. 15 sec.
SQ: 160 x 120 pixels, 15 frame/sec. up to approx. 66 sec.
Image effect: Sepia mode, black & white mode, black board mode, white board mode.
Self-timer: With approx. 12 sec. delay, 2 sec. after optional remote control operation.
Setting memorisation: Possible
Outer connectors: DC input terminal, data input/output terminal (RS232C), USB interface, video output terminal (NTSC or PAL format depending on region where purchased), external flash terminal for FL-40 (not shoe type).
Operating environment: Temperature: 0 - 40°C (operation); -20 - 60°C (storage).
Humidity: 30 - 90% (operation); 10 - 90% (storage).
Power source: Main power source: 4 x AA alkaline batteries / 4 x AA NiMH batteries / 4 x AA lithium batteries / 4 x AA NiCd batteries / 2 x CR-V3 lithium batteries. (Zinc Carbon (Manganese) batteries cannot be used.) Built-in lithium back-up for the calendar system. Optional AC adapter.
Date/time/calendar: Recorded simultaneously with picture data.
Automatic calendar system: Up to 2030.
Dimensions: 109.5 (W) x 76.4 (H) x 69.6 (D) mm (excluding protrusions).
Weight: 307 g (excluding batteries and card).


The C-2040 ships with one Olympus 8MB SmartMedia memory card; two (2) LB-01 3V lithium batteries (CR-3V); USB cable; Video cable; Olympus Camedia Master 2.5 Utility Software for editing images from the camera; instruction manual, QuickStart Guide; lens cap and strap.

Optional accessories: a leather soft camera case; gadget bag; C-7AU AC adapter; B-40SU Ni-MH battery and charger; LB-01 lithium battery; RM-1 remote control; FL-40 external flash; BK-01 flash bracket; FL-CB01 TTL-cable; FL-CB03 PC socket cable; FL-BCB04 TTL-PC cable; CLA-1 Lens adapter tube; WCON-08E wide angle lens (32mm equivalent); T-CON14 teleconverter lens (174mm equivalent); B-Macro lens and SmartMedia (8 - 64MB).







Return To Our
Reviews Menu







802,002,827


Note: All photographs and page content
Copyright © 2001 Steve's Digicam Online, Inc.

Nothing on this page may be used, distributed or
copied without the author's prior permission.