The Olympus 4.5mm (35mm lens equivalent in 35 mm photography) is a 5-element in 5-groups, F/4.0 all-glass lens with continuous 2.5X digital telephoto. Aperture settings of F4.0 or F8 are selectable by switch, the same switch as puts it in macro mode.

The hyper focal range is 24 inches(0.6m) to infinity. The Macro mode is 10 inches to 24 inches (0.25m - 0.6m).

The eyelevel optical real-image zoom viewfinder has a field of view of approx. 80% of the captured image. The LED next to the viewfinder is used to indicate flash status.

The built-in flash has modes for Auto flash, Auto flash with red-eye Reduction, Fill - Flash, Flash Cancel, Slow Shutter Synchronization Flash (1st curtain effect) and slow shutter sync flash with red-eye reduction. The working range of the flash is 10 inches to 8.2 feet in wide angle. With a fully charged set of batteries the flash recycle time is approx. 6 seconds.

The 4-way selector lets you navigate through the menus. The OK button is used to enable the menu system and accept selections. The 4-way selector is also used for controlling the digital zoom, activating the self timer, changing flash modes and in playback zoomed mode it allows you to move around in a zoomed-in image to check focus and access the Index mode.

The OK/MENU button enables the onscreen menus. The Monitor ON / OFF button is to the left. With the lens cover closed the Monitor button allows access to playback.

On the back is a 1.5" (4.0cm) color TFT LCD monitor which can be used as a live viewfinder, for image review or accessing the menu system.

The I/O ports are found behind a stiff rubber cover at the opposite end of the camera from the SmartMedia compartment door and include a USB port for transferring images to the computer. On the top is a 6.5v DC INput jack. There is no Video Out capability.

The D-380 is equipped with a SmartMedia card slot and is supplied with a 8MB SM card. It's compatible with any 3.3v SM card from 4MB to 128MB. Olympus brand SM cards must be used if you want to use the camera's built in Panorama function.

Power is supplied by four AA type batteries, high-capacity NiMH rechargeable type are always a more environment friendly choice.

Olympus gives no exact specs on the number of images that can be captured with a set of alkaline batteries, but claim that it has "battery saving technology" built in. This technology tested very effective in the C-3020 Zoom with about 169 HQ images that filled a 128MB card and we still had enough power to view some of the images. I would expect similar results with this camera.