Olympus D-540 Zoom Review

Olympus 3x zoom lens (5.8 - 17.4mm), F3.1/5.2 (equivalent to 38-114mm on a 35mm camera). Stepless 4x digital zoom when combined with the optical zoom gives a 12x seamless zoom.

TTL system auto focus (contrast detection system) with a focusing range: 20" ~ infinity (0.5m- infinity) in Normal mode, 8 to 20" (0.2m-0.5m) in Macro mode, and 0.8" - 8" (0.02m – 0.2m) in Super Macro mode. Depressing the Macro button (the up arrow on the 4-way navigation control) toggles between macro mode and standard AF. Super MAcro mode is activated and deactivated by a menu option.

The lens retracts inside the camera when powered down and a shutter closes to protect it; no lens cap required.

The D-540Z has a small but bright eyelevel optical viewfinder with approx. 80% frame coverage. There is no diopter adjustment.

Built-in multimode intelligent speedlight; Auto (automatic flash activation in low light and backlight), red-eye reduction, fill-in (forced activation), and off (no flash).

Working flash range: Wideangle 8" – 11.2' (0.2m – 3.4m), Tele: 8" – 6.6' (0.2m – 2.0m) with a six second full recharge rate with new batteries.

On the back is a 1.8-inch color TFT LCD monitor with 85,000 pixels and the majority of the camera's controls. The sliding switch at the top is used to turn the camera off, and select either playback or record mode. The Quick View button activates image playback in record mode The 4-way switch lets you navigate menus (see next page) and select playback images, enable macro/normal focus modes, enable self-timer, and select the desired flash mode. In the center is the MENU button which also serves as the OK (accept selection) button.

On top you'll find the shutter release and the zoom lens control which also functions as the zoom and index controls in playback mode.

The D-540Z stores its images on xD-Picture Cards. On the back side of the handgrip is the card slot which accepts any size card. Olympus includes an 16MB card with panorama function.

The D-540Z is powered by two AA type batteries or one CR-3V lithium non-rechargeable battery. Alkaline type batteries can be used but high- capacity NiMH rechargeables are preferable; they are more environmentally friendly, reusable up to 500 times and save you money.

The CR-V3 type batteries offer the longest life of all battery types but the one-use batteries are expensive. Thankfully we now have an alternative, check out our list of CR-V3 rechargeable batteries.