4MP Olympus C-4040 launched in UK
By Ian Burley
7th August - 2001
Olympus was first past the 4 megapixel barrier with its highly successful E10 SLR. That was a whole year ago, an age in technology terms, but 4 megapixel compact cameras have only recently begun to filter into our shops.
7.7 megapixels
The Camedia C-4040 bears a strong physical resemblance to the popular 3.3 megapixel C-3040. We currently have one on test and we can report that it’s light, compact and appears to be solidly constructed. The 1/1.8” CCD is the same size as that of the C-3040, despite its complement of 0.79 million extra pixels. This allows Olympus to retain the same fast f/1.8 3X zoom as the C-3040. Maximum native picture resolution is 2272x1704 pixels (3.87MP), but an in-camera interpolation mode can boost this to 3200x2400 pixels, or 7.68MP.
New menu system
New with the C-4040, though, is a much-needed revision to the menu display system. This is now easier to navigate and features a soft-key mode for accessing more frequently used functions.
Night time noise reduction
Another new feature we are dying to try out is a night time noise reduction mode. This takes two exposures, one with the shutter open and one with the shutter closed. The latter registers noise only and this is subtracted from the initial exposure. The demo looked highly impressive. The C-4040 also includes sensor recalibration to maintain image quality throughout the life of the camera.
If you aren’t a fan of SmartMedia memory cards and we at DPN aren’t, the bad news is that Olympus’ decision to host both CompactFlash and SmartMedia, like in the E10, isn’t carried through to the C-4040.
There’s lots more to say about this attractive little camera, which we will when we publish our full review shortly.
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