Olympus C-2040 Zoom: The 2-Megapixel Camera That Could

Ben Long

When shopping for a digital camera, it’s easy to become a resolution chauvinist and immediately assume that a high-resolution camera is inherently better than one with a lower resolution. The fact is, unless you want to enlarge images beyond 8 by 10 inches or unless you have specific high-res printing needs, a 2-megapixel camera will probably provide all the resolution you need. Fortunately, Olympus decided to update and improve its flagship 2-megapixel camera, the Camedia C-2020 Zoom. The result is the Camedia C-2040 Zoom, which should appeal to nearly anybody looking for impressive image quality and features at a bargain price. Olympus publishes a $599 list price for the camera, but we found it selling for $499 as we worked on this review.

The C-2040 features a speedy new lens, respectable image quality, and an affordable price tag.

The C-2040 looks almost identical to its predecessor, but a quick look at the feature list reveals some important changes. With improvements ranging from a faster lens and better image quality to more-advanced exposure controls, the 2040 proves to be a camera that has a lot of thought behind it.

The LCD is crisp, but the optical viewfinder doesn’t offer the whole picture. The controls are well laid out and easy to use.

Better. Stronger. Faster.
While you might not be able to distinguish the 2040 from its predecessor in a police line up, close examination reveals that the camera’s 3x zoom lens has improved optics. The new lens now boasts a maximum aperture of f1.8 at full wide-angle and f2.6 at full telephoto. This improved lens speed lets you shoot in much lower light and serves to extend the range of the camera’s built-in flash. Because the lens is more sensitive, the camera’s flash range reaches to around 18.5 feet — an impressive distance for a camera this small.

Olympus has also tweaked the 2040’s CCD, making a number of changes that result in improved color and detail when compared to the 2020. The camera provides a maximum resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 pixels and supports a number of compression options, including no compression (in TIFF format).

The 2040 offers up a surprisingly rich set of features, including program, shutter- and aperture-priority, and full-manual exposure modes. In addition to its auto ISO mode, the camera can be manually set on 100, 200, or 400 ISO, and a full assortment of auto and pre-set white-balance settings are provided. In addition, the 2040 includes a manual white-balance control and a white-balance color adjustment that allows manual correction for red and blue color shifts.

Finally, the camera’s metering has been updated to use the same iESP as the Olympus C-3030 Zoom and C-3040 Zoom. In addition to its matrix and spot metering, the 2040 also includes a unique new Multi-Spot mode, which lets you define as many as eight spot-metering zones that the camera will average for a final reading.

With its improved iESP metering and faster lens, the C-2040 does an excellent job of metering in most any lighting situation.
(click here to see the original, full-sized image)

Simply put, there are few features this camera is missing. We would ideally like to have a control that lets you cycle through equivalent exposure settings for shutter speed and aperture, like that of the Nikon Coolpix 990, but most users will find that this camera provides all the control they need.

The camera’s connectivity has been greatly improved with the addition of a new USB Storage Class port. If you’re using a Mac or Windows machine, you need do nothing more than connect your camera to your computer. It will show up on your desktop as a volume, allowing you to freely drag and drop images between your camera and computer. Gone is the pesky, time-consuming Camedia software. To this reviewer’s way of thinking, this approach is a great improvement.

The 2020 provides very good image quality, but Olympus still managed to improve image quality with the 2040. Color reproduction is good, with slightly warmer tones than those produced by the 2020 and very low noise, even in the shadow areas. The camera’s improved metering produced excellent results, even in difficult lighting situations.

Finally, the camera’s flash performance was very impressive, producing evenly-exposed images at a range of distances.

The 2040’s white balance controls are much improved over its predecessor, offering more accurate color with good tone.
(click here to see the original, full-sized image)

…but not Perfect
Despite it’s improvements, the camera still has its foibles. As we mentioned above, there’s no way to automatically cycle through equivalent exposure settings when shooting. More grievous, though, are the 2040’s viewfinder coverage issues, though its viewfinder is typical of most small digital cameras.

In addition to its bright, clear LCD screen/viewfinder, the 2040 provides an optical viewfinder. So far, so good. But like most inexpensive cameras, this viewfinder is of marginal quality and provides no status or feedback display aside from autofocus and flash ready lamps. And, as with most of its competitors, the optical viewfinder shows only a paltry 85-percent coverage area. In other words, you’ll need to crop your images to see the framing as you viewed it when you snapped the picture. As if this weren’t frustrating enough, the 2040’s viewfinder seems plagued by some troublesome parallax problems, even when used at fairly long distances: The scene is often centered differently in the captured image than when framed through the optical viewfinder.

Our final notable complaint: Olympus dropped the NiMH rechargeable battery set and infrared remote included with the C-2020. We’ll probably live without the remote, but the lack of rechargeable batteries is a shame: Olympus now sells the batteries and charger as a $49.95 (list price) option.

The Final Word
On the whole, the Camedia C-2040 represents a great value. Though the camera still is not perfect, Olympus has made a number of thoughtful, important changes to an offering that was already very good. What’s more, we’re pleased to see that Olympus understands that there is still a place for a good 2-megapixel camera — despite what all the high-res chauvinists might think.

For Olympus specifications for Camedia C-2040 Zoom, click here.