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Olympus C-4040 Zoom

Olympus introduces a top-of-the-line 4-megapixel model with noise reduction technology, optimum image enlargement, and newly designed interface

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Page 10:Image Storage & Interface

Review First Posted: 07/23/2001

Image Storage and Interface
The C-4040 Zoom uses 3V (3.3V) SmartMedia memory cards and comes equipped with a 16MB card. Currently, you can upgrade to card sizes as large as 128MB.

The C-4040 Zoom can store images in both uncompressed TIFF and compressed JPEG file formats. The TIFF setting can be assigned to any one of five resolutions through the camera's Mode Setup menu. JPEG compression levels include Super High Quality (SHQ), High Quality (HQ), and Standard Quality (SQ1 & SQ2). The myriad size options can be assigned to the camera's TIFF, SHQ, HQ, SQ1, and SQ2 quality levels via the record setup menu, as shown in the table below. (Green table cells indicate image size options that can be assigned to each named quality setting. Whatever image size/quality options are assigned to the five named quality settings can be quickly selected either by the "shortcut button" (see the description of the user interface later) or via the record setup menu.

 

Image
Size
Options
3200x2400
(Interpolated)
2816x2112
(Interpolated)
2272x1704
2048x1536
1600x1200
1280x960
1024x768
640x480
TIFF
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
SHQ
 
 
 
         
HQ
 
 
 
         
SQ1
     
 
 
 
   
SQ2
         
 
 
 

 


We appreciated the C-4040 Zoom's file naming protocol, which includes the month and day at the beginning of the file name, and provides the option of numbering images progressively from one card to the next, or of resetting the naming sequence for each card. The Camedia allows you to write-protect individual images from accidental erasure through the Playback menu. Entire SmartMedia cards can be write-protected by placing a write-protection sticker over a specified spot on the card. While individually protected images can still be erased by a card format operation, cards that are write-protected with a sticker are also protected against card formatting. Write-protect stickers can only be used once and must be clean to be effective.

As just mentioned, the C-4040Zoom offers a huge range of resolution and image compression settings, including two interpolated sizes. The table below shows all the available size/quality options, the number of each that can be stored on the included 16 MB memory card, and the amount of image compression employed for each.


Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
16MB Card
Uncompressed
High Quality
Normal Quality
Images
Approx.
Compression
Images
Approx.
Compression
Images
Approx.
Compression
3200 x 2400 (Interpolated)
-
-
2
4:1
8
12:1
2816 x 2112 (Interpolated)
-
-
3
4:1
10
12:1
2272 x 1704
1
1:1
5
4:1
16
12:1
2048 x 1536
1.5
1:1
7
4:1
20
12:1
1600 x 1200
2.5
1:1
11
4:1
32
11:1
1280 x 960
4
1:1
18
4:1
49
11:1
1024 x 768
-
-
27
4:1
76
11:1
640 x 480
-
-
66
4:1
165
10:1
 


The following table shows the maximum seconds of movie recording time (with sound) for various size memory cards. These measurements represent the amount of time that can be recorded by depressing the shutter button one time and shooting continuously. The remaining available shooting time on the card will be displayed on the LCD monitor or LED control panel following the recording:


Recording Mode
Resolution
Memory Card Capacity in Seconds
2MB
4MB
8MB
16MB
Over 32MB
HQ
320x240
(15 frames/sec)
5
11
23
46
75
SQ
160x120
(15 frames/sec)
22
46
93
186
300

 


The C-4040 Zoom comes with interface software and cables for both Macintosh and Windows computers. It employs a USB Auto-Connect interface for high-speed computer connection. Like all of Olympus' most recent digicams, the C-4040 is a USB "storage class" device. This means it can connect directly to Mac OS Version 9.1 or later, or Windows Me or 2000 computers, without separate driver software. Storage-class or Auto-Connect connections are generally faster than device-class ones. We clocked the C-4040 at a transfer rate of 639 KBytes/second on our G4 Mac. This is quite a bit faster than the average USB-connected camera and comfortably at the top of the field for transfer speed. (We loved not having to load special driver software!)

One of the first things any new digicam owner will need is a larger memory card for their camera: The cards shipped with the units by the manufacturers should really be considered only "starter" cards, you'll definitely want a higher capacity card immediately. - Probably at least a 32 megabyte card for a 1.3 or 2 megapixel camera, 64 megabytes or more for a 3, 4, or 5 megapixel one. (The nice thing about memory cards is you'll be able to use whatever you buy now with your next camera too, whenever you upgrade.) To help you shop for a good deal on memory cards that fit the C-4040, we've put together a little memory locater, with links to our price-comparison engine: Just click on the "Memory Wizard" button above to go to the Olympus memory finder, select your camera model , and click the shopping cart icon next to the card size you're interested in. You'll see a list of matching entries from the price-comparison database. Pick a vendor & order away! (Pretty cool, huh?)

Lost Images? - Download this image-recovery program so you'll have it when you need it...
Since we're talking about memory and image storage, this would be a good time to mention the following: I get a ton of email from readers who've lost photos due to a corrupted memory card. It's tragic when it happens, there are few things more precious than photo memories. Corrupted memory cards can happen with any card type and any camera manufacturer, nobody's immune. "Stuff happens," as they say. A surprising number of "lost" images can be recovered with an inexpensive, easy to use piece of software though. Given the amount of email I've gotten on the topic, I now include this paragraph in all my digicam reviews. The program you need is called PhotoRescue, by DataRescue SA. Read our review of it if you'd like, but download the program now, so you'll have it. It doesn't cost a penny until you need it, and even then it's only $29, with a money back guarantee. So download PhotoRescue for Windows or PhotoRescue for Mac while you're thinking of it. (While you're at it, download the PDF manual and quickstart guide as well.) Stash the file in a safe place and it'll be there when you need it. Trust me, needing this is not a matter of if, but when... PhotoRescue is about the best and easiest tool for recovering digital photos I've seen. (Disclosure: IR gets a small commission from sales of the product, but I'd highly recommend the program even if we didn't.) OK, now back to our regularly scheduled review...

 

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