We've begun including links in our reviews to a Thumber-generated index page for our test shots. The Thumber data includes a host of information on the images, including shutter speed, ISO setting, compression setting, etc. Rather than clutter the page below with *all* that detail, we're posting the Thumber index so only those interested in the information need wade through it!
Very
sharp, good color (good skin, true blues), very little shadow noise.
A great job all around!
The extreme tonal range of this image makes it a tough shot for many
digicams, which is precisely why we set it up this way. The object is
to hold highlight and shadow detail without producing a "flat"
picture with muddy colors, and the C-4040 performed well. The shot at
right has a +0.7 EV exposure compensation adjustment, which brightened
the midtones about as much as we felt we could without losing too many
highlights. We shot this with the Auto (2085
k) white balance setting, as it resulted in more natural color than
the Daylight (1809 k) white balance. (Daylight
produced a much warmer image.) Color is very good, although skin tones
are slightly magenta. The blue flowers look much better than what we
see from most cameras, although there's still a hint of purple in them.
(these blues are tough for digicams to get right). Excellent detail
in the shadows, with low noise.
Readers interested in seeing the effects of a range of exposure compensation
settings are directed to the thumbnail page,
and photos C44OUTAP0-4. These range from +0 to +1.3EV, in steps of 1/3
EV.
Excellent
detail, good color. Some lost highlights though...
Results are similar to the longer portrait shot above, with good color
and resolution. The 3x zoom lens helps prevent distortion of the model's
features, and more detail is visible than in the shot above. Skin tones
again show a slight orange tint, but overall color looks nice. Shadow
detail is great, with moderately low noise. Our main shot has no exposure
adjustment at all, which still overexposes the highlight areas of the
white shirt collar. (Olympus cameras have tended to have higher than
average contrast in the past, the C4040 Zoom seems less so, but still
struggles with the tonal range on this shot a bit.) The table below
shows the results of a range of exposure settings from zero to +1.0
EV.
Readers interested in seeing the effects of a range of exposure compensation
settings on this shot are directed to the thumbnail
page, and photos C44FACAP0-3. These range from +0 to +1.0EV, in
steps of 1/3 EV.
Flash is too dim in this shot without an EV boost, but does a good
job when you tweak the power up a little.
The C-4040's flash was slightly dim without any exposure compensation,
but did a good job illuminating the subject when we cranked it up a
bit. (We really like variable flash power as a digicam feature, it comes
in very handy in settings like this.) The background incandescent lighting
resulted in a strong magenta/orange color cast, which dissipated with
each additional exposure adjustment. Color looks good with the brighter
exposures, though the slight color cast persists. We chose the +1.3
EV exposure adjustment for our main series because it had the best lighting
on the model, though the white shirt is overexposed. The table of small
thumbnails below shows exposure series from zero to +1.3 EV.
Manual white balance does well, but Auto and Incandescent do poorly.
High noise, especially at ISO 400, but fairly fine-grained. Good job
in Manual mode, but we'd like to see incandescent do better.
This shot is always a very tough test of a camera's white balance capability,
given the strong, yellowish color cast of the household incandescent
bulbs used for the lighting, and the C-4040 produced good results with
the Manual (2691 k) white balance setting.
The Auto (1931 k) white balance setting was
very orange, and the Incandescent (2005 k)
setting produced a warm, sepia image. We selected an exposure adjustment
of +1.3 EV for our main shot, which resulted in a good exposure with
fairly accurate color. The blue flowers again show purplish tints, which
is a common problem among digicams with this shot.
We shot a series of photos with the range of ISO settings the C4040
offers. The image noise was higher than we'd like to see in all cases
(almost all blue-channel noise, surprisingly little red-channel), and
was very high in the ISO 400 example. It is fairly fine-grained though,
which makes it somewhat less objectionable. (We'd still like to see
it lower though.)
Very good detail, very good color. Soft in the corners,
but we'd give it a "very good" overall.
Though the color balance is a hint magenta, we chose the Auto
(1856 k) white balance setting for our main selection. The Manual
(1898 k) setting produced very cool, greenish results, while the Daylight
(1887 k) setting was much too warm. Detail looks great in the tree limbs
and house front, with a slight softness at the corners of the frame.
Noise is moderate in the roof shingles, and faintly noticeable in the
window screens.
Far-Field Test
Excellent
detail and sharpness, but the corners are a bit soft again. Loses the
highlights, but does well in the shadows. Excellent fine-grained color&
tone adjustments. Good job overall.
This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance.
NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house"
shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio. The rendering of detail
in the poster will be very different than in this shot, and color values
(and even the presence or absence of leaves on the trees!) will vary
in this subject as the seasons progress. In general though, you can
evaluate detail in the bricks, shingles and window detail, and in the
tree branches against the sky. Compression artifacts are most likely
to show in the trim along the edge of the roof, in the bricks, or in
the relatively "flat" areas in the windows.
This is our ultimate "resolution shot," given the infinite
range of detail in a natural scene like this. The C-4040 picked up great
detail throughout the frame, though details are slightly soft, particularly
in the corners. The fine foliage details are slightly softer than the
perpendicular details of the house front, a common occurrence among
digicams. We also measure a camera's dynamic range in this shot, and
noticed that the C-4040 fell victim to the bright sunshine glare on
the bay window, losing all but the strongest details. (And this was
a somewhat hazy day, not as contrasty as this shot can be at times.)
The shadow areas under the porch and in the shade of the tree (at right)
fared slightly better, with fairly strong details visible in the brick
and shrubbery patterns. The extreme contrast of the scene resulted in
a slightly dim image as well. The table below shows our resolution and
quality series, followed by ISO, contrast, sharpness, and white balance
series. We also shot with the C-4040's two interpolated resolutions:
2,816 x 2,112 (3132 k) and 3,200
x 2,400 (5042 k) pixels.
The C4040 Zoom gives you *very* fine-grained control over contrast,
with a range of +/- 5 steps up and down from the default. We've skipped
over most here, showing just representative points along the range.
Check the thumbnail page to see the full range,
files C44FARCON01-11. Very handy, we like fine-grained adjustments like
this, that allow you to really customize the camera to your own preferences.
The same story on in-camera sharpening, a total of 11 settings. We
don't see as big a need for lots of sharpening settings, but still handy
to have nonetheless. Same story as above, a few links below, see the
thumbnail page for the rest. (C44FARS01-11)
There's also a very broad range of adjustment available for the auto
and preset white balance settings. The menu option lets you push the
color toward red or blue, with 7 steps in either direction. To our
eye, only the first couple are really useful, we'd prefer to see the
same number of steps spread over a (much) narrower range. Kudos for
including the adjustment though! Same story as above, a few links
below, see the thumbnail page for the rest.
(C44FARS01-11) - It'd be interesting to see what a strong blue tweak
on the incandescent setting would do for the warm-tone problems we
saw above. - Didn't have time to try this though...
We've received a number of requests from readers to take shots showing
the lens focal length range of those cameras with zoom lenses. Thus,
we're happy to present you here with the following series of shots,
showing the field of view with the lens at full wide angle, the lens
at full 3x telephoto, and the lens at full telephoto with 2x digital
zoom enabled. The C-4040's lens covers a range equivalent to a 35-105mm
zoom on a 35mm film camera. Following are the results at each zoom setting.
For this test, we
shot with the Auto (1943 k), Daylight
(1956 k), and Manual (1960 k) white balance
settings, choosing Auto as the most accurate. The Daylight came out
rather warm, while the Manual setting produced a much cooler image with
slightly pale, bluish skin tones. Color is good throughout the frame,
with an accurate blue value on the Oriental model's robe (this blue
has a tendency to go purple, a common problem with digicams, and we
did notice slight purplish tints in the darker blue shades). Detail
looks good throughout the frame, with a nice level of sharpness.
Good close-up, excellent flash performance, for being this close!
The C-4040 performed well in the macro category, capturing a minimum
area of just 3.24 x 2.43 inches (82.22 x 61.66 millimeters). Resolution
looks great, with nice detail in the coins and brooch, and color is
reasonably accurate (though with a slight greenish cast). The flash
(2012 k) did an excellent job throttling down for the macro area, with
just a slight reflection in the large coin. (An unusually good job for
a flash in macro mode.)
Good color, but the reds and yellows are a little undersaturated. Excellent(!)
shadow detail, low noise. Good overall.
We shot samples of
this target using the Auto (2450 k), Manual
(2396 k), and Daylight (2466 k)
white balance settings, choosing the Manual setting for our main
image. (The Daylight shot was very warm, while the Auto shot had a slight
magenta tint.) Exposure looks about right, as the overall colors are
bright and the highlight details are strong. Color accuracy and saturation
are good, though the large red and magenta color blocks appear cool.
The C-4040 captured good detail in the shadows, with pretty low noise.
Low-Light Tests
Very
good at low light, down to the limit of our test. Great for pictures
of night scenes, dim interiors. Long-exposure noise reduction on the
camera works very well.
The C-4040 performed very well in the low-light category, and captured
bright, usable images at light levels as low as 1/16 foot-candle (0.67
lux) at all three ISO settings. We shot with the camera's Noise Reduction
setting at all light levels, which did an excellent job of decreasing
the image noise. Interestingly, the shots taken at 1/16 foot-candle
without Noise Reduction have a more accurate color balance, but the
noise level is much higher. With Noise Reduction activated, we see practically
no need for any noise removal software. The table below shows the best
exposure we were able to obtain for each of a range of illumination
levels. Images in this table (like all of our sample photos) are untouched,
exactly as they came from the camera. Click here for sample images at
ISO 100 (2301 k), 200
(2566 k), and 400 (2565 k) without Noise
Reduction at the 1/16 foot-candle light level.
1fc
11lux
1/2fc
5.5lux
1/4fc
2.7lux
1/8fc
1.3lux
1/16fc
0.67lx
ISO
100
2,454.8 KB
1/ 1 secs
F2
2,500.0 KB
2 secs
F2
2,426.4 KB
5 secs
F2
2,298.4 KB
8 secs
F2
2,648.6 KB
16 secs
F2
ISO
200
1,838.0 KB
1/ 3 secs
F2
1,801.4 KB
1 secs
F2
1,892.1 KB
2.5 secs
F2
1,872.9 KB
5 secs
F2
2,045.8 KB
8 secs
F2
ISO
400
1,785.7 KB
1/ 6 secs
F2
1,783.0 KB
1/ 3 secs
F2
2,408.6 KB
1.3 secs
F2
2,358.1 KB
2.5 secs
F2
2,596.1 KB
4 secs
F2
Love high ISO photography?
Hate noise? Check out Fred Miranda's ISO-R noise-reducing
actions for Photoshop. Incredible noise reduction, with
*no* loss of subject detail. (Pretty amazing, IMHO.) Check
it out!
Flash Range Test
Flash
seems good out to the 14 foot limit of our test. (Very good)
In our testing, we found the C-4040's flash bright and effective as
far as 14 feet from the test target. Intensity decreased only slightly
between the eight and 14 foot distances, noticeable mainly as a slight
pinkish cast as the flash power dims. Below is our flash range series,
with distances from eight to 14 feet from the target.
Strong
detail to 1,100 lines (good). More than average barrel distortion at
wide angle though, and a bit more chromatic aberration than we like
to see, in the far corners, at wide angle.
The C-4040 performed well on our "laboratory" resolution
test chart. It started showing artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions
as low as 700 lines per picture height, in both horizontal and vertical
directions. We found "strong detail" out to at least 1,100
lines. "Extinction" of the target patterns didn't occur until
about 1,300 lines. We also shot at the interpolated 2,816
x 2,112- (3462 k) and 3,200 x 2,400-pixel
(4141 k) resolutions, noticing slightly softer details and decreased
resolution.
Optical distortion on the C-4040 is higher than average at the wide
angle end, as we measured an approximate 0.91 percent barrel distortion.
The telephoto end fared much better, as we found only one pixel of pincushion
distortion. Chromatic aberration is moderate, showing about two or three
pixels of coloration on both sides of the target lines, which are somewhat
distorted from the slight corner softness. While only a couple of pixels
in breadth, there's more color there than we like to see. (This distortion
is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the
edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)
Average optical VF accuracy, excellent LCD accuracy. Flash is uneven
at wide angle, excellent at telephoto.
The C-4040's optical viewfinder was a little tight, showing approximately
83 percent frame accuracy at wide angle, and about 85 percent at telephoto.
The LCD monitor fared much better, showing approximately98 percent
of the image area at wide angle, and almost exactly 100 percent at telephoto.
Since we generally like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent
accuracy as possible, the C-4040 did an excellent job here. Flash distribution
is rather uneven at the wide angle setting (though bright), with slight
falloff along in the corners. At the telephoto setting, flash distribution
is even, though the intensity is dimmer.
