Olympus Camedia C-3040Zoom

Only a single TIFF file will fit onto the supplied 16Mb card at the maximum size, but with the option to shoot at resolutions down to 640 x 480, the needs of everything from Web images to large prints are well catered for. The in-camera sharpening and contrast adjustment gives scope for fine-tuning the captured images while black and white shots looked particularly impressive. There's also the option to shoot sepia images, which will save you having to use a photo editor to convert at a later date. ESP (Electro Selective Pattern) metering was impressive, with just occasional overexposure, but a Spot mode, exposure compensation and bracketing are useful overrides.

The Olympus Camedia C-3040Zoom is an impressive camera and worthy successor to the C-3030Zoom, with enough features to keep the majority of serious users happy. What's more, the C-3040Zoom's ease of use and excellent quality puts it on a par with the Nikon CoolPix 990, and it's almost impossible to separate them. Fortunately for Olympus, Nikon has now made the question redundant as it's discontinued the 990. If you want an accessible and powerful digital camera at a fair price, the C-3040Zoom is hard to beat.

Author: John Clements