Rating: 
Summary: Mauibear
Review: 5stars for the Olympus C-3040.This camera is very impressive. The price made me a little hesitant at first, but after several months of research I took a chance, and very glad I did. The C-3040 camera is packed with special features that took my photographs to a new level. I love the black and white /sepia mode at the touch of a button. And the Quicktime movie option is a awesome to be able to e-mail short video clips.
One thing I would recommend is to get a upgraded smartmedia card. The 16mb standard issue card only holds 20 shots at the medium quality HQ format (which is good) but if you go to the high quality TIF format you get 1 shot. Also be sure to get a genuine Olympus smartmedia card or else you NOT be able to use the panorama feature. Great Camera
Rating:
Summary: I love this camera
Review: I have had the 3040 for about 6 months now, and am very pleased. I find it easy to use and it takes fantastic pictures. I am not an experienced photographer, but am finding the size and versatility of this camera to be great. I am glad I did not buy a point-and-shoot. While the 3040 is as easy to use as a point-and-shoot, the ability to add lenses and external flash will allow it to grow with me. My only complaint is that many of the features are buried in the 2nd and 3rd levels of a menu, making them less convenient to access.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent quality, but slow interface
Review: When I use this camera, I tend to shut it off when I'm not using it for a few minutes to save battery life and cover up the lens. This exposes a few flaws in the interface:- It's slow to start up from power-on to ready-to-shoot - It can remember certain settings between power-downs, but it's cumbersome to set those values (white balance and speed in particular) Also, it doesn't have a very wide range for exposure; the minimum aperture is f/10 and the maximum shutter speed is 1/800. That can be overwhelmed on a sunny day (and you lose depth of field). Another annoyance is the chromatic aberrance; bright white objects often appear with a purple fringe around them. That said, if you stick to the camera's strengths, it's decent. If you plan ahead for the right shooting situation, the settings don't get in the way. It's fun for shooting macro stuff too. The saturation and color fidelity is very nice.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera for the casual photographer!
Review: I love this camera! Started with the Olympus C700 with a 10x zoom and 2.1 megapixels. Great zoom capability but very unsteady -- many blurred pics. Returned the camera ..., and bought this C-3040. The sharpness, color and ease of use are EXCEPTIONAL. Learned quickly that best way for well focused & framed pictures is using the display view finder instead of the eyepiece viewfinder. The eyepiece doesn't look "through the lens" like the C700 did, so your framing is always a bit off. But through the display viewfinder it is perfect. My pictures are rarely come out blurry. The superbright lens isn't as fantastic as I expected -- indoor pics without a flash are still grainy and sometimes blurry. But it does extremely well with a flash indoors. Great at both distance & closeups. Automatic mode works very well. Has an easy to set "custom" setup so your resolution, flash, redeye, etc. can be preprogrammed to work each time you turn the camera on. Lightweight. Writes to disk quickly. Easy to review & delete photos. Great camera for the casual amateur!
Rating:
Summary: First Class
Review: This camera is a first class piece of workmanship,with a couple of exceptions.
1) The lens cap is the biggest piece of S**T! The design engineer should be hung, it will cause you to destroy the camera out of frustration! It doesn't stay put. Buy four extra.
2) The tiny flash card should NOT be a purchasing point! A 128 MB card is a must
3)The battery's that come with the camera are useless, buy rechargeable ones. The camera should come with a charger and rechargeable battery's
Rating:
Summary: Worth It!!!
Review: Takes GREAT pictures, just like my D-490Z did/does. I love the Olympus camera products, just beware of the gray market Olympus cameras that are out there. Olympusamerica.com provides you with info. on this, and provides the legit product numbers/serial numbers they place on them. My lens cap works fine, some say it does not fit right, but I have no problem. My telescoping lens did not "grind" like others have described; it does emit a slight mechanical sound though. Also, pictures can be erased or lock protected immediately after taking them, if desired. The video/sound combo option is sweet, only dark in picture when indoors with NORMAL lighting. Video too can be viewed/deleted using the cameras LED screen immediately after filming. Just a note on the sound/video portion. I was having problems with a skipping and jumpy video product when viewing it from a camera/card reader to computer connection. Turns out the READ speed is too slow for this, the video clip must be transferred from the cameras Smartmedia card to a file folder on the computers hard drive first, then viewed from the file folder. David B, via-Olympus' e-mail Tech Support solved the problem for me on the first try, I truly thank him. When I tried them, the phone Tech Support didn't ask the right questions, and I wasn't smart enough to provide the right additional info. The camera case Olympus makes for it is a little tight in the lens cap area, so a little larger after-market one might be a better fit. Definitely get a 128MB Olympus Smartmedia card, it allows you to take so much more video/picture wise, and only the OLYMPUS SMARTMEDIA CARD has the panoramic capability, not the VIKING or others. If you put a little time and effort into this camera to learn it's features and displays you will be greatly rewarded, but keep the book handy for quick referral. Finally, make sure you call the company you are purchasing it from first to make sure it's not GRAY MARKET, comes in the original box, and has all the manufacturers accessories (i.e. strap, lens cap, connection cables, CAMEDIA software, instruction manuals, etc). Olympus does offer manuals online if you lose the original...I look forward to using this camera more in it's auto-mode, or if I desire, in it's full manual mode. You will appreciate the manual capability later if you are used to full automatic type cameras- your developing skills begin to crave it! For the price to options/capability, this is the camera. Enjoy, and I hope this review helps you to make a decision.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME CAMERA!
Review: After 3 months of research, reading, studying, visiting camera shops, internet shopping, I found that this camera is the absolute best! I have no trouble with the menus - the instruction book is long, but written very clear and concise - if you need to do something, just look it up. I've sent mpegs over e-mail, and it's wonderful having a grandchild say "I love you" to his grandparents! The photographic quality is just as good as my old 35mm - even better! The choices for the pixel sizes are good, and not hard to program in. I love the remote! Once you get this camera - well, you won't need any other!
Rating: 
Summary: Nifty fun little camera.
Review: I haven't owned but a dozen or two cameras in my time, so I am not an expert. I did once go nuts with photography equipment, so at least I have an idea of what to expect from a camera. The Olympus has been fun! Leaving it on the automatic mode at maximum resolution and JPG compression, it takes beautiful pictures, and over a hundred of them on one 128meg SmartMedia card. I definitely do recommend getting at least one extra 128meg card. (I want four more so I can fill a CD with each photo session.) The write speed to the memory card is pretty fast for even the highest resolution providing it's JPG compressed. Maximum TIF formats however do take some seconds, but at roughly 10 megs per photo (compared to less than 1 meg for JPG), the time delay is to be expected. If you're wanting really nice photos to view on your monitor and occasionally print-out, JPG is fine. For serious prints however the TIF is of course best. Viewing the pictures on your monitor is simply wonderful (providing of course your monitor is nice too! ;) ). Even in very low light, using the flash will give you excellent colors and skin tones. I kind of hate to say it, but I'm starting to enjoy viewing photos on the monitor more than looking at developed photographs. (And I hated digital photos until now!) The weight is pleasing, not heavy, but weighty enough to feel solid. The software is great for uploading onto a PC using an USB port. (It configures itself as an external drive, working just like a normal hard drive, very easy to access and copy files. Tons better than the other digital camera I own.) I'm not thrilled about the mechanical zoom, it feels and sounds a little rough, but it does ok, so I can't complain (much). There are seemingly hundreds of little commands to learn (of which I've learned maybe 50 so far), but that's cool, it just means I'll be able to do more with the camera as I get more familiar with it. But it does come with hefty-sized manuals! I do think Olympus should include a case for it though, even a cheapy. Oh! The QuickTime movie capability is a blast! You will want plenty of lighting for that though since the camera's built-in flash won't work during movie taking. QT quality is actually reasonably decent, plenty good for quicky web emails and CD home movies (mono though, not stereo). Battery life is excellent! I have absolutely no idea how long a set of batteries will last since I lost track of the time used after a few hours. (Several hundred photos were taken and uploaded before the rechargable batteries finally got low.) I recommend a set of rechargable batteries along with a disposable set just to make sure. If you're like me you will begin thinking the batteries will last forever and then forget about needing replacements. Over all I feel the camera is well worth the price. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it isn't as nice as the E-20 I'm drooling over (duh!). Everyone who has seen the photos taken by it are surprised of the quality. It's a good camera, of that there is no question.
Rating:
Summary: You'd have to be a REAL professional to want more
Review: Before purchase, I did some VERY extensive research, and I finally decided on the C-3040 over the Sony DSC-P5, mainly because of the ability to use other lenses, external flash capability and weight. The C-3040 is the perfect size and weight (too light, and it's hard to keep steady). It takes excellent photos, a little on the dark side for indoor shots, but nothing that can't be fixed with half-decent photo editing software. If you don't use the LCD all the time, the battery life is acceptable, but you should still make one of your first accessories a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries and a charger (THE first should probably be a nice camera bag). Unless you're taking a large number of uncompressed photos, you can probably wait a while for a larger memory card. The included 16MB card takes about 20 pictures at the default resolution. Downloading to a PC takes about 30 seconds for all 20 shots, and you're ready for more. Still, a 64, or at least 32MB card would have been awfully nice and should probably be near the top of your list.
The flash, with adjustable brightness and delay time, the optical zoom capabilities (DON'T get a camera without optical zoom), the USB connection and the programability were the major deciding factors in my purchase decision.
There is, however, one drawback, but I don't think it's serious enough to merit a lower rating, and that's the fact that the image you see through the viewfinder is smaller than what will actually be recorded. You will have to compensate for this when you shoot. The best thing is to take a good number of test shots to get used to this effect before doing any serious shooting. The manual says using the LCD to compose your shot gives more accuracy, which is true, but there is still a difference between what you see and what gets recorded.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this camera to anyone, except maybe a serious hobbyist or a professional. Also, it might be a little pricey for beginners or digital first timers, but if you can swing it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Final things: Experiment with the different modes (black & white, sepia, etc.) and functions, and if you want an external flash attachment, you don't have to pay hundreds (almost as much as the camera) for the one Olympus sells; you can get the flash attachment BRACKET for about thirty bucks, and use almost any flash that has the 5-pin connector.
Rating:
Summary: Great choice !
Review: This is my first digital, after a long time devotion to 35mm. I read many reviews and articles, then just went for it. Well, it was worth every penny. This camera takes great shots, especially outdoors. The 1.8 lens makes all the difference indoors as well, and any shot will come out great, since everything can be adjusted manually. I have found the adjustable flash power excellent for eliminating flash burn in darker settings. And night scenes in NYC without the flash worked great as well. So far I have not found any shortcomings with this camera, and teamed up with an HP 1215 printer, I'm makin' really nice photos. The only thing I can think of to complain about is the lack of explanation about the different shooting quality modes, and what situation you need to use what setting. Other that that, I have been very pleased with this camera.
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