Olympus C-4000z digital camera resource

Last update: Nov. 9th, 2011 Nov. 9th: Online resource set up

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Technical data and reference manuals

• The C-4000z quick start guide can be downloaded here.
• The C-4000z basic manual here.
• The C-4000z Reference Manual here.
• See here the C-4000z FAQs from Olympus America.
  
• Olympus C-4000z complete specifications
• Software for the C-4000z can be downloaded here.
  
  

Reviews and previews

• Steve's digicams has a detailed review of the Olympus C-4000z.
  
• Imaging Resources has a detailed review on the C4000z
• CNET reviews have a review of the Olympus C-4000 zoom, however without tests, charts and diagrams.
  
• Dcresource published their full review of the Olympus C-4000z, but currently keeps only a specs summary.

Sample images

• Pbase has interesting sample images from Dan Dunn.
• Imaging Resource have an interesting gallery with sample images taken with the Olympus C-4000z.
• Steve's Digicams has a page with 15 full size sample images of the Olympus C-4000z. These include outdoor images.
  

RAW file format

• The C-4000z doesn't have a RAW output but can give tiff files as an alternative.
• Irfanview can decode C-4000z TIFF files.
  

 

Questions ? Comments ? Put them in the Olympus C-4000z user group

Memory cards

• The C-4000z takes only Smartmedia cards.
  

Firmware

• Olympus released the firmware update USB Auto-Connect driver for Win 98/SE.:

Chromatic aberrations / Purple fringing

• To remove chromatic aberrations use Adobe LightRoom that has a powerful module to correct them.

Accessories

• Olympus America Accessories Guide for the C-4000z: lists all accessories and tells you if they are compatible with the C-4000z.

Battery alternatives

• The C-4000z use 4 NiMh, Alcaline or Li batteries, but can use 2 CR-V3 or RCR-V3.
  
  
• Digital Camera AC Adapter (C-7AU)
  Item: #200685-410
  Use this 110V/120V AC Adapter to conserve batteries when downloading to your computer, for extended work in a studio, during printing, or while viewing images while connected to your TV or VCR. Works with the C-5060\7070\8080 Wide Zoom as well as many other models.
• There are several third party powr supplies that can power the C-4000z from mains.

Infrared photography with the Olympus C-4000z

• These sites contain useful information about infrared photography with digital cameras:
• Echeng.com: Digital infrared photography - site devoted to digital infrared photography with image galleries, information about filters and equipment and links.
• Wrotniak's Infrared Photography page - excellent information resource devoted to infrared photography with Olympus cameras. Information about infrared filters, exposure settings, focus, post-processing, sample images and links.
• Also see the Infrared photography page of the Apogee magazine: this is an interesting general introduction to infrared photography with digital cameras.

Lenses

• To add lenses to your C-4000z you will need CLA-1 Lens Adapter Tube and the Step Up Ring 43-55mm
• You can find them at the Olympus America site: Lenses for the C-4000z
  

External flash

• The Olympus C-4000z doesn't have a standard flash hotshoe but has a specific Olympus connector. With an appropriate cable you can take standard external flashes.
• Try out the Metz flash units - cheap and reliable. Alternatively try the FL-36 or other Olympus flash units.
  
• See here for how to measure the trigger voltage of your flash.

Controlling the Olympus C-4000z with a computer

• You can use Olympus Studio 1.5 to control the Olympus C-4000z with a computer.
  
• Cam2Com: see this information.

Underwater Photography

• The site Digideep.com is an online directory for digital underwater photography.
• Interesting forum for underwater photography: DigitalDiver.net

Data recovery

• Jpegdump, by Kurt Stege, is a free tool to recover deleted images from a memory card. Recommended, alough it involves more work an e tool of Convar.
  
• These software tools are not free, so since Convar's software is available for free, there is no real need to use them:
  
• Datarescue also has a software tool (Photorescue) for repairing damaged memory cards, although it's not free.
• Photorecovery is another tool. Price is $39.95.

Noise reduction

• You can post-process the images with NeatImage. This software package produces surprisingly good results.
• Here there is a comparison of different noise reduction software tools.

Exposure information data (EXIF)

• The picture files of the Olympus C-4000z contain the complete exposure information (aperture, exposure time, focal leng, white balance etc.).
• To read this data you can use these software tools:
• ExifReader, by Ryuuji Yoshimoto. Haven't tried the software myself, but it looks interesting. Freeware.
• Exif Image Viewer, by Michal Kowalski. This is the one I'm using. Quoting from his homepage:

"EXIF viewer is a simple image viewer application for photos taken with digital cameras. It's capable of reading EXIF information embedded in photos as well as little thumbnail. Because small thumbnail is already present in most photos displaying it is really fast.
EXIF viewer can also provide detailed information about photos (shutter speed, aperture, etc.) and conveniently list them for comparison purposes.
EXIF viewer also displays image histogram. It also features copying/moving and deleting of selected photos. Single photograph can be displayed in separate window or in a full screen mode."
• Exifer, by Friedemann Schmidt. I'm using this one too. It can rewrite EXIF data to images which lost it due to processing with a software package which doesn't support EXIF. Quoting from his site:

"Exifer is a nearly free software (you only should send me a postcard if you're using Exifer frequently) with which you can manage the metadata (EXIF/IPTC) of pictures taken by digital cameras. Because many image processing software destroys this metadata when saving such files, the idea was to create a backup of the metadata before editing it in any software, and then, after that to restore it back into the processed file. With Exifer you can do this very easily. "

Panorama shots

• Some interesting links:
• http://www.skipwilliams.com/panos/panorama_links.htm
• http://www.htu.at/~sascha/ptguide/
• http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tutorials/360/calibrate/
• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.houghton/pttute.htm
• http://www.panoguide.com/software/reviews/panotools_v21.html
• Stitching software: http://www.vrtoolbox.com/vrthome.html
• Tripod specific for panoramas: http://www.kaidan.com/

Linux and e C-4000z

• Below are the steps necessary to connect the C-4000z to a linux computer:

 

here are the steps (I'm on Suse 9.0 [1]): 1. boot Suse (optionally do $ sudo tail -f /var/log/messages ) 2. connect: 0. * use external power supply * "SETUP" -> "USB" must be set to "PC" (not "PRINT") * set playback mode on cam * make sure camera is turned off 1. connect with USB cable 2. turn camera on 3. watch: * drive icon appears on desktop: sda1 (rightclick -> properties: device /dev/sda1 mounted at /media/sda1) (clicking on it would mount the cam and open it in Konqueror "Icon View" => convenient thumbnail previews) (watch tail -f for USB stuff) ... or just wait a moment 4. get the pics: (as user:) $ mount | grep media $ mount /media/sda1 $ mount | grep media /dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,sync,user=tobi) $ cd /media/sda1/dcim/100olymp/ $ cp -i ./* ~/data/move_to_cd/C-4000z_unchanged/ $ mv -i ./* ~/data/pics/C-4000z_changed/2004/01/10/ $ ls $ cd $ umount /media/sda1 $ mount | grep media $

 
• Brian Miller created a page about using a Olympus C-5050Zoom Digital Camera with Linux. Tons of detailed information on how to interface a 5050 with Linux. This information probably also holds for a C-4000z.
• The page Using the Olympus Camedia C-3040 Zoom Digital Camera with Linux and USB by Micheal Schubart contains a description on how to download photos from an Olympus 3040 to a computer running Linux with USB. The procedure described there should also apply to an Olympus C-4000z.

Astrophotography with the Olympus C-4000z

• Here is an astrophotography forum for users of the Olympus E-500 and E1
  
• Astrophotography users's group here
• This may be also a good source.
• And last but not least this site has enough links and information to keep you plugged for several lifetimes.

Links

• MyOlympus.org photo sharing site: similar to Photosig, here Olympus C-4000z users can upload images and give/get feedback
• Yahoo Olympus C-4000z discussion group: a discussion group dedicated to the Olympus C-4000z digital camera