BenQ DC 1300

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Good
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Average
Durability	Satisfactory
Overall Look & Design	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Small, light, attractive, inexpensive
Disadvantages:	Camera shake, hard to use at first

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I bought this camera about a week ago from Ebuyer.com and after 7 days of constant playing around with it and experimenting i'm about in a position to write it up i reckon.

PRICE

I paid about £44 for this including VAT and delivery and thats the cheapest i've seen it. I got it from ebuyer (see reviews) who seem to have been a bit inconsistent but for small non-essential items like this i would say they are pretty good on the whole. Elsewhere expect to pay about £10 more to go via a company with better customer service record.

BASIC SPECS

This is a 1.3 mega pixel camera so not really suited for anyone looking to do serious photgraphic work but if all your after is snapshots then it should do fine. I've not tried it yet but i'm told a decent digital printing lab will knock out passable 6x4" prints (i.e. the size you would get from 35mm camera usually) from the top resolution setting on the camera (the lower settings, of which there are a further 5 levels, aren't that great though).

It is very small at about 85x55x25mm. To put that in context it is roughly the size of a 1.5cm thick credit card (the extra 10mm is the projection of the lens). It is also again very light. The makers website tells me it is 62g with batteries which i've not bothered to check but it weighs about the same as a smallish mobile phone like a Siemens A50. All in all its pretty portable to say the least and slips in a shirt pocket easily.

It has three focus settings: landscape, close up and a text reading setting that can 'scan text into a computer'. This last setting is not that great to be fair as at that close you can't 'scan' an A4 page so its no replacement for a scanner but if needs must then benQ provides! Good for 'extreme close-ups!' though. These are accessed via a selecter on the side which can be a bit fiddly when out on the town!

The flash can be always on, always off or auto (it decides). I've found it better to make that call yourself and then it performs fairly well.

There are 5 exposure settings: auto and then 4 others for specific lighting situations, fluorescent light, overcast, sunny and tungten light. These are a nice touch and do seem to work if the lighting is certain (i.e. not if some sunlight in a fluorescent lit room).

As well as picture it also includes digital sound recorder, video camera/webcam and burst fire (three shots in succession) which all work well (though the sound mic is fairly poor at any range).

PICTURE QUALITY/CAPACITY

Not bad is how i'd sum it up. The settings on the camera do take a little getting used to diverse as they are but once that is done it out performs all 1.3mp cameras i've seen. It holds 83 shots on the top setting. The video is not great about 10-15 fps i'd guess but it is a laugh to watch when it comes out but only 90seconds can be saved unless on webcam mode. The sound is only really useful very close in, 9 minutes can be held on there so not for recording meetings but can do little memos or explanations of photos.

THE PACKAGE

I got some pretty good stuff with it! The hard and soft cases with wrist and neck straps for transport are good enough quality. The software was simple to install in WIN2000 and the download is fast and simple (automatic when connected) via USB. The photo album software and video editing programs are also decent.

All in all this is excellent value for £44 with batteries inc your ready to go. The manual isn't great and trial and error is needed to get the hang of it but once this is sorted it takes good photos. The only gripe is the occasional blurred pictures from camera shake or subject movement but these get less frequent with practice. That and the lack of LCD screen (what do you want for the money!)just stops it getting 5 stars but only just!

If you want an excellent, entry level, digicam for not much cash then this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!