The camera is lightweight, compact and is packed with features. The pictures taken in Normal mode are of very good quality and those taken in Fine mode are perfect with very good colour reproduction.
Aswell as single shot the camera includes a self-timer and a continous shot which takes rapid successive shots for action photos, this works very well for photos with fast moving targets, though because of flash recharge time the flash will obviously not fire.
The camera is incredibly simple to use with almost no need for an instruction manual. All operations are through simple intuitive on screen menu system using the joystick.
Storage capacity is reasonable holding about 50 'Normal' quality photos at 4 Megapixels and around Fine quality photos.
Advanced features include auto-red-eye reduction and automatic white balancing for optimising pictures in all conditions. All these features can be over-ridden and controlled manually. Exposure value control allows manual under or over exposure of scenes and a menu of 'scenes' allow automatic camera adjustement for indoor, high contrast scenes, night time scense and more.
The camera records video clips although the quality is only reasonable and doesnt allow sound. The 6 x digital zoom is a brilliant feature and produced pictures much clearer than i expected. Sadly zoom can not be used in video capture mode. Supplied with video link cable to connect to the TV, this is a great feature and allows use of the TV as the LCD which allows easier to view video clips.
The LCD on the camera is good quality and contrast can be adjusted easily. The camera however eats batteries like there's no tomorrow - buy a decent set of batteries ( i bought a £14 set of NI-Mh and they lasted for over 250 photos). The case included is quite frankly cheap and poor and certainly wouldnt protect the camera too well, replace it immediately! The only other drawback to what really is an excellent camera is that there is no 'set as default' so if you change picture qulaity to fine and image size to 3M, you make this change every time you turn the camera on, this is annoying.
Finally, in review mode to delete a picture, you cant just delete the one you are looking at. By selecting delete you are taken to a thumbnail index of the photos on the camera. the software included is poor and going through windows explorer is far more efficient and less irritating. Don't be put of by these few points, the camera makes up for it elsewhere.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Ultra-compact dimensions, fun automatic tools, good performance for the asking price (-) Cluttered menu layout, camera buttons are scarce, specs are almost identical to the Samsung ES15
Advantages: Low price, excellent AF feature, great close-ups and super reproduction 11X14 blowups looked great. $200. US for 4MP super buy Disadvantages: LCD is washed out some in daylight, flash is a bit hot within 10feet...
Advantages: Low price, excellent AF feature, great close-ups and super reproduction 11X14 blowups looked great. $200. US for 4MP super buy Disadvantages: LCD is washed out some in daylight, flash is a bit hot within 10feet...
Jan 26th, 2004
(Jan 27th, 2004)
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