Mustek MDC 800

The Mustek MDC-800 is a silvery little thing, with a grey plastic cover at one side for ergonomic grip. Rubberised panels allow access to the AC/DC and USB connections. There is also a plastic cover that allows compactflash memory cards to be inserted.

First impressions were good. The build of the camera is solid, and the design isn't at all bad. The LCD on the back is a decent size, and the silver buttons are stylish and well placed.
...to take pictures at low, medium or high resolution, with the maximum being 1024x768. The standard filters are there, and well as the ability to allow for longer exposure. However, I found the lack of a shutter speed control somewhat annoying.

The LCD works well under most circumstances, but in sunlight, it is difficult to see. This is to be expected of course, but I have seen cameras with better LCD screens. The MDC-800 is capable ... more

The Mustek MDC-800 is a silvery little thing, with a grey plastic cover at one side for ergonomic grip. Rubberised panels allow access to the AC/DC and USB connections. There is also a plastic cover that allows compactflash memory cards to be inserted.

First impressions were good. The build of the camera is solid, and the design isn't at all bad. The LCD on the back is a decent size, and the silver buttons are stylish and well placed.

The MDC-800 is also well featured. Able to take pictures at low, medium or high resolution, with the maximum being 1024x768. The standard filters are there, and well as the ability to allow for longer exposure. However, I found the lack of a shutter speed control somewhat annoying.

The LCD works well under most circumstances, but in sunlight, it is difficult to see. This is to be expected of course, but I have seen cameras with better LCD screens. The MDC-800 is capable of video-conferencing, and the results of this are acceptable. One thing I did find however, was that the LCD screen and the lens were slightly offset. Very annoying. The MDC-800 produced good results outdoors, but indoors was a completely different story. Even with good even lighting, pictures would often come out blurred, or with lines running across it. Using flash sometimes helped the problem, but not always.

Expansion comes in the form of a standard CF (CompactFlash) slot, and the camera will take all sizes of CF card. The software provided is good and easy to use, with a good interface. The USB connection is fast and reliable.

The lack of a zoom function is a serious omission, so I would not recommend this camera to photography enthuisiasts, but for general purposes, this camera is reasonable. I bought it for £90 at a computer fair, which I consider to be quite reasonable compared to the newer cameras which cost £600 or £700. However, it is dating technology, and you would probably be better off getting a camera with zoom. 

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