My wife and I decided a few months ago to get a digital camera when we had the cash to spare. I spent several weeks looking at various cameras and reading alot of reviews, and eventually decided I wanted to spend around £150 to get a 2MP with 3 x optical zoom. I narrowed my list down to a few and then saw this. After looking at them all, I decided I'd rather have a 3MP with less zoom, and be able to crop it if I wanted.
My biggest concern with this camera had been the lack of online documentation and that internetcamerasdirect had the only reviews. So here are all the things I'd have liked to have known before:
SPECIFICATIONS: Lens: f=6~12/24mm Focus: Macro = 6-40cm, normal = 40cm to infinity Sensor: 2140 x 1560 CCD sensor with 3.34M pixels Resolution: 2048 x 1536 (about 750-800Kb); 1024 x 768; 640 x 480; 2976 x 2240 (Interpolation) pixels Video Resolution: 320 x 240 (takes 8Mb/min) (no audio) Compression ratio: Super-fine, fine, normal
OTHER FEATURES (which are common to many cameras, but worth stating explicitly) Scene mode: Portrait, Landscape, Back Light, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Night Landscape (Exposure time 0-4 secs) Exposure compensation: 1/2 steps from -2.5EV ~ +2.5EV ISO sensitivity: auto, 50, 100, 200 Has auto-power-off: 30, 45, 60, 120, 180 secs Can zoom in on images on LCD up to 8x Date/time stamp (optional) LCD brightness: 4 levels Flash: Auto, Forced, None Allows Multimedia cards as well as SD cards. Sharpness: -3 - +3 3 LCD display settings: off, picture only, picture with storage info, picture with settings info Review of photos includes: Index of 6 photos/videos, playback of video, up to 8x zoom on still photos.
Another concern I had was that other people said they had problems with the battery life, but I bought some hahnel NiMH 2000mAh and on first use I wanted to see how they'd do. I had one set in for about an hour and a half before they ran out - and took about 10 minutes of video and about 50 photos. The second set were used on a 'typical use' day out at the zoo (about 5 hours) I took 45 photos and they were close to running out (though hadn't yet)
You definately want to have a storage card with this, I already had a 32Mb which I think is adequate (except perhaps if I was going away on holiday for a few weeks.) It works out well, as near the end of the day at the zoo I'd taken 39 photos and ran out of space, but took the photo card out and had the internal memory to fall back on, knowing I could take another 10 photos.I'm a perfectionist, so the fact that I chose this camera and have kept it is the biggest recommendation you could get from me. Being a perfectionist I want things to be exactly as I'd like, and the only annoyances I've had with this camera are (from most to least significant):
I have had it freeze a couple of times which meant I had to turn it off by opening and shutting the battery case. It doesn't seem to leave any lasting problems and seems to happen when I've pushed a button and it's processing and I push another button which interupts it (usually when reviewing photos.)
Other people have said they don't like the buttons. They do feel 'clicky', and sometimes I think I've pushed one hard enough, but I haven't... but I'm not overly bothered by it.
No AC mains adapter for use at home - incidently, when the camera is plugged into the USB it turns off and uses the USB's power instead of the batteries. If you plug in the USB when it's already off then it turns on, recognises the USB and turns off again, so you do at least need enough battery power left for that.
No webcam function... not that I'd use it anyway though.
My only regret having bought this camera, is I'm not sure if I'd rather have had a 2MP but with 3x zoom as 2MP is fine for printing photos, and the extra zoom could be handy. (The others I was interested in are: RiCoh Caplio RR230, Kodak CX4230, and Trust 770Z Powercam, all about £140-150.) But thats more a matter of my priorities - this cameras great.
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Great review :) I bought this model 6 months ago - my first digital camera! It's been a great buy for less than £150
Kingseany 07.07.2003 10:01
Good review. This isn't one I'd have gone for myself though. I'm in the market for a new camera to replace my Fuji 6800, and am finding it difficult to decide which to go for!
Pozza 06.07.2003 12:56
Welcome to Ciao. Great start! I look forward to reading more. Paul.
Advantages: Relatively inexpensive, easy to use, 3.3MP, lots of features Disadvantages: No case included with camera, small and fiddly, short battery life
Advantages: Relatively inexpensive, easy to use, 3.3MP, lots of features Disadvantages: No case included with camera, small and fiddly, short battery life
Jul 5th, 2003
very helpful by (100%):
