This camera was my very first digital camera, and I was more than impressed with it……..at first. I received this camera as a present from my then partner for my Christmas all the way back in 2003. I know that he paid around £100 for it, and this was a reasonable price back then. He bought mine from the now extinct Index catalogue store, but on doing some research I've found it difficult to see any brand new cameras for sale in UK, There are however still a few for sale on Amazon and Ebay, but bear in mind these will be second hand usually. The cheapest I've seen is on Amazon second hand for £25.Which is not bad if it is in good condition. On visiting the Polaroid website I found that these are now only available to buy in the USA.
₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ About the Camera ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪
☼This is quite a bulky camera, the dimensions are around 4.5" x 2.5"" x 1.5" but only weighs in at around 300g (12oz) so not too heavy.
☼It is a 3.2 mega pixel camera which in todays market isn't all that great, but is still good for a first camera perhaps, or
maybe for a child to use. My son now uses this camera as I have a new and better one.
☼It has an 8mb internal memory which is ok if you only use it occasionally, I bought a further 64mb of memory (smart media card) for around £20 from Ebay for it when I bought it. With the 8mb memory you can expect to take only 8 high resolution (2048 x 1536) photos, 24 at the next level down, 26 at the next and 101 at the lowest (800 x 600) With the further 64mb memory card I can get 36 high resolution, 102 next size, 110 next size, and a whopping 425 photos on the lowest. It really depends on what you are going to do with your pics as to what size/resolution you want to make them.
☼It has a small viewfinder which I have found scratches quite easily so I tended not to use it except in darker conditions, where you couldn't properly see the 1.5" LCD screen. The screen shows a clear picture most of the time.
☼It takes 4 AA batteries, I have found that using normal batteries just isn't enough for this camera as they tend to run done pretty quickly, so I invested in a battery charger and some rechargeable batteries which seem to last longer without having to change them.
₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ What Do You Get? ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪
☼The camera obviously! ☼A mini tripod stand, which screws into the bottom of the camera. ☼USB cable to connect with PC. ☼CDRom software disc, this installs the camera to PC. ☼comes with 4 AA batteries, (but you're better off investing in rechargeable batteries) ☼A black pouch to carry the camera in. ☼Black handstrap. ☼ A video cable which connects the camera to your TV. ☼Instruction manual (I can't really comment on this as I didn't use it, but it seemed to contain all the information you would need)
₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Ease Of Use ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪
This is an incredibly easy to use camera, My son is almost 8 and he can use it (after being shown how of course)
Simply press the button on the top to turn it on. The LCD screen lights up blue with the Polaroid logo and then shows whatever you are pointing the camera at. It can sometimes take a second or two to focus, this depends often on the batteries, if your batteries need charged or changed then it takes longer for the camera to work properly, so to get 100% use out of your camera make sure your batteries are fully charged.
Before you take any pictures it is advisable that you get to know your camera first. Beside the LCD screen is 4 buttons running down, the first is the main menu, this has the options of setting a self timer should you want to get in on the photo you're taking. Or you can set the image size depending (see above for resolutions and how many pics you can get with each size) Then you have the image setting, I always set mine for automatic. So not sure how the others worked (the options are Auto, Exposure, White Balance, and Sharpness) The next option is for having a beep sound on or off when taking pics, I found this very annoying so had it off all of the time. Then you have the option to change the language from English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Obviously for me it was English! You can also set the time and date on this so that each photo comes printed with those at the bottom right hand side.
Once the menu has been turned off you can use the use the + and - buttons to zoom in and out. And the bottom button is the flash, you can turn it onto Automatic flash which will use the flash when it is needed. Flash on all the time, or flash off.
There is a knob on the top of the camera with a button in the centre. To take a picture simply turn the knob clockwise till you get the little green camera icon lined up with the arrow, and then when you want to take a pic, just press the button in the centre.
To view the photo you've taken, turn the knob one turn anti- clockwise, this shows the last photo you have taken, If you want to view all of the photos you've taken then use the up and down arrows beside the LCD screen.
Back to the knob, If you want to take a video of something turn the knob clockwise until you come to the video camera icon, simply point at whatever you want to take video of and press the button in centre, to finish the recording press the button again. The clips are not bad quality, it doesn't seem to jump about and looks semi professional (depending on who takes the clip) There is also sound with this camera which is a plus, especially if you're recording the little ones singing and dancing!
The photo quality isn't too bad either, I used this camera for photographing things to sell on Ebay, whilst it took not bad photographs of larger items, it wasn't really any good at capturing detail, if something was too close up it looked all fuzzy, if you didn't have natural light then some things also tended to look a totally different colour, so it isn't the perfect camera for colours. My camera was dropped quite a bit, mainly by my silly self…..maybe something to do with the bulkiness of it? But it didn't really affect the camera at first. It wasn't until I had the camera for about 2 years that I noticed the flash wasn't working anymore. It still takes good outdoor (or good natural daylight) photos but is plain useless for anything else now. I have no idea how to fix this but I would assume that getting it fixed now would probably cost more money than the camera is now worth!
₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Overall Opinion ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪
All in all this makes for a good first camera, it's easy to use and gives not bad quality photos (as long as it isn't damaged) If you don't like the tiny little pocket sized camera's then this is one that should be a nice size for you, it's not all that heavy and will still fit in a medium sized handbag (for the girls) or in a large pocket of a coat (for the lads)
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Thanks for reading!
Michelle x
Pictures of Polaroid PDC 3035
moi
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