Advantages: Easy to use Disadvantages: It's not David Bailey quality
didn?t want Amy unwrapping it on Christmas day, and finding it too complicated to use.
Now, as modern cameras go, this is quite big. Measuring it, the dimensions are approx 11cm x 6.5cm x 3.5cm. I was actually quite pleased about this as it won?t be quite so east to lose (famous last words!), and it will be easier for her little hands to hold steady. It is quite heavy at about 210g.
The AstraPix 550 is not only a digital camera, but also a webcam, MP3 player and digital camcorder capable of recording short videos with sound. I thought that the MP3 player would appeal to a pop loving 8 year old.
--{{{So what is the specification for such a low price camera?}}}--
Useful Features are:
? Claims to be 3.1 mega pixels
? Screen display is about 3cm x 2.2cm
? Flash auto / on / off , range: 2m
? 10 seconds self-timer
? Digital ...
Advantages: Good size Disadvantages: Problems installing package on XP
would see the fruits of my labour.
The installation was really quite easy because we had Windows ME and to my supprise for a camera that is at the cheaper end of the scale for a digital camera the photos were actually not to bad appart from the ones of the back end of the dog( in the 2 seconds they had to get away).
THEN THE PROBLEMS STARTED
After a few months we decided to upgrade to Windows XP.
We had no problems installing all the other hardware apart from the old HP scanner, and the AstraPix 430.
It says on the box and the manual that it is Xp compatible so I tried about 3 times to install it and everytime getting the message it may not work properly, and it didn't.The software that came with it worked but it would not recognise my camera. After an hour of searching for any info on the net I finally downloaded a XP driver ...
Advantages: Two megapixle camera packed with features Disadvantages: Onboard mp3 player lets the camera down
you don't use the LCD screen. The batteries that are supplied with the camera are your standard cheapo style batteries, so don?t expect them to last too long. There is a battery power status display on the top screen. The camera specifications are as follows. These come directly from the UMAX website.
CAPTURE SENSOR - CMOS
RESOLUTION - 2.0 MegaPixel
INTERNAL MEMORY: 7MB
EEXTERNAL MEMORY: Compact Flash slot (Type 1)
INTERFACE: USB
COLOUR LCD: (1.6" TFT (80k Pixels))
STATUS LCD: (Black and White)
FLASH: Auto/Off/Fill
SELF TIMER: 10 Seconds
Auto White Balance
Auto Exposure
ZOOM - 12 Levels (digital, not optical)
LENS: (9.2mm (35mm equivalent 46.7mm) Effective Aperture f3.2 Closest Focusing 90cm)
TV OUTPUT: NTSC / PAL
OPERATING SYSTEMS : Windows 98/ME/2000/XP & MacOS
WEIGHT: 210g without batteries
POWER ...
mfc-490
This compactand stylishcolor inkjetall-in-onecomes withup to ...
Product Information for "UMAX AstraPix 490" »
Digital player (recorder)
Type
Digital player
Supported Digital Audio Standards
MP3
Connections
Connector Type
1 x USB
1 x composite video output
1 x headphones
1 x DC power input
Expansion Slot(s)
1 x CompactFlash Card
Manufacturer's product description
The AstraPix 490 is a versatile digital camera with 1.3 Megapixel, a slot for CompactFlash card and even a MP3 player. For Mac users the AstraPix 490 is being recognized with the MSDC driver as drive and runs with Mac OS 9.x - 10. The AstraPix 490 features a digital zoom and a 1, 6" TFT color display for the preview, menu display and looking at taken pictures. These can also be shown on TV with the TV output. With the AstraPix 490 you can not only take pictures but also video clips. You can listen to music, downloaded from the Internet and furthermore use it as webcam - four functions in one.
good value, good mode selection, good quality, well built, canon quality, good battery life, good resolution and quality, good manual controls, good LCD
clumpy, clunky design and controls, too big to be a true compact, interface pauses, zoom irritating, not worth the upgrade from G3 (*)
All 
