|
Reviewed by
aldus_wong
, Intermediate
, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Price Paid
$97.00
at Future Shop
Summary
It came out on August, 2002, for such a low price, $1XX before sale, it is hard to get a digital camera with LCD preview and review function with this price. This is the only choice. If you want a better camera, you need to pay at least $300 or above, which is double the price.
It gives you 3 choices for resolution:
Good
576x432 pixels, which is very good for e-mail. Big enough on the screen and the sharpiness is not bad for family picture in-door with flash. The file size is arround 64Kb.
Better
1152x864 pixels, with high compression, it said this is for printing in 3"x2" size. This size is a bit too big for a lot of our computer screen's resolution. I didn't try to print this. The file size is about 195Kb.
Best
1152X864 pixels, with lower compression. This is the best quality you can get. They recommand using that quality for printing 4"x6" pictures. I saw a smaple picture in future shop. They used photo paper to print. You can notice some pixels on the picture but the overall the picture is acceptable. The file size is about 300Kb.
LCD Screen
It comes with a 1.4" LCD preview /review screen. This is a good feature and I think it is the most useful feature of digital camera. For most of the time, it gives you a good preview to set up the out looking of the photo. Just when you are facing sun, you cannot be able to read the LCD screen since the back light is not bright enough. Fortunately, you may still use the optical view finder, similer as a 35mm conventional point and shoot camera. For experienced camera user, should be no problem with that. but for a lot of the user, the picture may have a small difference then what they want to take since there is a small distance between the view finder and the lens.
Besides facing sun, if you are taking pictures with the sun behind you, you may turn off the backlight of the LCD. It will save quite a lot of battery. Besides, with direct sun light, it is enough to light up your LCD without any back light. The only problem is you may not notice the back light is off or not since the sun already light up your LCD.
Flash and Power consumsion
The Flash is powerful. It has a range to 3m. I feel it is always that bright. So it may not have anything to control its brightness. That's why it takes so much batery. To save power, one of the trick is when you turn on the camera, turn off the flash right away. The default is Autoflash. If you turn on the camera in a dark place, it will charge the battery for you. if you face the camera to the light when you are indoor, it won't charge. then you have enough time to turn off the flash. This is useful when you just want to review some pics indoor. It can save you a lot of power.
The battery life is quite short. With the auto flash, and using flash often, and using battery power to upload pic to computer 4 times. I can only take 30-40 pics with flash. then the power almost drain, cannot afford any flash. but if I used the tick, it can still take pics and video without flash.
Focus
It has a minimum focus length of 1.4m. It is a quite long distance. Therefore, they didn't use a wide angle lens. Instead they used a 10mm. Probably arround 60mm in 35mm film camera. it makes the target of the photo big enough and it won't change shape. the only problem is, you may not notice the target is too close some times. So make sure there are 1.5M between you and the camera. Think about there is a door lie between you and the target. Form the ground to the door knob is about 1 meter. You need some space more to make sure the focus is right.
2x Digital Zoom
If the target is too far away, you can use 2x digital zoom. but it is not a stepless zoom bwtween 1x-2x. You can only choose normal or 2x. I found that is not too useful, but it is better than nothing.
Shutter lag
Shutter lag is noticeable. Althrough it is a focusfree camera, but it still has a noticeable shutter lag... kinda... but what do you expect if you only spend a bit more than a hunderd bugs.
Hidden Cost
Most likely for accercessories.
Extra 128Mb 24x CF card
camera pocket case
Rechagable battery and charger (NiMh)
AC adapter
Conclusion
It is still cheaper than normal digital camera. With understanding the weakpoint of this camera, it is a good one for new learner to learn how to create a picture. It has all the common advantage a digital camera should have. Plus, it has a very compatative price. I like it very much.
Strengths
-Small file size, espicially for lowest resolution (576x432) which is idel for e-mail; Clear enough for monitor
-large aperture (f/2.8)
-Video function aviliable
-1.4"LCD for photo preview and review
-can turn off LCD backlight for power save
-easy to control
-software bundle are useful
-internal memory
-CF card slot for further expension
-Use AA battery
Weaknesses
-Battery life is quite short
-LCD is not bright enough when face sun
-no wide angle lens
-Noticable noise in dark place
-slow LCD refresh rate
-about 1/2 to 1 sec shutter lag
Similar Products Used
Canon Power Shot G1 (Digital Camera)
Canon Rabel G (SLR Camera)
Nikon F401s (SLR Camera)
Nikin FM (SLR Camera)
|
1 of 5
1 of 5
4 of 5
4 of 5
5 of 5
5 of 5