Digital-Camera Reviews

Intel Home PC Camera / Model #CS331 / Original Retail was $79.99
I have two of these. Intel definitely got it right when they designed this cam, and it's a shame they've discontinued it. This is by far the best USB driven camera I have ever seen. The CCD based (instead of the standard CMOS) optics on this camera are phenomenal, and the video rivals that of my Sony camcorder! Sensitivity & color balance are very good. This cam performs well above average in low light conditions. The video is clear, with no distortion, and does not granulize or pixelate. If you're looking for a top-end USB web cam, try to track one of these down. It will be well worth the effort.

This is the best webcam I've ever had, it has excellent image quality due to its very best optics and CCD sensor. It performed beautifully under all light conditions, and extremely well in low light condition. After I used this webcam, I just dumped my two Logitech webcams ( which have very poor image quality and are junks compared to this Intel webcam)

Inevitably, all computer purchases are dictated by compatibility. This camera /does/ work with Windows 2000. A word from the wise: Do not use the software disc that comes with the camera unless you actually want to do the things that are advertised on the box.

Instead, go directly to the Intel website and download the camera drivers alone. After unpacking the driver file, run the hardware setup as administrator. Now, you can use whatever webcam/pc cam software you want.

Following the above, I had this camera working inside 5 minutes. The Intel drivers increase the camera resolution and refresh rate over those of the default Windows drivers.

The default color balance is a tiny bit off and the USB cord is a bit short. But, overall, it's a fine camera and well worth the money spent over cheaper cameras.

I bought this camera few months ago and I think its amazing product for beginners! Images are very precise and nice. I suggest to use Energizer alkaline batteries, these allows to take the highest amount of pictures, around 50-90 high quality with moderate/smaller use of flash and display. In case of heavy usage I strongly recommend rechargable batteries. Camera itself is very comopact, easy to use and full of features. The best feature is PANORAMA, you can take up to 10 images and put them together by enclosed CAMEDIA software.

I've owned a lot of digital camera's before, and they always disappointed me when it came to the quality of the lens. Non-flash pictures with non-natural light always turned out yellow or had ugly spots in them, or were way too dark, which enhanced light parts in the picture too much when I enhanced it with a graphics program. But this one certainly didn't!

The camera behaves like a 800$ camera, it seems to be designed and developed with that price in mind, and I bet that 800 bucks was what it costed when it came out. But since 1,3 megapixel camera's are "passé" these days, even a camera like this has to lower in price, and that's where it gets interesting for all of us.

Imagine having a former top-of-the-range camera, with an excellent quality lens, a lot of changeable settings, a design that resembles a normal camera, and that also behaves like a normal camera, well, it's there, the Camedia C-860L, and it's amazingly cheap.

I bought mine in a shop in the Netherlands, and paid only 250 USD!! All right, I confess, that's without the usb reader and the pcmcia adapter, but it's still very cheap. Later on I bought this package (reader and pcmcia adapter, from a company called PixoMedia) for the price of 61 USD (I use www.currencycalculator.com to calculate this). So all together the price was 311 USD.

The editorial reviewer says it has high battery-use, but that's because Mr. the reviewer doesn't read manuals. The manual clearly states that they STRONGLY advise NOT to use Alkaline batteries, but to use NiMh or other rechargeable batteries instead, because they last much longer. That I did, and I bought 4 rechargeable NiMh 1600mA batteries with charger, for 38 USD. But actually, the battery-use isn't that bad with alkalines. It's definitely not 60 low-res pics, but more like 50/60 high-res (HQ) pics, with the use of flash regularly and the use of the LCD-display to look at pictures afterwards (not during taking of pics, ofcourse that drains!).

All and all I can now use the camera for a very very long time without ever having to worry about the battery-level, using the display to look a pictures, and even to zoom in, although this only can be done by choosing out of 9 different parts of the picture, but it's still very nice.

If you want proof on the quality of the pictures, visit my website on www.gekkevogel.com/midzomer.html and click on any of the pictures to see the full-size version, and you'll be convinced, just like me, that this is a kick-ass camera!

I didn't know which Camera to buy D360-L or this one C860-L after reading the customer rating I chose the C860-L and to let everyone know I am very very please this is the best one for the money. The pictures are great and it is very easy to use. The reader-writer that it comes with is great it saves alot of use on your batterys. I don't know if I will ever use film camera again. I printed the pictures and they look better than any film camera. BUY THIS CAMERA IT IS GREAT. Good luck with it

Thought I was taking a gamble by looking into compactflash memory with a company i'd never heard of... but on the contrary, this has been exceptionally functional. highly reccomended.

... if you don't want any hassles. You won't have any problems with the product. You also get an individual plastic case, as most compact flash cards come with. But, as with all non-volatile memory, the question is how many cycles will it take before it dies? I guess I'll write another review in about 40 years to let you know.

I bought this card for my Kodak DC215 Digital Camera, and I'm about to buy another one for an upcoming trip. I have had no problems with it, and it has provided me with some of the additional memory I need to take more/higher quality images. If you're looking for a solid flash card, this is definitely a viable option.

After years of being a very faithful Sony user (I still like Sony and their products) I finally did the big leap, as in my mind the technology is finally there ... I bought a Canon EOS-1Ds 11.1 Megapixel camera body. Out of necessity I had to buy a set of EF lenses as well. I spent this years toy budget on just one purchase, but then THIS IS NOT TOY!

My last Sony was a F828 and before that a P10. The F828 is a great consumer product for the price, but it actually made me do the leap as good as it is, as it brought back my spirit for creating a REALLY good picture. I started to spend so much time to get to the right photo spot at the right time, that I did not want to have a lack of functionality then. I used to do a lot of photography 20 years ago on film, but returned as a point and shoot fotographer when digital came about. To say it with fellow countryman 'Arnie' - "I'm back."

First I need to say that all Amazon partnershops performed and delivered flawlessly, my special mention goes to Adorama Camera. I would usually be worried to spend so much money on the web, but Amazon takes that away.

Now to the 'beast' itself the EOS-1Ds body. I will not go into all the functional details, as to my mind they are all correct as stated. The camera is great to hold and work with total confidence. But at first - big disappointment. I was unable to concentrate on working with a professional camera. I was too used to point and shoot and expected the camera to do it all for me. Well, it does not. You need to know or learn photography for this one. It is now four weeks and 2500 pictures later and finally there is only one reason for a photo not to be perfect - ME!

Biggest difference to other products is the film-size 24x36 CCD and the ability to set the ASA film sensitivity up to 1250 on the fly rather than having to change film. Not always is a tripod at hand or the photo subject would wait until you set it up and then hold still for a 2 second exposure. I could not ask the helicopter pilot to stop the vibration during a dawn flight over the Las Vegas Strip. Setting to ASA1250 shortened exposure time to s/50. The picture noise that you get as a consequence is dramatically reduced by the noise reduction feature and much less than the grain of a high-sensitivity film.

Cautions and recommendations: Learning how to clean the sensor from dust and dirt without damaging it is essential. This camera is VERY heavy you will need a strong tripod to hold it. Buy a second battery, even so the charging is quick and it usually lasts for two normal days of use. Using a CF card reader is easier than buying a Firwire attachment for your PC. Use 2GB high-speed Compactflash for convenience, it will give you 400 pictures in JPG. Feel free to send me questions, which I will answer as much as I can.

I have shot 35mm for 30 years and paid for the best prints from the best labs and they just can't compare with high end digital prints. The detail goes way beyond 35mm and easily challenges medium format. I am still learning color manipulation on the computer and occasionally I get better color from a Velvia slide - which I am now shooting with the same Canon lenses and a 1v body - but overall it is becoming increasingly clear that film is as dead as video tape and vinyl records. I traded up to the 1Ds from a D60, which also produced prints much better than 35mm. The drawback to the D60 was a poor autofocus and a less than full frame sensor, which limits the use of wide angle lenses for landscape photos. The 1Ds solves those problems and potentially makes larger format cameras obsolete at the same time.

The only problem I have found is that the 45 sensor autofocus setting does not work with a very wide angle (16mm or 15mm fisheye) lens. For some reason, it won't focus at infinity. Switching to the center only focus sensor solves the problem. The 1v and Elan 7 do the same thing.

Our rep brought an EOS-1Ds into the lab for us to look at last week. I'm still pouring over the test bench and outdoor images with my jaw on the floor. I'll never be able to afford this beauty, but if we see the technology of the 1Ds make it into the prosumer market, I'll make the jump. Many of the so-called limitations of digital photography have been directly addressed in the design of the 1Ds.

For example, the small physical dimensions of consumer camera CCDs have limited the performance of many cameras. It's nearly impossible to collect and focus light onto a small CCD with inexpensive optics. Canon uses a larger size CCD in the 1Ds. That upgrade, plus having the CCD house 11 megapixels makes this camera instantly competitive with 35 mm film. Note, I'm not yet ready to say it's the equivalent, but it's so close now that the few advantages of film have much less leverage now. The future is here and it is now. If only I had 8 grand in my pocket...

I didn't have enough time with the 1Ds to get to know all of the bells and whistles, but did find it easy enough to use by just trusting my intuition. I'm looking at the nice collection of Canon 35 mm lenses I already own (which will fit the 1Ds) and my palms are sweating. Maybe I could sell a few of the toys I don't use much and eat macaroni and cheese for a few years?

This is a really good camera. The image quality is excellent: when this camera is set to "Normal" you get the same picture quality as many other camera's "High Quality" setting. You can choose between three quality levels (Basic, Normal, Fine) and two resolutions (640x480 or 1280x1024).

Using the video-output port with the included cable, you can view images or even do a slide show on any television that has a regular input (RCA composite video). Just think, no more slide trays!

The camera comes with a serial cable and software for both Windows and Macintosh, but as for every SmartMedia camera I HIGHLY recommend using an external card reader, which is much faster than any PCMCIA or Floppy adapter. I use a Feiya USB reader/writer and it works seamlessly. The other item I recommend is a 32MB (or at least 16MB) SmartMedia card. The 4MB card that the unit comes with is not practical. At normal quality/high resolution, a 32MB card will store about 100 images. Using a SmartMedia card reader, it is not necessary to install the software that comes with this camera... you can open the JPEG images directly into any application.

Another great thing about the camera is the internal lithium rechargeable battery. A single charge of this battery can last for 100 shots when you use the 1.7" LCD to frame your pictures, or over 500 shots if you use the traditional viewfinder. This battery will save you $$$ compared to other cameras that just eat up Alkaline batteries and pollute the earth.

I have only two issues with this camera, both of which some people might not care about...

1. After you take a picture, it takes 5 seconds to write the image onto the card before you can take another picture. 2. Occasionally, indoors, when you press the shutter release it doesn't take a picture just when you want it to, you might have to let go, move the camera, and then press the button again because the camera doesn't like the exposure/lighting conditions (unless you're using the manual exposure mode, where you can set your own white balance, exposure levels, flash brightness, and aperture depth).

Other features are 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 105mm), additional 2x digital zoom, filter functions (soft focus and 4 cross filters) and an external flash sync. Although this camera costs more than your average digital camera, you get what you pay for... in terms of image quality, features, and ease of use.

It wasn't that long ago that you could expect to pay £600 plus for a "cutting edge" digital camera with a gob-smacking 350,000 pixel ccd and images that looked like they'd been taken through the bottom of a jam jar, and as a qualified photographer I backed away from the digital scene to concentrate on 35mm and medium format. Well, I've spent the last year or so trying several cheap to midrange cameras, and Fujifilm seem to have got things pretty much spot on with this one. The control over image compression and the various file size options, coupled with a very accomplished 1.5 million pixel (mega-pixel) ccd mean this camera is able to to produce some incredibly detailed shots. Colours are excellent with no obvious weaknesses on any particular shade, and the exposure seems accurate on just about every shot taken. Neutral colours stay neutral(e.g. skintones) and primaries are vivid, giving a lovely sense of sharpness and contrast. Even up close, the flash performs well, with output metered through a front facing sensor, any tendancies to burn out are very well controlled. Also, the 1.8" LCD screen is clean and sharp, and when the light levels make it unuseable, there's always the optical viewfinder to fall back on. Battery life is very respectable for a camera of this type, and the option to use a mains adapter is always there for shots near a power supply. The smart card is a bit of a letdown at only 4 meg, but at this price something has to give, and I'd rather it was the smartcard size than cutting corners on features or build quality. transfer speeds to the PC are a little slow, but considering the file sizes this is hardly surprising, and it's still a damned sight quicker than sending a film to the lab. I honestly think that with its features, performance and price, this is the start of an era where digital cameras begin to threaten traditional photographic techniques for supremacy, and though they're not there yet, this is a huge step in the right direction. If you want to publish your pictures in a magazine or produce a professional calendar, then buy a Leica, but if you want top notch digital images that rival most cheap to midrange 35mm cameras at a sensible price, then put in your order now while you're here.

I bought this camera for Turkey day and have used it a lot over both holidays. I made some user errors at first but now I'm getting great shots consistently. I was a bit disabused to find it cheaper but that's life. Amazon has other advantages such as delivering it to my door the next day even though I only requested standard shipping.

The quality of the images is very good and dramatically superior to regular film cameras in many ways. For example, items in the background don't get overpowered by the flash and foreground items. In an interior shot with flash, you can still see things out the window and in the street, very clearly. Reviewing the images on a computer, you find clear stuff in the background that you didn't even know was there, such as cute expressions on the dog's face, etc.

Once you get the images on your PC, the quality is impressive even with the default jpg compression. Compared to scanned photos, they look at least twice as good, even if you zoom in considerably.

I've only used automatic exposure mode so far, and still gotten great shots. Only about 3 have been blurry. My brother tried the manual mode and liked it too.

Don't bother buying it without a spare flash card, because its included flash card only holds about 10 shots (it's 4Mb). I use a 32Mb card now and seem to have plenty of space on it so far.

Transfer rate to a PC via included cables and software is painfully slow, and it virtually locks up your PC no matter how fast its cpu is. It takes nearly an hour to transfer the whole 32Mb flash card over. During that time you can't even read email. I'm actually here right now on Amazon's pages shopping for a faster way to transfer, such as a flash card reader that uses the floppy drive or USB port. Parallel and serial ports terribly effective. Eyes are often still red. Also, there's a long time between the pre-flash and the final flash. My 9-month son blinks after its first flash, so his eyes are often partially closed during the final flash and exposure.

2. It's too easy to confuse the autofocus feature with taking a shot. If you press lightly, it makes a sound as if it were taking a shot, but it's just autofocusing. I have to remind myself to push again on the shutter, or lose the shot because in fact it's not even taken yet. This is at least partially a user error.

3. The flash recovery time is slow.

4. There's no way to tell how low your battery is until it's almost dead. As a result I tend to charge it whenever I can during family events so it'll be ready for fun. Fuji should include a battery meter in the display.

5. The manual is not very clear on image formats and their respective advantages. There are 3 levels of jpg compression available, but when you drag and drop to you PC there's actually only one in-between level (it's between best and standard - go figure...but actually that's what I would choose anyway). Tiff is poorly explained, and there's no help on Windows versus Unix formats, etc. Not everyone knows about that so the manual should help at least a bit.

Overall it's a great camera and I'd buy it again.

My father bought this for me and it is a great game. Not only can the inexpensive camera be used for the great games, but if you have Microsoft Netmeeting, (available at Microsoft's website,) it works as a low picture-quality video conferencing camera. It is a great game for any kid between 6 and 12.

If you are like me you like things with great quality and a great price,this has a great price used or new .I would recomend this to anyone looking for this type of product.

this little game system is great for the road. little kids love it. it is so many games in one.

Fabulous camera, quite technical to use, but the automatic setting works flawlessly. One drawback is the short lifespan of the battery, but it does recharge quickly and you can use the ac cord. Another bonus is the attachment to take old negatives and scan them to digital images.

Takes 3.3 pixel. The one thing I like about this digi cam, the ordinary 35mm film can be reproduce to digital quality using the included software and accessories that came with this camera
And I got it for under $500!! no kidding..

Perfect size and quality for a budget!

The GCQX5 has nine different qualities of pictures that can be taken. It accepts up to 64MB SmartMedia cards (which is space enough!). Simply a great product from a great manufacturer.

Ordered from Amazon in December - 2 months later they were out of stock. A month after that, the web site said 'available soon'. It's now mid-May, and they still can't tell when it will ship. So be prepared for a LONG wait!!!

If you own a DV500, DV800, or DV2000, or a JVC camcorder with the info-shoe mount, you need this flash. The camcorder takes excellent shots with the flash. I don't know how you could live without one.

When you switch to Memory Mode, notice how dark the image gets in the viewfinder. With the flash on, the pictures will be bright and colorful. If not, then the pictures will be dark, just like what you see in the viewfinder.

Worth the money.

Turn your JVC camcorder/digital camera into the first rate digital camera it is!

I own the JVC GR-DV2000U Camcorder (best I've ever owned). It is a dual camcorder/digital camera. I was disappointed with the Digital Camera functions until I got this flash, now it's the best digital camera I own!

It has a unique ON button. Very user friendly with simple functions and buttons. It lacks Manual Functions. Picture quality's superb except for some visible purple noise for low light shots. Durable Battery Life. Visit http://www.pbase.com/jv3nus for pictures i took using this camera.

Small, compact, and amazing pictures. The battery life on this thing is amazing, I've taken 200+ shots on highest resolution and I've had this camera for over 4 months and I have NEVER seen the battery level drop. The only downfall is a little purple noise with low light shots.

Overall, I would suggest this camera to anyone who wants a simple and tiny camera that will take great pictures whenever they are needed.

This is my third digital camera, the previous 2 being a Fujifilm FinePix 1300, and a Fujifilm FinePix 2800. My first comment is that I miss the 6x optical zoom of the 2800 which was really powerful.

The camera is beautifully designed, cool looking in a style that will not look out of date in a hurry, and also very compact and thus easy to carry about, say in a shirt pocket. As an architect, I love to be able to whip out and shoot any scenery, sunset or building that catches my fancy at anytime and this serves just fine. To enable me to take lots of photos at a go, I got a 128Mb card which stores 86 images at the 6 mega pixel resolution.

It is very simple to use (you literally snap away once you have set up, which is very easy to do) and shortcut buttons eliminate the need to twiddle in the menu section in search of most options such as different flash settings, different resolution settings, Macro mode (amazing close ups), and many others. There are also some pop ups to guide you, reducing your dependence on the manual (which, like all Fujifilm manuals I have seen, is very detailed and easy to use) except for really major issues.

Images viewed in the LCD display are really clear and bright when it is used as a viewfinder, especially for indoor shots (was dark for my 2 previous cameras). Viewing of images stored on the card is very easy. You can zoom into images (in playback mode), as well as pan around to see hidden bits (at the sides, top and bottom, which are usually hidden the larger the zoomed image is) which I find a very helpful feature. You can also crop images. The welcome LCD display (and accompanying star trek like bleeps) adds a nice touch.

The AF/AE lock is a breeze to use and takes exceptional shots every time. Photo quality is really amazing. You can pick out fine details in the background of the subject. Colours and contrasts are good and sharp. Flash modes are easy to access and dark indoor shots taken using suppressed flash yielded amazing results. However, the darker it is, the more noise in the picture. Outdoor shots on a bright day are unbelievable in their clarity.

The Movie clips with audio are very simple to make, and it is very easy to switch between resolutions (320x240 for 120sec clips, 160x120 for 480sec clips). Results are quite good, though best results are obtained where there is a lot of light, e.g. outdoors on a sunny day.

Battery life is very good but it's always best to have a spare. The battery charges in just under two and a half hours which also is helpful if you don't have all day.

The cradle is stylish looking too. I have mine permanently hooked to my PC and just place the camera on it, switch it on, and the software launches and downloads everything quite fast.
The FinePixViewer software is very good. It is very easy to view folder contents at a glance, set up a slide show, etc. You get lots of print options from full photo, Index 1x2 (2 photos on a sheet), 2x2, through to 7x5.

Print results are simply breathtaking, whatever the size of paper, up to A3. Colours are rich and images very realistic looking.

This is a camera I would recommend without hesitation. It blows away any other camera in its class or price range. I have had it for just 7 months. Friends of mine (one of whom owns a Canon Powershot A70 but wishes he got this) who have handled it are impressed. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive, compact, high resolution camera, look no further. I hope this review helps you.

Unless you are prepared to spend $2500+ for a film scanner, the Dimage Scan Elite is the ideal choice for 35mm scans of color negative film. The Scan Elite produces much better tonal range from negative films than the Nikon offerings (although Nikon does a better job on slide scans). The SCSI interface is adequate for transferring huge files up to 45Mb. And the digital ice software is convenient for occasional scratched negative.

There are some compromises to contend with: the bundled software is mediocre, but many prefer Vuescan software which offers much more functionality for film scanning. Minolta is not going to release a OS X compatible driver, and the scan speed is much slower than the manufacturer specs in multiscan mode which is essential to minimize channel noise. However these are reasonable tradeoffs for the reasonable price point of the Dimage and outstanding 8x10 to 11x14 color prints which result from a good scan.

I'm a serious photo hobbyist, not a professional, but this scanner produces really professional results. I've had one about a year, installed it with the 2906 scsi card before Minolta supplied them. First, you CAN scan very fast, but I NEVER do-because I want those BIG image files around 30 MB from a color original. These have been taking upwards of 20 minutes on my older 400 mhz pc. The big file? You can make stunning prints on an Epson 1280 printer--say, as big as the printer will go, 13X19 inches. I spend the time to do it well, neither the scanning nor the printing are a quick process.

This scanner is phenomenal. While you're busy comparing the Nikon coolscan to the Canon film scanners, don't get tunnel vision and forget to consider the Minolta Scan Elite. Sometimes you do find a good deal AND a great product in the same package. Professional results for photographers needing high-res scans for stock or other commercial endeavors. GET ONE! You won't be sorry.