Digital-Camera Reviews

I have had only 2 digital cameras in the past, a Sony and a Pentax, so I still have a short experience.

I was told by a work mate how good was nikon 3100. So when 3200 with more options came out I thought to buy it.

Now that I have used the camera for 2 weeks I can say that it is very easy to use it has a lot of features but ........

with low light condition the pictures are so noisy that are almost useless

So if you want daylight camera maybe it's for you, but if you are going to use it with low light or flash think in another option.

In my case I'm going to send it back to the store.

Thanks

Julio

Nikon has always had a reputation for superior photo products, but I never bought one because there was always a near-as-good Pentax or Canon. This time, they've hit a home-run. The Coolpix 3200 is as good or better, according to industry reviews, as other manufacturers' and the price, for a change, is right. Not only that, but once you load the software, you can set the camera up to automatically load the pictures. The camera comes with several editing software programs as well, and they work nicely. You don't have to go out and buy Photoshop.

Remember, this is a point-and-shoot. It is not meant for people that have to have all kinds of control over how the picture comes out. If you are a pro, stick to SLRs, either digital (which cost in general, more than $1000) or film, which are still far more than this camera.

A strong suggestion: Buy an RCR-V3 rechargeable battery. These are Lithium-ion rechargeables. You can get a Delkin one for under $30 including battery and charger. It will take many more picture than the NiMH.

After researching digital cameras for a month I finally decided on the Nikon CoolPix 3200. I'm astounded by its great picture quality and battery life. When I received my camera I was using it for two hours (taking pictures, fiddling with the settings, etc.) and the batteries held up. Two weeks later after some use, the batteries are still great! The picture quality is amazing for a digital camera! The image is sharp and the color is balanced.

Another great aspect of the camera is the ability to zoom in and out after the picture has taken. It's not grainy at all, in fact it was so good I was able to see the tiny writing on a poster almost 30 feet away after zooming up close!

The recycle time is good, under a second and the features are easy to use even if you don't read the manual.

If you're a novice at digital photography or even a professional this camera is for you!

I bought the Kodak 4800 after some quick reviews of other digital cameras in this price range. I supplemented the camera with the additonal battery pack and carrying case, and the battery charger is a lifesaver (although the case was worthless).

The camera takes good pictures, has an easy-to-use features setting and the battery life is pretty good, although I felt more comfortable with a backup battery.

The only thing I didn't like is the feel of the camera in my hand, although I eventually got use to it. I'd prefer something a little smaller, and the 4800 has some weird angles with the lens and buttons.

Overall, it's been a great camera for a novice photographer.

The title says it all - daytime pictures are crisp, clear, and brilliant color. Incredible, actually. The detail is great, and the pictures are incredibly lifelike.

Nighttime pictures utilizing flash are mediocre - they come out grainy and the colors are a bit on the muddy side.

I frankly don't know if it's an underpowered flash or just the nature of the beast; even close-up flash, where the power of the flash shouldn't really matter, comes out the same way.

However, I must temper this with two possible explanations - 1) that nighttime pictures just [are poor] because they do with any camera - I haven't tried other cameras or 2) - my expectations are out of whack because the daytime pictures are just so darned good.

I've got 2000 35mm photos, and I've always wanted a digital camera. I purchased this one, after months of research, in Mar 01. Simply put, it's been the best purchase I've ever made. I love it. It's simple, I never have to change from the default settings, it takes beautiful pictures, and everyone thinks it's really expensive. The quality of the photos is unbelieveable. You won't want to switch from the 1MB .jpeg files. The USB/VHS cables work great. I've literally had NO PROBLEMS out of this camera. If there could be some improvements, I'd like for the flash to work a little better. Also, you have to pay attention and have the trigger half-pulled to get those action shots, but I think that's to be expected with a digital camera. I bought this camera..and got the 128MB compact flash card... The compact flash card is much cheaper now. I can walk around and take 120 1MB, high quality pictures, outdoors and NEVER run the one battery I own out of juice. That was a big concern of mine, but it's really no problem. You won't need the extra battery and charger. If you love to take photos, and you're not an expert, I highly recommend this camera. (This is not a BS write-up, I really do recommend it.)

the minolta dimage f300 is a solid camera but there are a few complaints that lead to this 4 star rating: no AF assist light, noisier images than competition, a slow moving lens, and all but useless TIFF mode (takes too long to save).

pros:
- 5MP resolution and 3X optical zoom.
- good photo quality, very sharp images.
- LCD on top of camera displays essential info (very rare in this camera class) - to be truly useful though, this should have included shutter speed and aperture.
- subject tracking autofocus performs well.
- good color balance.
- full set of manual controls - aperture/shutter priority, manual exposure, manual focus.
- intuitive user interface plus simple menu system.
- wide ISO sensitivity range for a compact (ISO 100 - 800).
- good macro performance.
- solid build quality, aluminium body.
- good shot to shot times.
- selectable AF points, reasonable AF speed.
- tracking AF workings for slow moving high contrast subjects.
- USB connectivity.
- non-proprietary AA batteries used.
- automatic lens cover.
- small and light: 4.4"W x 2.1"H x 1.3"D, weighing 7.8oz.

cons:
- more noise in images than competition.
- no auto focus assist light - makes focusing in low light difficult, if not impossible.
- slow moving lens - over 3 seconds to go from wide to telephoto!
- slow moving lens leads to slow startup time.
- shutter lag is noticeably worse than competition.
- noticeable barrel distortion from lens at wide angle.
- default tonal balance leads to lost shadow detail, clipped highlights.
- no flash power control.
- only TIFF format is supported, if you prefer RAW format, look elsewhere.
- saving a TIFF file means a virtual camera shutdown for about 30 seconds! this is a deal breaker for me.
- metal case scratches easily.
- doors for memory and battery feel flimsy.
- the included 32MB memory card is inadequate; be ready to shell out additional $$ for more memory.

as already mentioned, the f300 is a competent camera that is compact and quite stylish. if you don't plan to use the TIFF mode, the long save time is a non-issue. the shutter lag is troublesome though and the lack of an AF assist light is annoying. nevertheless, this camera has a lot going for it and is worthy of consideration. in the end, i would recommend the canon s50 over this.

i hope this helps your purchasing decision. peace.

After weeks of research, online and in stores, I picked up the F300. What drew my money in the end were 5 megapixels (5.3 on CCD but 5 efective), fast and bright LCD viewfinder, highly rated picture quality, 3x optical and 4x digital zoom, and finally, the ability to use AA batteries. On this last point, the F300 only needs 2 AA batteries, but you must use the NIMH type, which can last a long time and are real cheap at Walmart, etc. Minolta throws in a lithium battery, which cannot be charged, but lasts forever. And they give you 4 AA NIMH so you get two sets to rotate through, very thoughtful of them indeed. So power shouldn't be a problem. Picture taking is as easy as turning the knob to "automatic", point and shoot. There are tons of controls if you are so inclined, but the automatics do a great job for me. The elongated shape makes the camera easy to take out of the free case and to hold, another browny point for Minolta. Zoom lens is a bit slow, that's my only gripe. Overall the VERY BEST value for a 5MP digital camera that does not compromise quality and convenience at all. A total winner.

After doing a ton of research, I found this camera for $300. At the time of purchase, this was a steal. I took the camera to Israel with me and took some unbelievable outdoor pictures.

The manual settings are plentiful (if a bit cumbersome at times), although I find that the automatic setting is still better at figuring out lighting than I am.

The only complaint is for low-light pictures, which have yet to come out too great. However, I think this is a problem in the user and not the camera. Time will tell.

Excellent camera for the price. Very satisfied

Mr.
I bought a Camera two years ago JVC DVF31 that I have used so far without problem. One month ago it began to have a problem that doesn't already allow me neither to reproduce a tape. When putting a tape in the videocamera it leaves me a legend: "different formated type! ". At the beginning this problem began to make it intermittently and it was solved taking out and putting again the same tape into the camera.
Now already it makes it permanently and it doesn't allow me to use it.
In the JVC official service of Argentina they answered me almost without to revise it that the problem is the motherboard and an the cost of repair [was a lot of money]!!!!!
This legend that appears in the finder "different formated type! " it cannot be for another cause? Help me.
I don't want to leave this camera like old museum piece and to think that it was a very bad purchase.
Excuse my not well written English.

This is my first and only camcorder. I wanted to get good quality still shots, which is one reason I went with the JVC. From what I read it had the best suite of software. I had no problem installing the software and getting the camera connected to the computer with the provided serial cable.

Capturing pictures is easy and fairly quick. (If you would like to see some sample pictures, go to www.pipeline.com/~vtfcu/car.htm). The tape does not start in the same spot after a frame capture, I find this annoying.

The playback controls on the camera do not allow slow motion play. The remote does, but it is at their preset speed. If you have your computer connected, you can also advance one frame at a time. This is necessary to get the exact frame you want to capture on the PC. The camcorder will only play back in slow mode for 2 minutes (I assume to protect the tape).

The camcorder has to be turned off when going from play to record. I find this makes it difficult to queue the tape to the exact spot for recording.

It seems the tape does not disengage when in one of the record modes. In other words, the tape is engaged when monitoring or leaving the camera on and ready to record. I don't know why this would be if you can only watch in slow mode for a short period of time. But it also seems to stay in pause mode for a long time, so maybe the head is not wearing away the tape when in pause during playback or record.

The snapshot mode is not what I expected. When the snapshot button is pressed, the tape continues to run and record the same picture for about 5 seconds then taping continues as normal. I was very impressed with the ability to focus up close. It even focused on the lint on the UV filter attached to the camera.

I'm not too sure about the sound volume yet. The quality seems quite good.

First, the 1-hour battery supplied will last only 20 - 25 min, if you are using a lot of zooming or built-in light. So, if you don't want to be interrupted by "battery low" messages, purchase 2-hour battery (BNV214U), which is compatible with the supplied AC adapter/charger. Still the better investment will be buying 8-hour battery, the only two problems: it's very expensive. . . and needs a special charger.

They included the editing cable to capture your video on computer, however, it connects to COM1 port, which might be already in use (by your mouse). Besides this, the COM ports are the slowest ports on computer systems, so the quality of editing process is questionable.

If you hope to do a lot of editing, purchase a video capture card with all cables supplied (Pyro ProDV will do fine, Pinnacle DV200, 500 are also cool, but much more expensive).

Unfortunately, JVC doesn't supply any tapes with this GRDVF-31 unit, which means you should purchase them yourself, especially if you wish to test your camcorder immidiately after shooting.

The technical manuals are not very good (and surely the worst I've ever seen). All text is printed, using almost the same typefaces and sizes, so it's very hard to extract information you need quickly and switch between general instructions and technical details. It's also very poorly organized (description of all dials and buttons on your camera is at the end of the book!)

The reason I gave this camera five stars is that all problems stated above are easy to solve. Just purchase additional batteries, tapes and capture card, and you have pro-style video studio right at your apartment for the lowest and most reasonable price ever.

I can't say a whole lot that hasn't been covered by the other comments here... the Pentax Optio 555 is really a great camera. I agree with the reviewer who immediately turned the digital zoom off -- it's really kinda silly to mess with digital zoom on a digital camera, since you will probably be able to post-process the images. I haven't found the cash yet to upgrade from the memory card that comes with it, but it's definitely high on my to-do list. I've never seen a camera that's so easy to use right out of the box but also has so many great features. Even the novelty features continue to amuse me almost a year after getting the camera. The 3D photo mode is really fun to play with, and the panorama assist makes it really easy to take panoramic pictures. And yes, it includes software to stitch the images together (semi)automatically. Lately I've been taking lots of night pictures -- it's really amazing how well this thing soaks up ambient light to take bright night shots WITHOUT the flash.

The ONLY complaint I've got is that in a really saturated environment the auto-focus doesn't work very well. A friend of mine got married recently and the auto focus refused to work at all, but I must admit the ENTIRE room was this hideous olive color, from the carpet to the fabric wall covering, and of course the completely mirrored ceiling only made the room twice as green. Add to that the weak yellow light coming from the chandeliers, and it was understandably tough for the camera. Finally I just switched to manual focus and put it in the continuous shoot mode and then I could just pick and choose the shots I liked and delete the rest.

A couple of reviewers mentioned that the camera doesn't hold up well... I dunno about that. Mine's been bounced around on a speedboat, fallen off a table, jerked around by the strap, and survived perfectly intact. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I think that it holds up really well to "normal" wear and tear AND the occasional accident.

I almost didn't get this camera because I really hate being locked into proprietary rechargable batteries. I'd normally rather go through a bunch of AA batteries because I always worry that in 2 years the company will discontinue the battery and my product will be useless. I've been pleasantly surprised, the battery has held up really well. I've had the same battery almost a year and it still works for a few days with several hours of use each day between recharges. It also holds a charge really well if I don't use the camera for a while. And though someone complained about the 3 hour recharge time, I'm used to charging my previous [Kodak] digial camera and my camcorder overnight, so 3 hours is a HUGE improvement.

(...)

I was looking for a 5MP camera with maximum zoom in an small package. The Pentax Optio 555 satisfies all of these requirements and more.

I had a 4MP 4X zoom but was having a hard time capturing action shots of the kids. With the Pentax, I now have a camera half the size, 5MP and 5X zoom and the flexibility to adjust shutter speed to capture the moment. It's no easy task getting the soccer shots of the kids as they're always moving and you need a decent zoom to get close enough. This camera is perfect for that purpose. So far the battery life seems excellent. I fill up my 256MB SD card long before the battery runs out.

I'm very pleased with the quality of pictures. So far I've taken about 100 pictures. It seems to have some difficulty in low-light conditions but it's better than my previous camera so I'm not sure it's the camera's fault.

My only complaint is the 16MB included card is a joke. It seems typical of all mfrs to include such inadequate storage so it's not unique to the Pentax but never the less frustrating. The battery lasts forever but it also seems to take forever (~3 hours) to charge. I'm not usually in a hurry to charge but thought it was worth noting.

I love this camera. I have several digital cameras and this one is the best by far. The battery lasts for a VERY long time. It's very easy to learn to use (hint: read the manual). The pictures are great. I love the scenes (Pict) modes. Even city shots at night with no tripod came out great. There's no restriction on the time you can take a movie (like with the comparable Canon), and then there's the terrific, wonderful, fabulous 5X zoom that beats every other camera in its class.

It's small enough to fit in a purse or a pocket and I take it everywhere. It powers up and focuses as fast or faster as any other digital camera. No more lost shots of the grandkids taking their first bite of brussels sprouts! It has a diopter so you can fine tune the optical viewfinder to fit your eyesight. The LCD screen is bright and sharp. Macro and super macro shots are amazing.

If you're looking for a small camera that does a great job in point and shoot situations, or if you're looking for a camera with enough bells and whistles to keep you interested, this is the one for you. It's far better than my Canon, Nikon or Sony. Price is dropping, too. Sure wish I had the $$$ back I spent on my other cameras that now sit unused at home in their large, bulky camera bags full of expensive extra batteries (for the Canon and the Nikon) and obsolete, expensive memory sticks (in the case of the Sony).

By the way, here's the key to capturing moving things, which is true for all digital cameras: 1. Focus; 2. Compose your shot; and 3. Shoot. With film cameras, you compose the shot, then focus, then shoot. Won't work in the digital world. Second hint is use the continuous mode which will capture several shots of the same subject. Then you get to pick the best one and delete the ones you don't like.

One accessory that works great and comes in very handy is the wireless remote. Set the camera on a tripod and become part of your pictures, or capture those hummingbirds without camera shake.

Buy this camera and enjoy.

I purchased this for my Canon S30 (great camera BTW). The bag fits it well, it's compact, has decent padding and has just enough storage. I store a spare battery in the same compartment as the camera and I store my charger in the front pocket. This way I have everything in the bag.

OK. Well, what am I dissatisfied with? One minor flaw, the shoulder strap is sewn in. You can not detach it, you are stuck with it dangling around even if you want to carry it in your hand. It would have been nice to have a detachable strap. After-the-fact, I noticed just about all other camera bags have a detachable strap, now I know why.

I tried to use it as a waist belt (as another reviewer had mentioned). Initially it sounded like a good idea, but there were a couple of problems using it like that. To put it on or take it off your waist, you need to loosen/tighten the strap and pull it over your head. If it had a buckle (or a detachable strap), this would not be a problem. Also, the stap is sewn up and down, so there is a twist in the strap when you put it around your waist. This was somewhat uncomfortable. This waist strap "feature" worked for someone else and it may work for you. But, I would never use it that way.

All-in-all a good buy.

I bought this camera bag for my Canon S40. Looking around I ended up with this bag since it combines good quality and price. It is a very small and nice bag, which is easy to bring whenever you need your camera.

Most days, when I don't use my camera, I store everything in the camera bag, e.g., camera, extra battery, battery charger, 2 flash cards and a plug converter. All fits, which is nice, keeping all accessories stored at one place. The battery charger and one of the flash cards are stored in the front pocket and in the big pocket I store the rest. However, whenever I use the camera, I remove the battery charger and the plug converter from the camera bag, so that I can store the extra battery and the flash cards in the front pocket. This way, I will only have the camera in the big pocket so nothing accidentally drops out when I grab the camera to capture that moment.

I have used the camera bag for a 10-day vacation in which I visited crowded places such as Seaworld and Magic Mountain. These days I used the camera bag as a "waist bag" by tightening the strap around my waist just enough to keep the camera bag comfortably attached. This way I could have easy access to the camera and safely bring the camera bag in the roller coasters. Furthermore, this way of wearing makes it really hard for a potential thief to steal it. Moreover, the camera bag can comfortably be worn as it was supposed to do thanks to the easy-to-adjust strap. However, this strap is not detachable but I don't see why anyone would want to detach it.

Overall, a very good product and a highly recommended buy.

Well aside from what has been said, I will say the velcro part could be annoying, however it is big and secure enough to make you feel safe for the avg user who wants just a camera and nothing more professional, has extra storage for batteries and your usb cable. All in all, better then nothing and good for the value. You wont feel the need to get rid of it anytime soon.

I purchased this for my Canon S30 (great camera BTW). The bag fits it well, it's compact, has decent padding and has just enough storage. I store a spare battery in the same compartment as the camera and I store my charger in the front pocket. This way I have everything in the bag.

OK. Well, what am I dissatisfied with? One minor flaw, the shoulder strap is sewn in. You can not detach it, you are stuck with it dangling around even if you want to carry it in your hand. It would have been nice to have a detachable strap. After-the-fact, I noticed just about all other camera bags have a detachable strap, now I know why.

I tried to use it as a waist belt (as another reviewer had mentioned). Initially it sounded like a good idea, but there were a couple of problems using it like that. To put it on or take it off your waist, you need to loosen/tighten the strap and pull it over your head. If it had a buckle (or a detachable strap), this would not be a problem. Also, the stap is sewn up and down, so there is a twist in the strap when you put it around your waist. This was somewhat uncomfortable. This waist strap "feature" worked for someone else and it may work for you. But, I would never use it that way.

All-in-all a good buy.

I bought this camera bag for my Canon S40. Looking around I ended up with this bag since it combines good quality and price. It is a very small and nice bag, which is easy to bring whenever you need your camera.

Most days, when I don't use my camera, I store everything in the camera bag, e.g., camera, extra battery, battery charger, 2 flash cards and a plug converter. All fits, which is nice, keeping all accessories stored at one place. The battery charger and one of the flash cards are stored in the front pocket and in the big pocket I store the rest. However, whenever I use the camera, I remove the battery charger and the plug converter from the camera bag, so that I can store the extra battery and the flash cards in the front pocket. This way, I will only have the camera in the big pocket so nothing accidentally drops out when I grab the camera to capture that moment.

I have used the camera bag for a 10-day vacation in which I visited crowded places such as Seaworld and Magic Mountain. These days I used the camera bag as a "waist bag" by tightening the strap around my waist just enough to keep the camera bag comfortably attached. This way I could have easy access to the camera and safely bring the camera bag in the roller coasters. Furthermore, this way of wearing makes it really hard for a potential thief to steal it. Moreover, the camera bag can comfortably be worn as it was supposed to do thanks to the easy-to-adjust strap. However, this strap is not detachable but I don't see why anyone would want to detach it.

Overall, a very good product and a highly recommended buy.

Well aside from what has been said, I will say the velcro part could be annoying, however it is big and secure enough to make you feel safe for the avg user who wants just a camera and nothing more professional, has extra storage for batteries and your usb cable. All in all, better then nothing and good for the value. You wont feel the need to get rid of it anytime soon.

The flash is to bright, even if you turn the exposure level down all the way, the pictures come out all white. I would have to turn out all the lights to take a picture indoors, then you can't see what you're taking a picture of. If you turn on all the lights and turn the exposure level all the way up, you then get dim pictures with poor resolution.
Also there is no viewfinder besides the LCD screen, so its hard to aim.
It takes good pictures outdoors in the daytime.

Probably the best thing I can say about this camera is that it's priced fairly. It is very compact and reasonably user-friendly. It is just the thing when you want a small, light-weight camera for taking quick snapshots or the occassional brief (very brief without adding a memory card) movie.

However, manufacturing a camera for this price range means cutting corners. Some of the construction is a bit flimsy, although the main problem is image quality. The pictures are grainy even under the highest quality setting and the best lighting conditions. They aren't horrible, but they are far from great.

If you need a convenient, inexpensive way to take quickie shots and get them to your computer fast, this camera does the job quite well and for a fair price. It's ideal if you need pictures for online auctions, damage photos for an insurance claim, or a way to humiliate your friend who had a bit too much to drink at the party and did something stupid with a lamp shade. If you want lasting vacation photos or portraits of the kids, you should be considering a different digital camera - and a far different price range.

This little camera is great for the person wanting a small, good resolution camera at a good price. The video isn't great. It doesn't zoom. There no audio and you pretty much have to buy the memory card to record anything over 1-2 minutes. It has a timer on it which is nice so you can take picture with people. The flash is BRIGHT. It takes the best pictures in the light. Dark rooms are decent with the flash but you only get what you're shooting at, no background. But I can't stress enough how much you get for [the price]. This is a great camera for traveling.

I was in awe with this cute little camera because of it's size which seemed to amaze me, especially because it had a 3X zoom without any protruding lenses, minolta's worth-praising technology. I thought this was going to be every amateur photographers dream come true, as it is extremely mobile.

After purchasing this camera and seeing the quality of pictures, I now realize what the price of this camera is all about. To say the least, the picture quality is pathetic. When I compare this to my already existing canon powershot, the difference is strikingly clear. Quality of pictues in this camera would be like those of a web camera, if you excuse the size.

I am terribly disappoited. The photo looks totally granulated with lot of disturbance. The color is made up and not natural. I would have forgiven the cheap little camera had I taken photos in no-so-good lighting condition. But as the lighting was good, the performance should have been better.

After checking out so many cameras, I belive there is nothing better than canon powershot. If you have some extra bucks, it's worth spending on a canon. The picture quality is amazing.

You can read my review for Canon powershot 4 mega pixel digital camera. This doesn't come even close to that.

You can waste your money on this one only if you need to be able to carry a camera around in your shirt pocket and be least bothered about quality photos. I wonder how many of us would do that.

Strengths:
Compact and lightweight camera that allows photographers on the go to take high-quality pictures in any place and at anytime
Weaknesses:
No A/V output and slide show function. This is probably the biggest loss for the XG.
Summary:
The ultra slim Minolta DiMAGE Xg packs a 3x optical zoom and 3.2-megapixel resolution into a body that is just 20mm thick! Though the DiMAGE Xg is almost identical to its predecessor, the DiMAGE Xt, it has a number of fundamental difference, including a faster start-up time (a speedy 0.8 seconds), a larger 1.6" LCD monitor, and a fast, 30-frame-per-second movie mode for high quality movies. Much longer battery life - 240 minute playback versus 120 for the XT. Specific AE program modes for sports, portraits, landscapes, sunsets, night scenes. Sports means faster shutter to catch action and so on. Multi-frame in one frame capture for action sequences (9 pics in less than three seconds). Manual settings mode somewhat like the Canon S230. One switch setting chooses the auto settings including the 5 AE modes. The other lets you choose color mode, ISO sensitivity, metering, and white balance. PictBridge printing support. In camera picture editing functions such as cropping and reframing pictures. In camera cut/paste function allows you to place an image within another image. This is one fantastic camera!

By far the best ultra compact, truly shirt pocket digital camera with the right combination of features. Not the best in the world, but real close. The start up time is less than a second and your ready to shoot. One mode for fully automatic with preprogrammed settings for portait, sport, sunset, night, and landscape. Another mode to have more granular control of sensitivity, white balance, and exposure.

Prints great 4x6 pictures on glossy paper, which is 99.9% of the type of pictures I will print. Comes with a 16MB SD card allowing continuous shooting at 1.5 frames per second.

There is a 3x optical zoom that is non-protruding. Great technology with great pictures. I haven't taken a camera on trips due to their bulkiness. Yes, I'm lazy. The Xg is easily kept in a shirt pocket readily available when the urge strikes.

While it is true that the Philips PCVC740K ToUcam Pro webcam gives a great picture...even in low light... the Philips "VLOUNGE" software interface that comes bundled with it is horrible, Especially for capturing live video...the VRECORD application, previewed live video well...but when it came to recording, it would give me a USB bandwith error...even after I unplugged all other USB devices!!!! It also comes with some decent(but not exceptional) software applications including: Spotlife for live webcam use or creating live or still video on a website, (although its live video capture would let me record video, it gave me an error everytime I tried to record both video and audio together!) Reality Fusion's Gamecam software which lets you get inside games using your image to deflect balls etc, and a stripped down Ulead photo editor, PhotoExpress 2.0 LE.....

The camera itself, while delivering great image quality, in design is a bit awkward. Much lighter than Logitech Webcams, I found the oval shaped casing would often tip...and the tripod it comes with needs more weight on the back leg to keep it from slipping off the monitor (although it is probably perfect for laptop use). Still snapshots on this model can be taken by just saying CHEESE or by depressing the button on top of the camera. (Note: This webcam must be connected to computer via USB port to function...even for snapshots)

This camera is also suppose to deliver up to 60fps, that was one of the determining factors I had in choosing it over a Logitech or an Intel model...but that 60fps stat depends on your computer system and the number of USB devices...typically it still captures in the range of most other webcams...5-30fps BEWARE AMAZON CUSTOMERS: All of these Philips ToUcam models look similar!! If you buy/bought this webcam from Amazon, make sure it comes in a cardboard printed box (not on a plastic card like the lower end models) The ring around the lens of this Pro model is a yellow-orange color (The lower end model has a red/maroon color)............FYI

Good value for money. I plugged into my new XP machine, installed the required software and it works perfectly. Video mail option is not very effective. Inspite of several attempts, I get a very poor output. But the camera is really good and captures images at very low light. There are few add-on software that comes with the camera. Overall a good value for money, though one can expect a better results especially webcasting, and live streaming area.

I picked one of these up on an auction site after reading reviews (all touting this as "The best webcam out there"), and after owning it for a few months, I'm convinced you can't find a better hardware webcam anywhere. The resolution (640x480) is terrific, the clarity and focus top-notch, and low-light sensitivity is among the best.

My previous favorite, Vista Imaging's "ViCam" was sold to 3COM (rebranded as the "HomeConnect"), then quitely dropped. The ViCam/HomeConnect may be a slightly better unit, but not being available I found the ToUCam and have been delighted. This is my fifth, perhaps sixth webcam, and I'll buy another one; there's really no comparison to the rest.

The unit is attractive and compact, with minimal controls (one actually, a shutter button). The supplied USB (1.1 only) cable is slim and lengthy, and once the drivers are installed, it's plug & play. (One niceity: The ToUCam ships with a "cute" egg-shapped zippered carrying case that is tiny, but excellent for packing the unit with you). One nit: Due to its design, the camera (made to mount in its own "leg" stand) tilts downward at an awkward angle. This won't prove much of an issue if you use the default stand (they are detachable), however if you mount the camera on some other device (in my case, the "TrackerPod"), you'll find the ToUCam points down at roughly a 30 degree angle. So beware, and ensure any stand you plan to use it on allows you to tilt the camera back up, or you'll be webcaming your desktop.

Now, I mentioned that this is a great *hardware* product, and that suggests the bundled software isn't the best, and that's true. The included package is robust -- webcam imaging software, video email, video-active games, and of course, the requisite drivers. While usable, they don't provide much more, and updates from Philips are spotty and confusing to acquire and install. If you have PC software already that you're happy with (e.g., webcam32, trackercam, etc) then by all means pick up the 740K ToUCam, you won't be disappointed. But don't rely solely on the software package provided by Philips. I only wish this product were more widely available in the US, but with avenues like Amazon.com and auction sites, finding one shouldn't be too painful, and your search will be worth it.