Digital-Camera Reviews

This cord is not a remote control device as you might assume from its name. Rather, this is the same device that professionals would call a shutter release cable. It is meant to release the shutter button for long exposure shots to avoid shaking the camera when you touch it. You can also "lock" the shutter open for REALLY long shots (anything longer than 2 minutes). When you reach the desired exposure time, simply slide the button out of lock mode and the shutter will close.

Unless you have four foot long arms and a fish-eye lens, you won't be able to use this cord to do self portraits. You will have to make do with the self timer. Unfortunately, according to my local rep, Canon does not make a more useful cordless remote that works with my Rebel 2000.

This is a great switch I use on my Canon SLR. I use it primarily for night shots and anything else that requires a slow shutter speed. My only complaint is that I feel its a tad too expensive. An item like this should cost [less].

and absolutely no complaints :)

I take plenty of scenic shots and time elpased photos so this has been an indispensable accessory.

I purchased this camcorder Oct. 1999. The picture quality is crystal clear in good lighting conditions, grainy in low light conditions. I also purchased a ... hardware/software package from Pinnacle Systems ... that allows me to edit video and audio captured on the camcorder on my PC. This is a very innexpensive way to produce high quality home movies. The best feature of the camcorder is its size-you take it everywhere.

You give up some features (o lux, infrared, memory stick) to gain the biggest benefit of all...ease of use. My biggest problem with picture/movie taking is how much of a pain it is to setup the shot and mess with the camera. With the PC1, you just whip it out of your pocket and shoot. The picture quality is actually very impressive (I'm not sure what the guy above is missing). In tandem with a Sony VAIO, the PC1 makes one heck of a home video studio.

I bought the PC1E in 2004 so it's not the newest, I have been looking for a camcorder to settle down with for a while now and have used Panasonics, Sharps and JVCs, I was put off Sony by the fact that you usually pay a premium price and I had no evidence that they were definitively better than the other brands. Obviously the size of the PC1 is noticeably small even by modern mini-DV standards it holds up well. It takes a little getting used to but unlike other upright cameras that I've used the natural holding position on the PC1 doesn't interfere with the microphone, a definite plus. Sound quality is good and the unit makes very little mech noise so you don't get that on playback. The Carl Zeiss lens is excellent as you'd expect, I particularly like the light adjustment which is very fast and very good, it means if you swing past a window whilst indoors it doesn't screw up your footage. All in all I'd recommend it as a great camera for the enthusiast, in terms of connectivity it links up to the Mac through iMovie with no trouble at all.

I just got this little gem as my new glovebox cam. I've used it indoors and outdoors, with and without flash, and I'm very pleased with the pictures I've gotten thus far. I took an experimental movie clip (no sound) and it also looks fine. The 1 megapixel resolution (you can also select 640 x 480) for photos is perfect for computer use and for prints up to 5" x 7". The camera uses 2 rechargeable AAAs (the charger is included) and the battery life is very good. The included 8 megabyte Memory Stick is too small, but I put a 128 meg (Lexar) card in there and I get almost 400 pics on its full 1 megapixel setting. Settings and menus are simple and the instruction manual is not needed. The size and weight are of course the big pluses here. I gave it only 4 stars though because I felt the price was a bit high for the specs (obviously, the price is the premium for the size) *and* because without an eyepiece viewfinder, one is forced to frame through the tiny LCD on the camera's rear. That is a nearly impossible task in sunlight, making for a significant drawback. Nonetheless, I'm having fun with it and I'm sure you will too!

This is my first digital camera. I wanted something simple and dependable--for shooting photos of students, sending shots of the cat to my kids, selling stuff on the internet. The Sony looked like a good bet. What I hadn't counted on was the exquisite smallness of the camera. Scarcely larger than a cigarette lighter, it makes my wife's Canon Elph look like a behemoth by comparison.

Given the size and convenience of the camera, I'm a bit surprised and disappointed at Sony's assumption that its owner might require options like sepia mode and a few other features aimed at the "creative" photographer. Just more potential things to go wrong and detract from the camera's point-and-shoot simplicity. Also puzzling is the feature that allows you to partition the screen into 4 frames containing 4 different images--each about the size of a molecule.

Anyway, I'm getting great shots with everything set on "automatic," and the convenience of the thing is leading me to use it much more than I had planned.

I have a better camera than this one. It's a Sony too, and it has 3X zoom, a bigger LCD screen, sound MPG's, more megapixels, and just generally all the bells and whistles that my 2-year-old miniature Sony doesn't have.
And yet I still take most of my pictures on the DSCU10. Why? Because it's always in my jacket pocket and it's always ready. It's a full-feature camera and it's smaller than a Snickers bar. Better still, the design is brilliantly intuitive. Slide open the cover, press the button. That's it! You can even get your Mom to use it. And while the batteries take a while to charge, it will hold the charge for weeks or even months while you carry it around. And oddly enough, it's much easier to download from than my newer, more expensive Sony. Just plug in the USB, the camera turns itself on and it starts downloading.
Unquestionably it has weaknesses. The postage stamp LCD viewscreen is of questionable utility; it's good enough for framing shots but it's impossible to see any detail, especially in daylight. The picture quality is merely adequate (it would be wise to opt for the higher-rez DSCU20 if possible). The autofocus can be unreliable and the flash is weak.
But it's always there for you when your bigger, better camera is at home on the shelf. Anyone who's serious about photography should have one of these (or the DSCU20) as a second camera.
One final note: I don't know if this is a plus or minus, but this camera seems to impress everyone who sees it. It really looks like some sort of spy camera and on one occasion I was actually accused of being a private detective by a woman who wandered into one of my shots. Even now that it's getting a little long in the tooth, people still want to look at it to see if it's a real camera, and they're still impressed when they see that it is.

I am very impressed with the high quality of pictures the camera produces. It captures great detail and the photos look very good in print 5x7 as well as on the screen.

Positives:
Great price for 5 mpx
Controls are easy;
operates like a point and shoot;
lightweight;
many shooting modes;
panaroma mode - excellent for 180 deg views of landscapes

Negatives:
a. Boot up time : about 45 secs to 1 min
b. Battery
1. Propriety size battery : expensive to replace ($50 US)
2. Life of battery : Not in line with my expectations
3. Battery life remaining indicator: Not accurate, misleading.Jumps rapidly from full charge to no charge.
c. Focusing close subjects a problem sometimes

Overall its a great camera with these small problems.

I've had this camera for a few days now and it is awesome. It takes great pictures and has a lot of options. I don't have a detailed review since I've only owned the camera for a short period of time but when I was trying to decide which camera to purchase some of the reviews for this camera said it took poor indoor pictures...this is not true. I've only taken pictures indoor and the quality is above most cameras.

GReat Camera,,,, but you can get it about $80 cheaper than target$399 if you go to amazon site. I got the exact same camera for $313 and free shipping....shop around

Bottom line: I really like this camera. Its small enough to go anywhere and sturdy enough to take a beating. The TV feature is nice for sharing family pictures on my big screen television, and a lot of fun. The USB reader really helps the novice transfer the pictures to the PC, its completely painless. I like that you can take pictures without the flash and they turn out very nice -especially inside museums/acquariums. The quality of the pictures is awesome, very good color and very clear.

What I don't like: I've had the camera for about 6 months and I wish I'd bought something with a better zoom. The digital zoom is not very good and really limits what you can shoot. Worse than the zoom, is the shutter speed. If there is the slightest movement while you're taking a picture, the result is a complete mess.

If you're considering this model, its a good camera, but shop around and try it out before you buy. Also, I bought the Kodak rechargeable battery pack and its wonderful.

I have had this camera for three weeks now and have been totally impressed with its ease of use and excellent picture quality. Every review you read about digital cameras has a negative comment about battery use. These cameras use a lot of power- more power than an alkaline battery can dish out. If you buy the NiMh battery charger and a spare set of batteries you will not have any problems. I have been 2 weeks on my fully charged mah 1600 batteries and they are still performing well, and I always use the LCD all the time, and have even used the 2x digital zoom. This camera takes some of the most vivid, in-depth photos I have seen on a low-end priced digital camera. It's small compact size makes it fun to carry everywhere you go. I would highly reccomend this camera to beginner and novice alike.

This camera is a small compact camera that at this date (11/02) is not as feature rich as some of the newer cameras, but is still an excellent workhorse. I have had mine for about 18 months and liked it so well I gave my sister one last year for christmas. She had no end of frustation with trying to load film to take a quick picture.

This camera is easy to set up and easy to use. During the Afgan campaign I saw a picture I wanted to send someone. Taped the news report, put the VCR on pause, turned off the room lights and took the picture off of a big screen TV. E-mailed the picture to several friends that night!

Battery life is excellent and uses STANDARD AA's!!

Some of my friends have chased the latest and greatest and my Kodak still takes better pictures. The one disadvantage is the card reader, but then that is also and advantage. When visiting my nephew, I pulled my card out and inserted it into his card reader for another brand (dual slot) and downloaded some shots.

Most of the newer inkjets have card slots in them, so they can read the card in this camera, without having to load additional software.

I have had this camcorder (my first and only) for nearly a year. It was a great entry to home video.

I was very pleased with the picture quality and it is easy to use. I have tried the EIS feature(electronic image stabilization) and it really works and the effect on picture quality is barely noticeable.

Editing on a computer with the IEEE1394 interface is fun (and IEEE1394 interface cards for desktop and laptop PCs can be had very cheaply - I bought one for each.) The camcorder can even print the finished movies back to a blank MiniDV tape for archiving and for displaying on NTSC TVs.

The built-in microphone has very poor sound quality - voices sound very tinny. I wish it had a way of connecting an external microphone. And I wish a second, larger battery wasn't so expensive - it is hard to shop around for a third-party battery as the online catalogs rarely mention this model of camcorder.

Shop around for MiniDV tapes - good brands can be found for around $5 but I see them many places over $8.

The battery charger included with mine doubles as an AC adapter and works on many electrical systems round the world (just get a travel plug from your local hardware store.)

This digital camera has everything you need. Don't waste your money on those overpriced gadgety cameras, when all you need is something to capture good quality digital video.

I've played around with quite a few DV cameras, and almost all of them were impossible to figure out. Too many buttons. This camera only has the necessities. My only complaint about the ergonomics is that the record button could be placed better. I usually take my thumb off of it after I hit record, so I have to go searching for it when I want to pause or stop recording, so a lot of my video has a visible jiggle at the end where I was fumbling for the record toggle.

The quality of the video is superb. It gets a little grainy in low light, but no worse than any DV camera I've seen below $900.

Oh, one thing to note. This camera doesn't come with a DV tape to get you started. So, you better put a 3-pack in your shpping cart before you check out. I'd recommend a second battery, too.

This camera doesn't have an analog pass-thru, so you can't use it to transfer your old 8mm videos to DV.... but that's something you'd do only once anyway, right? Why spend the extra bucks on a camera that can do it then?

This is a great deal. If you are the bare-bones type, get this. You'll be pleased.

For an entry level miniDV camcorder, this one Rocks.
Easy to use & extremely light.
Buy the Pyro firewire card, and you can get great video to your pc.
For the price you pay, it doesn't get much better.

This a nice digital camera, it's worth it. The only problem is as well with all the other electronics gadgets, battery life, this itsy bitsy camera eats a lot of them, you will need at least two other sets of rechargable ones. And the red eye option not working very well. I love it

INTRO:

I just got this camera a week ago, and it's great. I wanted a small camera that fit in my pocket, and offered good combination of resolution and size: this is probably the best example of that compromise that exists in the market today. When I got the camera, I was amazed at how small it actually was. It fits right in the palm of my hand and is a little bit bigger than a pack of Extra gum (the 15 stick pack). It's perfect for the shirt or pants pocket.

THE GOOD:

I figure most people that buy this camera are looking at the size first, then the picture quality second. Overall, the picture quality is right in line with what you'd expect from a 2.0 mp camera these days. It's not top notch, but for it's optics size, it's what I expected. Indoor shots come out pretty good, outdoor is excellent, and pictures at dusk seem even better. The pictures can be a little washed out on occasion, especially when using the flash, but it's great for what I wanted - a camera I could take with me and use when out with my friends.

It's got a great constructed feel to it. The shell is practically all metal and feels very solid in the hand. It's not heavy at all, but not so light that it feels unworkable in the hand.

The controls are simple to use - there's shoot, review and movie mode. Plus, there's a "joy stick" style dial (with buttons) underneath the viewfinder where you can scroll through images, zoom, and set shooting modes. The a short learning curve considering there's so few buttons to control all the functions of the camera: It's very intuitively made.

The viewfinder even offers some power saving options, where you can turn just about everything off. You can turn off all sounds, and even turn off the backlight on the lcd display. It gets really hard to see anything, but I'm glad that Sony actually thought enough about it to include it as a feature.

The camera includes a standard USB connection so that you don't have to buy a reader for the card.

It uses two NIMH AAA batteries, which includes the charger. Even at full price, I think it's great they kept it affordable enough to include a charger and you can use it to charge both AA and AAA batteries. Plus, the charger only needs an adaptor (instead of a converter) when in foreign countries.

Power management is really great considering the size. It takes some time for initial battery charge (6 hours recommended), but they seem to last a good amount of time. I've been using it pretty much all week, taking a total of 40 pictures (also, scanning through them, deleting, etc) and the battery indicator never went to low (half bar indicator).

COULD IMPROVE ON:

There's only two things that kind of get me down about this camera. First, is the sliding door. Don't get me wrong, it's well constructed, but it's just way to easy to accidentally open the sliding door when it's in your pocket. It takes very little effort to move it open.

Also, the USB connector on the back is not that great. It kind of has a cheap feel to it and once you get it connected, disconnecting it takes some delicate shimmying. Plus, the drivers do not work in WinXP (actually, I take it back - it worked once and hasn't since).

The mirror is a cool feature and it does work, but I think you'll get bored with it after the first day. Unless, of course, you plan on using it for self portais a lot.

This is being nitpicky I think, but the battery charger takes a great deal of time to charge the battery (as I stated - 6 hours). Plus, when it's fully charged I expected the amber colored light to turn to green - instead it just shuts off. Which makes me think I lost power in the outlet or worse.

Lastly, I admit that this is probably my fault, but I tend to want to hold the camera with both hands to steady the shot. However, the lens is so close to the left hand that you may occasionally cover up the lens. I thought a centered location for the lens would be best.

Anyway, this camera is great, and I highly recommend it. It's relatively inexpensive, you get great Sony quality, and the pictures are great for the size. Enjoy!

If you're looking for a compact sized digital camera this is for you! Sony CybershotU30 has good resolution according to its size and pictures taken are very neat at 2MP. The LCD, although small, is completely visible for the average person and you won't have problem taking good pictures. Start-up time is almost none, and time between pictures is very little! It has few drawbacks like its handling : it is so little that people with big hands should be careful of not letting it slip away while taking a picture or viewing them. Another one is the playback mode, the index selection feature is definitely useless because pictures appear too small (4 pictures in a 1" LCD display makes it impossible).
My rating for this camera is perfect because you get more than you can from this size and the price is near fair, it could be cheaper.

We bought this camera because we just had a baby and wanted to email pics to all of our close relatives from out of town. It has been a great fit for what we wanted it for. We like that fact that the camera comes with so many features and is easy to use. Black and white baby shots are great. The menu is easy to use (my 77 year-old grandmother used it). If you are looking for a camera that saves pictures on floppy and memory stick, this is the camera for you. None of the other Mavica cameras have the built in memory stick slot, a big plus for the 92.

We just wish it was a little cheaper because the megapixels are lower than other similarly priced cameras.

I just got this camera. In doing my research I found that this is a very similar camera to the MVC-FD90 camera. This one is the 2001 model while the other is the 2000 model. There are some differences, which I'll mention, but in general, I think this is a great camera for the price.

The reason I got this camera is because I needed the versatility of a digital camera with a removable medium (the disks) because over a long vacation memory sticks will fill up, and unless you have either a laptop to download your pictures to, or a lot of extra money lying around to purchase large mega byte memory sticks, this is the way to go.

The nice thing about this camera is that is will use either disks or a memory stick. You don't have to buy the memory stick adaptor like with the other Mavicas, it's built into the camera - so you have the best of both worlds.

This camera will shoot up to 1.6 mega pixels. This is ample for what I use the camera for, which is e-mailing, looking at the pictures on the computer, or printing out 5 X 7 pictures for a scrapbook. Yes, the more mega pixels the larger the picture you can print with no distortion, but you will also pay more for the camera and then have to buy a larger memory stick as most stick cameras come with only an 8 meg card, which starts to add up.

The FD92 does the movies and that is extremely cool. I use it all the time and I cannot express how neat it is. It will shoot 15 - 60 second movies depending on the quality you want. These are perfect for e-mailing. It's like having a moving memory to look at without having to watch hours of wasted videotape. If you've watched someone else's home movies, you know what I mean.

The big difference I know of between this camera and the FD-90 is that the FD-90 has a manual focus function where this one does not. I don't consider it a loss. The manual focus really is only useful when shooting for a very specific effect in a shot. If you're looking for that much ability in a camera, you're probably already considering a professional level camera, which, again, is much costlier. The FD-90 is also more expensive than this camera. So, for less money you're getting a newer camera with this year's technology minus a feature will probably never use.

All I can say is that, like many Mavica owners before me, I love this camera. It allows me to do everything I want to do, and it wasn't a killer in cost. If you're considering the the FD-90, I'd recommend this one instead.

I did a lot of research before purchasing a good digital camera(I had a really cheap one before this one). The FD92 just excelled in every aspect. It has 8x optical zoom (look at the difference between digital and optical zoom is a good thing to know). It has the capability of storing images in both a Floppy disk and a Memory stick(128Mg Memory stick available now) which depending on resolution can satisfy all your needs(Max res on FD(6 pics) Max Res on Mem Stick (300 Pics) Good Res 640x480 (30 on FD and 1500 on MS). Besides all the comparisons I made with other cameras from Nikkon, Olympus, and Cannon, I purchased from the mavica product line since my Auto Shop uses them line... they abuse an FD90 day in and day out and it still works perfectly... this was one of the major factors that made me purchase it. After I bought the camera and started using it I was very happy with my investementet ... My wife picked it up and starting taking pictures without even reading the manual and she loved it... which is a first when it comes to electronic "toys". I recomend this camera to anyone in the market for one.

While retrieving the camera from the case, I noticed the upper portion of the belt loop had split and was hanging by a mere thread of rubber. I was fortunate. After removing the camera from the case, one slight tug broke the belt loop. I've been using this case for approximately nine months with a Nikon Coolpix 990. Suggest you look at a Tamrac #5694 for cameras of this size.

I previously used a case logic digital camera bag for my Coolpix 950. It was pretty nice, but it was a tight fit to get the camera in. Alhtough the Nikon case seems smaller, the camera fits much better. I also have room for an extra set of batteries, my PCMCIA flash card adaptor, and a video cable. However, the one thing I miss is that there's no shouldar strap. Just a belt buckle, and a little loop.

OK, I got one of these and like many others have already said, it has the advantage of having been engineered to carry the camera, but not much else. I, myself, carry lots of batteries and the thing has nowhere to stuff them all. After running through a Sears, Best Buy and a camera shop stuffing the 990 into various cases to see what fits best, I settled on a case logic CD player carrying bag. It has 3 zip pockets in it as well as a shoulder strap, belt loop and a snap loo that can be used to hang a light accessory bag off ot it. The bag is just big enough to fit the 990 into the mid pocket while leaving room in the back pocket for batteries and accessories. The small front pocket is just the right size to carry the trial size CF card that comes with the camera. Over all, I am very happy with the case. It is water resistant so I don't fear being caught in the rain with it an is just so versatile.

If you can find this thing its great. Shouldn't be hard Case logic has their products everywhere. It is a CD player travel bag and square shaped and comes in red, blue, yellow and maybe another color or two (I only saw the three colors I mentioned but there are probably more) If you can, get one of these. Its just right and now I am rambling so that's all for this review.

I bought this camera my birthday and thought it was great. A couple months later, I began to notice that the sound skips, and it would constantly eat tapes. And then it goes on some sort of safety mode where it wont let you do anything on the camera because it thinks it might break itself. And whats up with all that extra space around the flip screen? I should have done more research before I bought this camera, and now im paying the price.

This is my first Camcoder, the other choice I considered was JVC-DV120, I liked JVC's 16x optical zoom, but its construction looked cheesy and it's much bulkier. The DV102 looks much better and has some nice features I like: zoom-mic and build-in light. It's a real good deal.
Camera is pretty easy to use and takes good picture, the image stablization does a good job, I took a lot of video by holding it without a tripod, sometimes I need to walk around, and the image wasn't very jerky. The sound quality is very good, no background noise at all.
In low light the image is a little bit grainy, but still very acceptable.
I'm not worried about the SD card, though I do have a spare one from my digital camera, I rarely use it, the still picture quality is too low to justify the price of a card. If Panasonic removed the SD drive and offered it with a remote, I'd have given it 5 stars. The other thing I missed is it doesn't have S-video output.
The Camcoder offers some manual feature such as iris lock, backlight and program AE, which are essential to cope with certain light conditions.
The camera's control buttons are a little hard to reach for me by just using one hand, my hand is relatively small, so make sure it's good for your hand.

Overall I feel it's perfect for begainers on a budget.
Btw, the software is virtually usesless.

The camera itself gives you crystal clear movies, they transfer perfectly to VCR with great video and sound quality. Image transfer to PC via FireWire (cable and card not included) is also outstanding. Only problem is that I had to get seperate software (Adobe Premiere which is expensive) because the included software was, without excaggeration, one of the worst applications I've ever worked with weather multimedia or otherwise. It appeared to be written by someone with very basic programming ability! I emphasize this fact for those of you looking to do PC stuff with it. The still pics from the [optional] memory card are average but OK for Ebay and emailing pics. Overall: great for price range. I'm happy with it.