Digital-Camera Reviews

This has been one of the greatest cameras until...problems...And I have two of them! On fast re-wind they will sometimes destroy the tape. On both, I only re-wind on slow rewind. Now one will not accept a tape at all. I think someone rewound on fast and hurt the mechanism somehow. A call to Cannon did not admit that they have problems. Still trying to determine cost to fix...if possible. I am reading others on internet with Elura 40 which is similar and they are having problems with totally destroying the tape and $600 to repair??????

To be somewhat fair, I use mine with a helmet camera, carrying the camcorder on my chest. I have not crashed on it but it is not a perfect lifestyle. As a back-up, I bought another... Almost out of the box I had the rewind problems. I could live with those...until now! Changing brands of tapes made no difference.

I use the picture MMC side alot, but remember that it is only 2.0 megpixles and can't take much blowing up. But the pictures are e-mail friendly. The digital zoom is AWSOME!

Other than Tape problems, where you can loose everything, a great camera! 5 stars and falling fast!

This Canon Elura is the best camera iv'e seen my whole life from Canon. Its good quality pixels is so much better than the sony brand, and its small size and new mini-DV ability is sumething everyone needs to get out of the dark age of cameras!

I need an Adapter ( power adapter) for CANON MV20 ( Canon DM-MV20E , it writes on the battery spot ). My cam is same as ELURA but the difference is that MV20 is" PAL System " and ELURA is on " NTSC System ". I guess that Power Adapter would be same for both types.If someone knows where could I find a product please let me know. Camera is perfect, no doubt.

The GC-QX3 is my only digital camera, so I don't have much of a comparison, but I am not thrilled. It takes beautiful pictures outdoors in the bright sunlight, but it completely falls apart in low light situations. The auto mode is essentially worthless indoors. At least half the time the camera gets the white balance wrong, and the pictures are all blue. I mean REALLY blue, unfixably blue. Flash pictures, in addition to being blue, are usually severely under exposed. Even though this camera has three different sensitivities, it always takes auto mode flash pictures at the lowest sensitivity (ASA 80 equivalent). I have completely given up trying to use the camera indoors in auto mode. I set white balance, sensitivity and exposure manually. This is a real pain if I am in a point and shoot situation, and even then, I never really know what I am going to get. The display on the back is nice for previews, but it is worthless for judging picture quality.

JVC has the worst customer support that I have ever seen. I have tried to talk to them about my problems, but they refuse to answer my email. Their web site gives me the address of the JVC service center to which I can take the camera, but when I talk to the people who actually work there, they tell me that no one there knows anything about the GC-QX3, and they are sure that it is not one of the products which they service.

After reading as much as I can find about this camera, I am not at all convinced that mine is defective. It is sounding more and more like just bad design. I gave it a 3 rating because the pictures taken in plenty of light are stunning. Look somewhere else (I wish I knew where) if you plan to take a lot of indoor pictures.

I have two other camera "Casio" that I do like and work well. I find this camera not only works well it works fast. I have a problem with batterys being used up fast so sure I use recharge type batteries and power for down load to the computer. The JVC battery last long and even in the usb mode will do with out a charge. The JVC is a small bilt to last camera that I'm sure we all can use and have fun. I use it often and there is no end to a good digital camera --------Make good pictures and have fun!

This is my 4th digital camera,and its simply the best.Before i bought this i spend many hours online reseaching it and im glad i bought it, coz it even surpass my expectation of its performance...dont be fooled by other expensive camera out there...This is a top quality,super class,professional,digital camera for years to come.I use a 128mb smartmedia and it works great all the pics are all clear.And by the way one many feature of this is the Macro that i really like,but i love all about this camera.i would never trade this camera for anything...

The Kodak DVC325 camera captures great color among other cameras. Probably the far best in colors, because it produce great vibrant color (see link for image quality comparison: .... The only problem I have with this camera is the lack of mobility from left-to-right. It only tilt up and down of a tilt range of up to 75 degrees. See Kodak's site for more info: ....

I still rank it 4 stars, because of the high quality of the images captured.

you can still use it with windows XP by downloading the XP driver. so far, there are no problems in using this camera..... quality is good and image is clear.

For the money, the DVC325 is a good, low cost digital video camera. Its single focusing knob permits precision focusing, and like Kodak's extensive line of digital still cameras, the picture quality is superb. In low light conditions, the camera does fairly well, although the colors sometimes shift to red. I have found that turning on a light or momentarily blocking the lens with my hand (turning the image black) allows the image to shift back to normal. This anomaly occurs only rarely, otherwise even in low light the images are very good. I've used the camera to broadcast all sorts of challenging images for a camera, including: a beautiful sunset, a candle flickering at a table, a fire roaring in the fireplace, Christmas lights and even my husband and I working at our computers in a dark room.

I use the DVC325 primarily for fun, as a webcam my friends and family have access to. The camera works extremely well with the standard webcam software such as Webcam32. Although I often mount the camera on an inexpensive tripod, the camera's detachable foot is weighted and very stable so it can be used while perched on a shelf or other stable surface.

For more practical applications, you can use your DVC325 for videoconferencing with business associates or family living out-of-state using Microsoft Netmeeting or any other popular streaming video software.

Overall I was dissapointed in this camera. The description is not thorough enough. 1.3 Megapixels is for STILL images, and the images are decent but there is no flash so limited when lighting is bad. Video modes are 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120. Probably my biggest dissapointment was that the best video mode, 640x480, only shoots at 8 frames per second, which is very choppy and fuzzy. The other two modes shoot at 15 frames per second, which is a little better but they are small screen sizes. Audio is pretty good. If this was my first digital camera ever I would probably think its ok, but I was looking for an upgrade to the video capabilities of my current digital still camera, and this was not it. I will probably give it to some 10 year old as a gift or to a friend who has never had a digital camera.

I wanted an entirely digital (i.e. no tape) camcorder in order to try out the technology. We're not "camcorder people," so the idea of dropping several hundred dollars on a video camera (Mini-DV, Hi-8, Digital-8, or what have you) wasn't attractive. Surprisingly, there are not a lot of straight-to-memory-card camcorders out there! I thought the Sipix DV100 was exactly what we were looking for.

The other reviews are right. It's sturdy, very small, and it does just what it advertises. It's true that the shutter button is a bit awkwardly located, but a) you only hit it once to start recording, and b) you can brace your thumb against the left side of the camera to make reaching the button easier. The lack of any type of flash makes recording a challenge. The AUTO white balance feature, while a plus, doesn't always compensate, particularly indoors. Outdoors, though, I have no complaints. Resolution is exactly what I expected: 15fps (with a 256Mb SanDisk SD card) at 320x240, and 8fps at 640x480. The microphone does a decent job of picking up sound, most especially for the camera operator (not so much for the subjects). The ability to connect to a TV is great for immediately sharing the results of your recordings, and the USB connection is as fast as I expected. Finally, battery life is tremendous! Whereas my Sony Cybershot still camera drains batteries like there's no tomorrow, this little camcorder is still running on its original batteries after at least 20 minutes of recording, several downloads, and several TV "productions." I realize that this is due in large part to the lack of a flash, but it's still a nice bonus.

The only reason I'd give it 4 rather than 5 stars is the lack of an AC power source. Battery life is great, but it'd be nice to not have to run on batteries every single time you use the camera.

Oh, yeah...you get about 35 minutes of recording at 320x240 on a 256Mb SanDisk SD card.

When I started my family, I bought an 8mm camera. I can probably count the number of times I used it on one hand in the five years I've owned it. It was bulky, needed frequent recharging, and frankly, after a while, I would forget to bring it out. I was looking for something small, digital, and of course inexepensive. I gave the SiPix a shot. I love this little camera. I can take it everywhere and it's very simple to use. The software is also simple, but it doesn't have alot of features. If buying this camera, it is a MUST to purchase a memory stick, at LEAST 256 MB or you can't record video for more than a couple of minutes. Also, there is no flash, so only outside or in lit areas. I was dissapointed that there was no flash or lighting options, and battery life (2 AAs) doesn't last as long as I like (but longer than the 8mm NiMH, how sad). Overall, this camera had performed how I expected it to for the cost. The quality is not the best, but decent, and it works great to record little moments on family trips and the kid's activities. If you are looking for portable, digital, and an inexpensive camera to start with; and can live with "ok" quality, this is the camera to buy. Especially since it's a great starter camera if you're not sure you want to upgrade to digital camcorders because of price. The money you spend on this camera is worth "experimenting" in the digital world, before you upgrade to the "big dogs"

hi all, i've been eyeing this camera since the announcement from pentax in feb and quite pleased when i got it from my local retailer.

all in all, i like the fact it's using 2 AA batteries only and that it's really slim and compact without bulging parts. pictures are good enough for an average consumer who isn't looking for "national geographic" standard pictures or anything like that. functions and features are good as well as the ergonomics.

some might find the lcd blacking out while the flash is charging annoying, but it's actually good to me in the sense that at least i know i can't take pictures since the flash isn't ready! (lcd display returns when flash is charged, ie it's ready for another shoot!)

battery power isn't all THAT bad... unless u really shoot alot and left it on most of the time. the camera heats up slightly after about 5 mins of it being switched on. i recommend getting a 256mb SD card since the video capture can take long video clips.

those with problems with video capture: have to hold the shutter button halfway down until it registers before fully depressing it to start capture. to stop just a full depress will do.

i had some problems downloading the pictures initially. apparently i need to have the camera switched on BEFORE i plug the usb connection and not switch on the camera AFTER i plug as stated in the manual.

great camera for it's price as i think you can't really get any better camera that's cheaper! AA batts are great since i really like the flexibility of buying off the shelf if batt runs out when i'm out.

I've been using the Pentax S40 for the past three weeks, and am pleased with my purchase. I too selected this model because of the AA battery capability and have found the battery life to be very acceptable. I took over 100 flash pictures yesterday on a fully charged set of NiMH batteries. Spare NiMH batteries and a charger are quite cheap and most folks would carry a second set anyway.

The photographic results are quite impressive. Certainly on par with my other digital camera which is the (much larger) Sony DSC-F707, though the slightly lower resolution (4mp to 5mp) would likely show on an 8x10. The viewfinder doesn't show the full size of the scene being framed on the LCD screen, but I believe this is true of most digicams.

The telephoto works smoothly, and the LCD screen provides a clear and smooth look at the scene being framed. As with most LCD displays, it becomes less useful in bright sun.

The camera is easy to set up and its menu system is intuitive and logical with a surprisingly large array of photographic options. It can also be used as an auto focus point and shoot camera with good results as my 12 year old daughter did recently on a school trip. Subsequently she spent a bit of time learning the camera, and now navigates the menus, etc., with ease.

I'm using a 256mb Simpletech Secure Digital (SD) Pro-X High Speed card which has a much faster (10MB/sec) transfer rate than a standard SD card. The faster write speed frees the camera for its next shot much more quickly, and you won't believe how fast it transfers 256mb to a PC over a USB 2.0 (separate USB 2.0 reader needed) connection - whew!

I also purchased the Pentax Optio Warranty Extension which gives this camera a full three years of coverage. I figured my family will be using this camera for at least that long.

All in all, this is an excellent and fully featured camera in a very small package.

While walking thru Costco this morning I saw the Pentax Optio S40, it really looked great, I,ve owned quite a few Pentax Products and always found them to be well done with few exceptions, the S40 is no exception.
In a very impulsive mood I bought it, took it home, knew nothing about it, but was glad to see it uses AA cells, I did not read the manual, I inserted (2) fully charged 2200 milli ampere hour AA cells and my own 256 meg card, then started shooting pictures.
The results were superb, the color is excellent, required no correction at all, I took about 200 shots, the batteries are still going strong. True, on the screen, it looked like they could be sharper, when printing they were beautiful, ,,,,
Since then, I have been reading not such great things about the S40, I disagree with all, this is a first rate, beatifully made machine that is just a joy to use, I am going on a vacation shortly, the D40 will be with me.
Coul be I am lucky and got the best D40 ever made, I doubt that, I cannot recomment the camera more enthusiastically, I think I should read the instruction manual now, it could help even more

At the time I bought this camera, it was the least expensive 2 MP digital I could find. It took clear crisp pictures and was easy to use until it stopped working exactly one year after I purchased it. The LCD screen went blank and it wouldn't snap any pictures even with fresh batteries. I called the customer service, told them that my 12 month warranty has just expired and they told me to send it to them anyway. I'll wait and see what happens.

With 2.11 megapixels this camera is a good value for the money. At the highest resolution you should be able to blow a print up to 8x10. Camera is easy to use, basically just point & shoot. Push shutter button halfway for auto focus. Altho with default setting you can only get about 10-12 pictures on the 8MB internal memory, if you change the setting to 800 x 600 you can get 40 pictures instead, which I prefer because these pics won't take up as much room on your hard drive. (and this size looks great when I blow up the picture to use as a background on my computer!) With a 32 MB CF card you can get up to 180!! The red eye works very well. I've found with other cameras I always had a problem with red eye when taking pictures of my dog, but with this one I haven't had that problem. The software that comes with this camera is very user friendly. The closeup function works pretty well, you just have to watch the lighting with that to get good quality pics. The camera uses up batteries fast, but all of them do when you use the LCD display alot, which I do.

Hello,
I use this camera everyday for work. I am an independent automotive inspector for many aftermarket warranty companies. When they send me on an assignment, they expect lots of photos of all the failed parts of the car and uploaded the same day. I was truly impressed with the ViviCam 3615!!!Being my first digital camera (although not my first Vivitar Product), I really didn't know what to expect. But, I found this camera very easy to use with outstanding photo results. It comes complete with user-friendly software and all the cables (USB and video cables for t.v. viewing) at an awesome price. I take lots of close up shots of vehicle ID's and the smallest print comes out crystal clear (at 1600 x 1200). If lighting is a problem (as is the case in many repair shops I visit), either the built-in flash or the enhance mode on the software can be used for adjustment. Definately invest in the Flash Card for added memory, especially if planning on taking a lot pix before uploading. A 32MB Flash Card increases the capacity up to 347 pix at 600 X 800 "good quality" resolution or 85 pix 1600 x 1200 "good quality" resolution. Except when shooting Vehicle ID #'s, I usually keep the setting at 600 x 800 "best quality" and can easily shoot 60-75 pix with no hassles. My biggest and only gripe-it goes through alkaline batteries like crazy and I am looking to switch to a compatible rechargeable set. Other cameras I shopped were more expensive and did not come with cables or the freedom to use AA batteries. Overall, EXCELLENT PRODUCT AT AN EXCELLENT PRICE...I definately recommend it. If anyone wants to see samples of pix I take on a daily basis, ...Good Luck!!!

I have the Nikon Coolpix 4500 camera and I recently purchased this accessory kit for it. I have nothing but good things to say about it!!!
-The camera case is of very high quality and not only does it fit the 4500 camera, but there's also room for other accessories, such as the AC adapter, compact flash cards, etc.
-The AC adapter is very useful because it does NOT come with the camera (at least not with the Coolpix 4500).
-The compact flash card reader, lens cloth, and card wallet are other nice things to have.

If all of these items were purchased separately, the grand total of all of them combined would have been well over [$]. Thus, this kit is a very good buy and very complementary to the camera.

After I had purchased this kit, I read the reviews by other users and they seem to be misleading. But once I received the kit, I was pleasantly surprised by its contents and I discounted the misleading information supplied by some of the reviews.

Yes, this is an accessory kit for the Nikon Coolpix cameras but give us the particulars, please! I ordered this after making a guess from the picture as to what it contained. The kit comes with a CompactFlash card reader (plus software), a black camera case made of PVC/vinyl (it's soft and flexible, though), a nice little "wallet" for extra memory cards, a lens cloth, and an AC adapter. A nice kit for at a good price! I'm glad I took a chance.

The case fits very well with my Coolpix 5700 camera. The EH-52 AC adaptor's output rating on the product label is 8.4V/1.3A Max, which is the same as the EH-53. I tested it, worked fine. My PC running Window XP detected the memory card reader automatically and showed it as another removable drive. Transfering pictures without any problem. I can also use the card reader like a USB drive with the Flash memory plugged in.

I purchased the Digital Stylus 300 when it was released last summer. Compared to other 3 and 4 megapixel cameras at that time, I thought that the 300 was very good. My big complaint was the delay from the time that you press the button to take the picture to the time that the camera actually takes the picture. I timed this delay and it is a full 2 seconds. When I saw that the Digital Stylus 410 claimed to have a 30% faster processing time, I thought that I found a fix. I just got the 410 and it still has the same delay. In fact, if anything, it takes longer for the 410 to take a picture from the time that you push the button to the time that the camera actually takes the picture. This is especially disappointing, not only because they market that they have improved this issue, but also because other manufactures have implemented new processors that actually do fix this delay problem. Looks like the 410 is going back :-(

Other than this complaint, the 410 is generally a good camera. That is why I gave it a 3. However, given the advancements that others have made, it is hard to give the 410 any better rating.

This camera puts out some nice looking photos. But there is no perfect camera, so you have to decide what is most important to you. This is my third Olympus camera, I had a D490, a C750 and now a Stylus 410. I am now more of a Olympus fan than ever. Because Olympus gives me what is most important to me, sharp, clear photos with good color quality. They are slightly behind Nikon on skin tone. But ahead of most cameras companys when it coems to sharp, clear, photos with good rich color.

This is a small camera though, and it does not have all the features that it's big brother has. Of course, it would be pretty silly to use this camera for sports, so there really is no reason to put a sports mode on it. What it does best is get up close and personal and the stylus takes good photos of people. You could even get a fair photo of your house.

It is good enough for a small camera, but I am looking forward to Olympus coming out with the flat camera with the big screen on the back. I may well be the first one in line for the AZ-1 when it comes out in this country. In the mean time, my wife is happy with the little 410 stylus, so it should work out just fine for us. Just don't expect me to give up my C750 for this little guy. Unless I am at a party and I can get up close. When I am out photographing the iron workers building a bridge, I do not think the stylus will get the job done there.

Have a 300 Stylus and tested a 410, will buy one soon. Lots of myths out there:

- Never buy a camera that uses non-rechargeable batteries (i.e. AA). You'll go through piles of them with even light usage. They'll die just when you need more. Why is it so hard to simply recharge your Li-ion battery more often than letting it run down to zero?

- I know it so hard to be inconvenienced, but you have to press the shutter down so the camera can focus. If you're on a strange angle or poor lighting, the camera just won't take the shot - it's trying to focus during that time and conks out. Anyone who wants "instant" shutter snaps needs to return to analog film.

- Skin tone is hard to get with any flash camera unless it's professional. The Olympus flash does tend to be rather bright, I must admit. But I'd rather have brighter (can adjust later with some editing software) than too dark (can't do anything.)

- Who wants all this extra bulky photo editing software? I just want to plug the camera into my computer's USB slot and download the photos without all this baby-handholding "editing software" that comes with other cameras. Only the Olympus allows you to do that. If you're at someone's house or at work or wherever, you can download right to their computer. Can't do it with others if they don't have the editing software CD.

Beats Fuji and Canon, this camera.

This camera may have 4 MP resolution but it has low definition and is one of the noisiest cameras I have ever seen. My old 2MP coolpix 950 looks much better. Exchanged it for the 3.2MP Canon Powershot A70 today.

Cool looks can be misleading...

I really like this camera. I have been using digital cameras for several years now and this one is easy to use and takes great pictures. The most important thing for me was size - I found that unless I could put the camera in my shirt pocket I rarely took it with me. This on is only slightly bigger than a pack of cigerettes. You need to buy a compact flash memory for it if you are going to take high resolution pic's as you can only get something like 8 of the highest res pictures. The battery is a strong one and will run for a long time, and one ought to have a extra - but finding one of these new lithium ion batteries has not been easy. You can even zoom in on a picture you have taken while reviewing it.

Most high-feature cameras are too large to carry with me all the time. The Pentax Optio 430, on the other hand, fits EASILY in a shirt pocket, yet includes every feature I wanted, plus its quality matches Canon and Nikon. Interestingly, smaller size and matching features and quality was also the main virtues of the Pentax I used 30 years ago over the same competitors.
I've just returned from a two week trip to Northern California, during which it took over 300 pictures. I consider many of them great...
4MP means you can crop without losing visible detail. I added a Sandisk Ultra 512 Meg Compact Flash card and a spare battery, allowing me to take as many pictures as I wished each day, deleting bad ones each evening.
This camera replaced two Canons that still work well. Compared to both, I find it easier to use.
One suggestion: 1) cover the LCD with a plastic Palm screen cover. I once damaged a Canon for lack of that.
After 9 months of use, I still consider this the best small digital camera at any price. Highly recommended!

Great camera with large LCD screen. Takes great pictures
in bright light. Not bad in low light with slow shutter.

Problems
No shutter speed control above 1/30.
No pass through of RCA/Svid to IEEE 1394 for capture use.
No line level audio input while taping.
Focus controls right next to microphone.
Zoom control fragile.
Camera forgets last mode when shut off.
No histogram of exposure.

I would actually give this camera a 4.5/5, but since there isn't the option, I will just round up. This camera is fantastic for what it does for its size and price. I couldn't decide whether to go for the PC-1 or the PC-100 (the little rectangular cams.) or this camera, which holds true to the "standard camcorder shape"; but, after trying out the alternative designs, I found them to cramp my hand and just be awkward to use with such tiny buttons and strange button/control placement. I am glad I went with this design instead. The quality of the picture and sound on this camcorder is simply great! The colors are well balanced and contrast is handled quite well. When watching what has been recorded with an S-Video cable (another review mentioned that one wasn't included in the box - he's right, but I would recommend getting one if you're going to use this camera the way it was meant to be used - a decent S-Video cable is only about $5-$10 anyway), you can really tell there are about 500(!) lines of resolution. The picture is almost DVD quality it seems. Also, the stereo mic does a great job in picking up voice or other ambient audio. For instance, during one filming session, we had a CD playing in the backgroud and the music ended up sounding as if it were dubbed onto the tape; it was not overpowering but actually added to the "atmosphere" of the recording. Very nice in my opinion, but it my be bothersome for some users that the mic can be a bit touchy sometimes. This camera is loaded with features and I would recommend it over the TRV10 with a savings of about $200. While this camera doesn't have the memory stick option [and a few other bells and whistles], you really won't need the TRV10 if you a) have a digital camera already or b)plan on connecting your MiniDV camera to a PC/Mac. However, I wouldn't really recommend using this camera for stills. While they are okay, an actual digital still camera would be better. It should also be noted that the build quality of this unit seems very good. This camera, while fantastic, is not without its subtle flaws. One small problem I have noticed is that when recording in low light conditions, the picture tends to be a bit "grainy" on playback. The picture is still good, just not exceptional like those taken with this camcorder outdoors or in well-lighted conditions/rooms. I haven't tried the "Low Lux" mode to see if this will compensate for or reduce the grainyness, but it will probably help a bit. Another problem with this camera and the MiniDV format in general is the price of the media. It can get a bit pricey if you don't plan on transfering recordings to VHS or SVHS tapes with your VCR. Sixty minute tapes can run you anywhere between $8 and $25 depending on what brand/quality you purchase. I usually use Sony tapes that end up costing about $11.50/hour. And the last problem I have is that the use of the 3.5" LCD screen can really eat up your battery charge (almost cuts it in half, it seems). The screen is great, but just expect to charge a bit more often if you use it regularly or buy a spare battery. So, to sum up: for the money, this camera is absolutely superb. It provides a *fantastic* picture outdoors or in well-ligthed areas, and a good picture in dimly lighted rooms. This camera is also LOADED with features that will make any user happy. I highly recommend this camera to anyone in the MiniDV Camcorder market.

I searched and searched for the best Digital Camcorder (for the money) and this is easily the one. It has the smallest size except for their PC-1 and PC-3 (slightly smaller, but much harder to hold, I think). Plus a 3.5" LCD (only 2.5 on Canon's Elura or the Sony PC-Series).

Picture quality is outstanding, though a little grainy and flat moderate to low indoor light. Sound quality is amazing, and connection to my PC through a $98 Firewire card is awesome.

Best camcorder on the market (without spending an extra $500 for 2 more CCD's), until the next advancements!