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Product Reviews:
Camera, DC3185 3.2 Mp Cmos, 1.1 Inch LCD |
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Summary: Great for a 9yr old
Comments: This camera if perfect for my 9yr olds 1st digital camera. He has really enjoyed taking pictures and video.1side note, make sure to order a memory card to go with it. Great little camera for a kid. |
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Summary: Camera
Comments: I purchased this camera for a gift, it appears nice however when I got it is light and plastic more along the cheep toy feel. The camera takes descan not pictures so I am not too upset however If I had looked at it in the store I would not have purchased it. |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: Great Kids Camera
Comments: I purchased a camera for my 10 year old grandson. My family are camera buffs and at 1st they thought it wasn't great enough for him. However, after a bit of time, eone agrees that this is a really great camera for my grandson. Nancy |
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Summary: great for my 8 year old
Comments: This camera was only $49 at Walgreens (about 40% the cost of the cheapest decent cameras that you can get). I would not endorse this camera for an adult, however I do think it is great for a kid who wants to take pictures. Why, read on.
almost all cameras made for kids are really terrible. They offer low resolution (0.1 to 0.3 MP) and take awful pictures. The Argus camera is a 3 mega pixel camera.
Although the camera takes pictures that are much better quality than a kid's camera, do not expect the Argus to take high quality pictures. This is because the lens is cheap (probably plastic) and the electronics are not state of the art. The tiny lens isn't sensitive to light so it does teach you kid great photography habits (if they are not steady, the photo will be blurry). There is also a several second lag when you push the shutter. The last time I encountered this was with my 1st digital which was purchased 12 years ago. Needless to say, the lag makes the camera useable only for still shots. It does have a viewfinder which is helpful, as you have to hold the camera to your face which steadies it.
The back of the camera has a bunch of howevertons for various tasks (like previewing or deleting your pictures) and a postage stamp sized review screen. The screen is of low resolution, so it only gives you a gross estimation of your photo. The camera runs on 3 AAA batteries which are supplied. In addition you get a software disk, a USB cable to connect to your computer, a little instruction booklet and a wrist strap. There is enough internal memory to allow for about 8-10 shots, however Argus endorses that you purchase a SD card (up to 512 MB is supported). These cards are pretty cheap. We had an old 256 MB card that went into the camera which was more than enough for my kid's needs.
You can take short video clips, however there is no microphone on the camera, so they are silent movies. In addition you can use the camera as a web cam. I have not tried this function on the Argus however I have done so with other cheap cameras. In general, the results have been only so-so. If you need a web camera you are best off purchaseing a dedicated1from a company like Logitech or Creative. They make great products, vastly superior to combo cameras.
Picture quality
When taken by a shaky person it the photos were not useable. However, with a steady hand they were not too bad. The focus was a bit soft however acceptable. Colors were also OK. Pictures tended to have a flat look common to low resolutions cameras (like a cell phone cameras). The Argus has 3 MP which should have been plenty for a more detailed picture. I am assuming that the flat quality has more to do with the poor lens and cheap electronics of the camera. Anyways, the pictures would be fine for email or small prints. In fact, we printed up some prints at 6x4 which looked pretty great.
Software
Software Comes with a driver allowing your computer to recognize the camera. This worked just fine and the SD card was recognized as a disk drive by the computer. Conversely, you could simply use a media reader for the CD card.
Also included is Arc Soft's Photo Impressions 4. This software seems to be bundled with many inexpensive cameras and web cams. Arc Soft sells many different versions of this software so really inexpensive cameras may have Photo Impressions 2 and better ones may have Photo Impressions 5. Arch Soft always allows you to upgrade to their latest version (now version 6) for a reasonable price. I have used this software before and it really is pretty great. It definitely has more functionality that you would get from the free software bundled with a lot of other cameras. Of course you get basic functions like red eye reduction, sharpening and color adjustment. In addition you get more advanced features like cloning, dodge and burn brushes and an auto howeverton that automatically corrects several parameters at once. There are also a number of projects included, it is easy to add a picture frame, turn your photos into a calendar and put your face in a stock photo of (as an example) an astronaut. We had a lot of fun with these projects. For instance, we printed up a picture of our kids on a fake 100 dollar bill. The software is definitely worth using and perfect for almost all people getting started in digital photography. With that said it doesn't offer the controls of something like Photoshop Elements, however that program cost $100 and Photo Impression is free.
Summary
All in all, a decent, inexpensive camera for a child to get used to digital photography. The simple construction of the camera makes it less likely to break with a small drop. The low price makes it less likely to hurt when it eventually gets lost and it takes great enough pictures to be used for email or small prints. As a bonus it comes with editing software (Photo Impressions) that is actually useful and offers a number of projects that a kid would find enjoyable. Is this a camera for adults?? Probably not, unless you couldn't afford more than $50. Otherwise double the money and purchase a decent entry level camera with 5-7 MP, a real optical zoom and better electronics.
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Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: nice little camera
Comments: Pros: Price, Multiple resolution options, JPG files - no need to convert, USB cable included, SD slot, Rapid Fire mode - take 3 photos in succession, AVI movie capability, self-timer, viewfinder (you can turn off display to save battery life), flash: automatic/force/off
Cons: shutter delay, small display screen, confusing menu howevertons, small 16MB SDRAM internal memory
Summary: for under $40 bucks, a nice little camera. |
