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You get what you pay for
Pros
Small, Light, CF Card Compatible, video capture, $57
Cons
Poor battery life, less then expected image/video quality, awkward left-handed operation
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
if you want a $57 camera, go for it, but be ready for "fun shots", not artistic photography because you won't get it.
At $57 it is hard to complain about anything this device does or doesn't do.
For snapshots it is almost unbeatable in daylight, or very bright indoor lighting. It's weight and size make it perfect for pocket carrying, it is intuitive to use, and is CF card compatible so I didn't need to buy new storage cards as I have several CF cards hanging around for my PDA. The video capture is adequate for everyday use, but still scene videos are better as panning the camera can cause the camera's automatic light balance to get a little confused. I took this camera to Mexico recently, and was quite pleased with it's performance, but was a little frustrated with the time it took to take pictures, I couldn't determine the variable involved, but it seemed to range from almost immediate to several seconds before the next picture could be taken.
When I got the camera I (naturally) spent about 90 minutes playing with it, figuring it out, and then the batteries that were included with it died. I replaced them with energizers, and turned off the backlighting on the LCD display, and the battery life was greatly improved, but the LCD display was useless without the backlight in any place where the light was strong enough to take good pictures (however, I did find that polarized glasses helped me see the screen immensely). The viewfinder works adequately, but not perfectly, and likewise with the (actually quite clever) mirror on the front, which was good at getting pictures of me, but I could never get it to capture anyone else in the frame with me.
Unfortunately, while in Mexico, under conditions too complicated to explain here, the camera, me, my girlfriend, and the teddy bear were all soaked unexpectedly. The Pocket DVII will be remembered fondly.
If I were taking snapshots to send to my friends online, I would replace it with another DVII, maybe upgrade to the DVIII. However, since my primary reason for buying a digital camera was to get into amateur photography without the time and expense of developing film, I have decided that any low-end digital camera will not suit my needs. I am looking to replace my DVII with a 3+MP camera with at least 3x optical zoom.
For snapshots it is almost unbeatable in daylight, or very bright indoor lighting. It's weight and size make it perfect for pocket carrying, it is intuitive to use, and is CF card compatible so I didn't need to buy new storage cards as I have several CF cards hanging around for my PDA. The video capture is adequate for everyday use, but still scene videos are better as panning the camera can cause the camera's automatic light balance to get a little confused. I took this camera to Mexico recently, and was quite pleased with it's performance, but was a little frustrated with the time it took to take pictures, I couldn't determine the variable involved, but it seemed to range from almost immediate to several seconds before the next picture could be taken.
When I got the camera I (naturally) spent about 90 minutes playing with it, figuring it out, and then the batteries that were included with it died. I replaced them with energizers, and turned off the backlighting on the LCD display, and the battery life was greatly improved, but the LCD display was useless without the backlight in any place where the light was strong enough to take good pictures (however, I did find that polarized glasses helped me see the screen immensely). The viewfinder works adequately, but not perfectly, and likewise with the (actually quite clever) mirror on the front, which was good at getting pictures of me, but I could never get it to capture anyone else in the frame with me.
Unfortunately, while in Mexico, under conditions too complicated to explain here, the camera, me, my girlfriend, and the teddy bear were all soaked unexpectedly. The Pocket DVII will be remembered fondly.
If I were taking snapshots to send to my friends online, I would replace it with another DVII, maybe upgrade to the DVIII. However, since my primary reason for buying a digital camera was to get into amateur photography without the time and expense of developing film, I have decided that any low-end digital camera will not suit my needs. I am looking to replace my DVII with a 3+MP camera with at least 3x optical zoom.
