DXG Technology DXG-308 Digital Camera
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- Digital Zoom: 4x
- Camera Type: Standard Point and Shoot
- Weight: 0.26 lb.
- LCD Screen Size: 1.5 in.
- Resolution: 3.3 Megapixel
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DXG-308 Not so nice super small camera for the price and purpose
Pros
Super small and light. Great price. Very easy to use. Ok picture quality.
Cons
LCD useless in low light conditions. Often has unusable shots. Failed after 3 years/600 shots
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
For friends, family pictures and web shots it?s a good camera. Its size means you?re more likely to have it on you. The camera failed after 3 years/600 photos.
One last update and then its over. This camera is now in the trash. After just short of 3 years having this camera the flash has failed. Being out of any warranty it may have had there is absolutely no point in repairing it. Over the last 3 years or so I have only taken about 600 photos with this cheap camera and the results have been mostly disappointing. See below for details on the shutter lag and pore LCD image quality. But having the camera fail after so few photos simply makes me think this was not worth even the low price I paid 3 years ago. Even if you find this camera listed on an auction site for $25 its not worth it. If I had it to do over again I would give it one star.
A new camera has been purchased. See my review of the excellent Canon PowerShot A640 Digital Camera.
OK I'm revisiting this review. After a month and a half of trying to use this thing I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.
The picture quality is Ok but that's when you actually get the shot. At lease 1/3 of my pictures are blurry and unusable. This is because of the shutter setup. The way this camera works is that you press the button down and when you let up on it the picture is taken. This makes it very hard to keep the camera steady while taking the picture. Also with no peep through view finder you have to hold the camera out to see the shot in the LCD. This prevents you from stabilizing the camera on your own face. If you buy this camera take lots of shots because many of them are bound to be unusable.
You can read on if you want to the rest of this is my original review. Everything still stands taking into consideration the above reassessment.
I recently decided to upgrade my digital camera. I did a fair amount of research and decided on the DXG-308.
It was the right size, real small about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
It was in the right mega pixil range for me about 3 MP.
And most of all it was one of the least expensive.
Now I know that cheaper is not always better but in this case I really was not concerned. I only used the old camera a few times a year to take pictures at parties and family events. The rest of the time it is used for taking pictures for our website. So it really did not have to be the most rugged camera out there.
When I got it I was pleasantly surprised with the construction.
It feels solid. The sliding door that covers the lens and turns on the camera is secure and slides open well with solid clicks when open and closed so it wont easily come loose.
The dial and buttons on the back to navigate the menus are sturdy enough that you don't feel like you have to baby them to prevent breakage. Don't go spinning it like the dial on your 1980's stereo mind you but you can feel safe in turning it with a normal amount of force without snapping it off or pushing it in.
The LCD is large enough to allow for the text information and a good view of the scene you are trying to focus in on. In normal lighting you have a bright clear image. Low lighting is a very different story. More in a moment.
I began testing it out. The on screen options menu is well set up and very intuitive. I was taking high rez pictures within minutes of installing the batteries. The zoom function works great but you will have to have a steady hand to keep subject in the center of the LCD. In fact a steady hand is kinda a requirement with this camera. Its so small that its hard to get more than two fingers from each hand on it without blocking something important.
Ok there is a downer to this little camera. For some reason medium low lighting throws off the LCD. In the bedroom with the curtains closed and just one table lamp with a 60w bulb the LCD was completely black. (Get your minds out of the gutter I was just testing the camera) The pictures come out fine because the flash does its job but its hard to line up your shot without the LCD.
That brings us to the other issue. Because this camera is so small they omitted putting a standard viewfinder on the camera. So in low light situations your just sort of going to have to guess and hope for the best.
The shutter button is a bit odd. There is the normal half way position where the camera focuses. A small box comes up on the LCD to indicate the center focus of your shot. Then when you push it all the way in it sets the camera and only when you let go does it take the picture. My first few shots were blurred messes because I was already moving the camera as I let off on the shutter button. This caused the camera to take the picture as it was moving towards my side. I sorted this out fast and began taking some pictures that the ghost hunters would not be able to read something into.
I had about 15 shots in high rez mode when the camera said full. The manual says I should get about 17 so this is about accurate.
I then set about downloading the pictures onto the computer. This was a breeze. I just plugged the USB cable into the camera then into my XP box and windows did the rest in just a few seconds. No fuss no driver installs. The pictures download in second and you have the option to delete them off the camera when download completes. Very nice.
Here is where I get a bit down. The pictures are not as great as I had expected. They come out in jpg format and only 72 dpi. Way too low. I convert them to Tiffs at 200 dpi if I intend to use them for anything but still the picture quality is not what I had expected from a 3.3 MP camera. Maybe my expectations were too high. I will have to compare shots with a friends camera in the future.
The colors are fairly accurate and if viewed on the computer the lines and edges are sharp and crisp enough.
Printing however is a different story. I have a top end wide format photo printer. When I printed one of my test shots on 11 x 17 photo paper I was sadly disappointed. There was a lot of pixelation and stepping on the strait edges. Eyes were washed out and blurry and the colors seemed a bit muted. I can work on the color correction but most people wont bother. At standard 8 x 10 and below the quality improved and 4 x5 was nearly as good as a regular 35 mm camera.
Overall I think it will suit my needs quite well. If your looking for something that you could use for professional results forget it this is not the camera for you. Family gatherings and parties with friends plus the photos for the web this will do the job. The added befit of its compact size means your more likely to actually have it at one of those moments. Very nice camera for the price and purpose.
A new camera has been purchased. See my review of the excellent Canon PowerShot A640 Digital Camera.
OK I'm revisiting this review. After a month and a half of trying to use this thing I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.
The picture quality is Ok but that's when you actually get the shot. At lease 1/3 of my pictures are blurry and unusable. This is because of the shutter setup. The way this camera works is that you press the button down and when you let up on it the picture is taken. This makes it very hard to keep the camera steady while taking the picture. Also with no peep through view finder you have to hold the camera out to see the shot in the LCD. This prevents you from stabilizing the camera on your own face. If you buy this camera take lots of shots because many of them are bound to be unusable.
You can read on if you want to the rest of this is my original review. Everything still stands taking into consideration the above reassessment.
I recently decided to upgrade my digital camera. I did a fair amount of research and decided on the DXG-308.
It was the right size, real small about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
It was in the right mega pixil range for me about 3 MP.
And most of all it was one of the least expensive.
Now I know that cheaper is not always better but in this case I really was not concerned. I only used the old camera a few times a year to take pictures at parties and family events. The rest of the time it is used for taking pictures for our website. So it really did not have to be the most rugged camera out there.
When I got it I was pleasantly surprised with the construction.
It feels solid. The sliding door that covers the lens and turns on the camera is secure and slides open well with solid clicks when open and closed so it wont easily come loose.
The dial and buttons on the back to navigate the menus are sturdy enough that you don't feel like you have to baby them to prevent breakage. Don't go spinning it like the dial on your 1980's stereo mind you but you can feel safe in turning it with a normal amount of force without snapping it off or pushing it in.
The LCD is large enough to allow for the text information and a good view of the scene you are trying to focus in on. In normal lighting you have a bright clear image. Low lighting is a very different story. More in a moment.
I began testing it out. The on screen options menu is well set up and very intuitive. I was taking high rez pictures within minutes of installing the batteries. The zoom function works great but you will have to have a steady hand to keep subject in the center of the LCD. In fact a steady hand is kinda a requirement with this camera. Its so small that its hard to get more than two fingers from each hand on it without blocking something important.
Ok there is a downer to this little camera. For some reason medium low lighting throws off the LCD. In the bedroom with the curtains closed and just one table lamp with a 60w bulb the LCD was completely black. (Get your minds out of the gutter I was just testing the camera) The pictures come out fine because the flash does its job but its hard to line up your shot without the LCD.
That brings us to the other issue. Because this camera is so small they omitted putting a standard viewfinder on the camera. So in low light situations your just sort of going to have to guess and hope for the best.
The shutter button is a bit odd. There is the normal half way position where the camera focuses. A small box comes up on the LCD to indicate the center focus of your shot. Then when you push it all the way in it sets the camera and only when you let go does it take the picture. My first few shots were blurred messes because I was already moving the camera as I let off on the shutter button. This caused the camera to take the picture as it was moving towards my side. I sorted this out fast and began taking some pictures that the ghost hunters would not be able to read something into.
I had about 15 shots in high rez mode when the camera said full. The manual says I should get about 17 so this is about accurate.
I then set about downloading the pictures onto the computer. This was a breeze. I just plugged the USB cable into the camera then into my XP box and windows did the rest in just a few seconds. No fuss no driver installs. The pictures download in second and you have the option to delete them off the camera when download completes. Very nice.
Here is where I get a bit down. The pictures are not as great as I had expected. They come out in jpg format and only 72 dpi. Way too low. I convert them to Tiffs at 200 dpi if I intend to use them for anything but still the picture quality is not what I had expected from a 3.3 MP camera. Maybe my expectations were too high. I will have to compare shots with a friends camera in the future.
The colors are fairly accurate and if viewed on the computer the lines and edges are sharp and crisp enough.
Printing however is a different story. I have a top end wide format photo printer. When I printed one of my test shots on 11 x 17 photo paper I was sadly disappointed. There was a lot of pixelation and stepping on the strait edges. Eyes were washed out and blurry and the colors seemed a bit muted. I can work on the color correction but most people wont bother. At standard 8 x 10 and below the quality improved and 4 x5 was nearly as good as a regular 35 mm camera.
Overall I think it will suit my needs quite well. If your looking for something that you could use for professional results forget it this is not the camera for you. Family gatherings and parties with friends plus the photos for the web this will do the job. The added befit of its compact size means your more likely to actually have it at one of those moments. Very nice camera for the price and purpose.
