Polaroid i832W Digital Camera
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- Digital Zoom: 4x
- Camera Type: Standard Point and Shoot
- Weight: 0.31 lb.
- LCD Screen Size: 2.4 in.
- Resolution: 8 Megapixel
- Optical Zoom: 3x
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A Digital Camera worth AVOIDING - Video with sound on a 8MP camera!
Pros
Microphone! Outstanding quality photos! 3x Optical zoom! 8MP camera under $300.
Cons
Flimsy usb connector. Battery consumption master. Power cord not included. Crash toy - avoid it!
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
The quality of photos is great but AVOID this camera as it appears to be a crash-toy. NOT worth the $249 I paid!
(Please, read the update at the bottom as my opinion changed after my 1st reaction of it... I'd avoid it now instead of recommend it!)
First thoughts of the Polaroid i832 camera:
With the onboard 32mb I managed to take 3 pictures and a 30 second video
before running out of memory. Wow it uses a lot of memory!
I installed the included software and driver, rebooted my laptop and
connected the camera - got the normal windows pop up and copied the photos
over to my laptop instantly.
The quality of these photos was great, even under very close examination.
Clean edges that I didn't think were possible with a digital - FINALLY!
I cleared off the photos and movie and went for a second go. 5 pictures
later the memory was full again - I really need a memory card! It should
be noted too that there's about a 1 second delay you'll have between photos
so it's not going to perform like one of those pro cameras do on delay but
hey it's not a thousand dollars either.
While the specs for the camera seem to differ from each place I read on
the net the box itself states it's an 8mp camera with 3x optical and 4x
digital zoom for a 12x zoom capability. That said I tried using the
digital zoom only to be just a dissatisfied as I have been with any other
digital camera using digital zoom - disable the digital zoom and stick
with the optical as it works cleanly.
In the process of doing the 8 photos, one movie and copying them to the pc
followed by going through the menus a few times killed the el-cheapo
batteries that came with the camera so have a half dozen rechargeables and
your charger in the wings as you're going to need em in the camera I've
since dubbed 'the battery killer'.
In the box you'll have the Camera, driver and program cd, two batteries,
usb cable, tv cable, soft-case and a camera strap. The camera is also
mountable to a camera stand - something some digital cameras have
overlooked in the past and a must-have for anyone doing group photos.
Notice anything missing? Thats right no power adapter - nor have I seen
one for sale but I'm sure you can get one on Polaroid's website at a premium
price... while it's true most photos aren't taken around power its a nice
item to have when transferring photos from the camera to your pc instead of
running on battery power.
Now. Whats the one thing most digital cameras {don't} have..... a microphone!
Another bonus to this camera is the fact that I'm able to take movies with
sound instead of soundless movies - if you haven't used a digital camera
before then you're going to be spoiled thinking this is something they all
have - but it's not, enjoy it!
Now, while I have only had this camera for one day I'm already sold on it
being better than the previous two digital camera's I've owned! That said
I do have a few complaints. The usb-connector to the camera is proprietary
and without their cable you're going to be out of luck (there is probably
a universal out there somewhere but I own two universals and that isn't one
of the possible connectors with them) so be careful with that cable - not to
mention the connector feels a bit flimsy and I fear I'll eventually break it.
It eats batteries like they were going out of style and lastly I miss having
a viewfinder which while using the digital viewfinder is nice I recognize it
eats a lot of the power of the camera leading to my gripe on battery consumption.
In closing, this is worth the $249 I paid for it but I'm going to go out and
buy a 2gb SD memory card and some extra rechargeable batteries tomorrow because
frankly I take a lot more than 5 photos at a time! So there goes another $60.
So buy the camera as long as you don't need a lot of zoom power and want a great
quality picture to allow you to step away from your old 35mm camera.
-------
Update.
I've had a chance to get some more use on this camera and have had a complete
change of heart - The camera isn't just using the batteries quickly it's lasting
at most 5 pictures before 'crashing' with the lens still extended and doesn't have
enough power to start and collapse the lens back in!
After some thought this camera is going back to WalMart and I'll head elsewhere
today to try another digital camera.
Sadly the Polaroid name does not belong on this device - if this is a fluke and
I just got a bad one, I don't know, but it's the last time I'm trying this model
and I'd suggest looking at other cameras with higher ratings before trying one of
these now.
First thoughts of the Polaroid i832 camera:
With the onboard 32mb I managed to take 3 pictures and a 30 second video
before running out of memory. Wow it uses a lot of memory!
I installed the included software and driver, rebooted my laptop and
connected the camera - got the normal windows pop up and copied the photos
over to my laptop instantly.
The quality of these photos was great, even under very close examination.
Clean edges that I didn't think were possible with a digital - FINALLY!
I cleared off the photos and movie and went for a second go. 5 pictures
later the memory was full again - I really need a memory card! It should
be noted too that there's about a 1 second delay you'll have between photos
so it's not going to perform like one of those pro cameras do on delay but
hey it's not a thousand dollars either.
While the specs for the camera seem to differ from each place I read on
the net the box itself states it's an 8mp camera with 3x optical and 4x
digital zoom for a 12x zoom capability. That said I tried using the
digital zoom only to be just a dissatisfied as I have been with any other
digital camera using digital zoom - disable the digital zoom and stick
with the optical as it works cleanly.
In the process of doing the 8 photos, one movie and copying them to the pc
followed by going through the menus a few times killed the el-cheapo
batteries that came with the camera so have a half dozen rechargeables and
your charger in the wings as you're going to need em in the camera I've
since dubbed 'the battery killer'.
In the box you'll have the Camera, driver and program cd, two batteries,
usb cable, tv cable, soft-case and a camera strap. The camera is also
mountable to a camera stand - something some digital cameras have
overlooked in the past and a must-have for anyone doing group photos.
Notice anything missing? Thats right no power adapter - nor have I seen
one for sale but I'm sure you can get one on Polaroid's website at a premium
price... while it's true most photos aren't taken around power its a nice
item to have when transferring photos from the camera to your pc instead of
running on battery power.
Now. Whats the one thing most digital cameras {don't} have..... a microphone!
Another bonus to this camera is the fact that I'm able to take movies with
sound instead of soundless movies - if you haven't used a digital camera
before then you're going to be spoiled thinking this is something they all
have - but it's not, enjoy it!
Now, while I have only had this camera for one day I'm already sold on it
being better than the previous two digital camera's I've owned! That said
I do have a few complaints. The usb-connector to the camera is proprietary
and without their cable you're going to be out of luck (there is probably
a universal out there somewhere but I own two universals and that isn't one
of the possible connectors with them) so be careful with that cable - not to
mention the connector feels a bit flimsy and I fear I'll eventually break it.
It eats batteries like they were going out of style and lastly I miss having
a viewfinder which while using the digital viewfinder is nice I recognize it
eats a lot of the power of the camera leading to my gripe on battery consumption.
In closing, this is worth the $249 I paid for it but I'm going to go out and
buy a 2gb SD memory card and some extra rechargeable batteries tomorrow because
frankly I take a lot more than 5 photos at a time! So there goes another $60.
So buy the camera as long as you don't need a lot of zoom power and want a great
quality picture to allow you to step away from your old 35mm camera.
-------
Update.
I've had a chance to get some more use on this camera and have had a complete
change of heart - The camera isn't just using the batteries quickly it's lasting
at most 5 pictures before 'crashing' with the lens still extended and doesn't have
enough power to start and collapse the lens back in!
After some thought this camera is going back to WalMart and I'll head elsewhere
today to try another digital camera.
Sadly the Polaroid name does not belong on this device - if this is a fluke and
I just got a bad one, I don't know, but it's the last time I'm trying this model
and I'd suggest looking at other cameras with higher ratings before trying one of
these now.
