Good Camera with Great Software.
Written: Jan 29 '01 (Updated Jan 31 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Comes with great software, easy to hook up and use.
Cons: Discontinued so no Win2K support, image quality a little low, price.
The Bottom Line: If you are willing to spend the money (~$100) then I would recommend you buy this camera. Quality is acceptable, and the software package is great.
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| deschmann's Full Review: Kodak DVC 323 |
How I got the Web Cams:
I received both a DVC323 and DVC325 digital camera to test and use as I pleased (They were free to me). I was very excited to get a "web cam", because they seem like a lot of fun.
General Overview:
The DVC323 came with some great software that was easy to set up and install. I was able to point the camera at myself using the hinged base. The software allows you to set how often you wanted pictures to be taken, what sizes, and where to store the images. This camera worked great for a mini-web cam page that I set up in my office at work. The quality of the photo is not spectacular, but I am not trying to win any awards with my photos anyways.
About the Software and Options:
There are a variety of options to configure with the support software. Many different picture sizes can be specified, with a maximum of 640x480. I found the 320x240 to be the best size.
The DVC323 camera has a auto adjustment feature that attempts to compensate for a bright light source by dimming the image. This does not always work well. Sometimes my live images would get darker and darker until I received email on my web page asking me why it was so dark in my office. This feature can be disabled and you can set the brightness yourself.
The camera will also attempt to compensate for different lighting where you are using your camera. There are filters for outdoor light, florescent light, and a couple others. These filters can improve the quality of your images if you use the correct setting. For example, my pictures were looking dark and blue in color. Then I activated the florescent light filter, and the pictures brightened and the blue tint went way. But when I chose outdoor lighting, which I wasn't using, it made the picture lighter, but gave it a brown tint. So it will make pictures worse if you have the wrong setting.
Image Quality:
The pictures taken with this camera will tend to be a little bit fuzzy. Especially if you are moving. There is not a real fast shutter speed. There is a timer feature on this camera. Just like any normal film camera, so you can take delayed photos of yourself.
Future Use???
I enjoy using the camera a lot, but when I got a new PC, that was running Windows 2000, I was disappointed to see that the software would no longer run. I could not install it from the CD. I got the driver from the Kodak web site. When I plug the camera into the USB host I do not get an error message, but when I try to take a photo nothing happens. This is disappointing, but since the camera is discontinued, it is not surprising that new drivers are not being written to support it. I don't believe the 323 is still available and most users are probably buying the 325.
As a side note:
The 325 improved picture quality immensely. It is just as easy to use, smaller, and (I have to say again) the picture quality is great. I still think that both cameras are over-priced.
If there is anything else you need to know about this camera, please leave a comment. If I can help you in your decision in any way, it will make me feel better, and hopefully make you a better informed consumer.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
deschmann
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Location: Rochester, NY, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
I am 32 years old and a Computer Engineer (RIT Graduate 1999).
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