Not for me.
Written: Dec 02 '00 (Updated Jan 01 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive, tiny, fast USB connection, alright for a just-for-fun camera.
Cons: falls over in stand, flimsy plastic body, poorly designed in many ways
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| xuvetyn's Full Review: Aiptek Pencam Trio Webcam |
After reading the rave reviews of this product here in Epinions.com, I picked this up as a possible Christmas gift for my 18-year old little sister. She loves taking pictures of herself and her friends and plastering them all over her room. I had to check it out first though, of course.
The camera is only about 6 in. long and 2 in. wide. Still, when I first took it out I was surprised at how light it was. This is because it's mainly thin plastic. Sure it's great for portability, but I prefer something that feels more durable. Note that there is no protection at all for the camera lens, and I wouldn't take any bets on how long it would stay scratch-proof in the average teenage girl's junk-filled handbag.
The package came with 2 AAA batteries, which was a relief. My other digital camera uses special camera batteries which are much more expensive - usually around $12 for two, and they run out pretty quick.
The installation of the software was very easy. However, I must gripe about the fact that it didn't do me the common courtesy of asking where I wanted it installed, but put it on my C drive automatically. I have only about 200mb of space on my C drive and normally install everything onto my D drive (which has 2 gb free), and later this caused my computer to hard freeze when it ran out of space on C while the camera was running its "camcorder" function.
The software is simple enough, but I wish they had labeled the buttons. I took some pictures set on high resolution with the camera, hooked it up easily, and transferred the pictures via the USB cable. To those who have used digital cameras with serial cables for the download - USB is very very fast. Blink-and-it's-done fast. On the downside, those with older systems may need to get a serial-to-usb adapter. The manual says this camera will only work with Windows 98. It requires at least a 200mhz processor, 32MB ram, video card with 2MB ram, 4x cd-rom, and a USB port, all of which my laptop meets/exceeds. It also came with an extra CD with some small graphics programs on it, but I didn't bother since I have Photoshop and several other, much better graphics programs.
I tried out the webcam function. Still more tribulations. I set the PenCam up on a table nearby with its stand. Unfortunately the camera stand that is provided is poorly designed enough that the weight of the camera and the cord caused it to keep falling over! Ridiculous. I would need to tape it in place if I wanted to use it.
The "camcorder" function is fun, but of course very limited.. don't be fooled by the word "camcorder", this is nothing like a real camcorder (low quality, no sound) but it'll work for little things like.. hmm.. a blackmail video of your archnemesis dropping poison into the water supply, perhaps. It's not quite the James Bond cam I was hoping it would be though. The camera lens is too visible for that.
All in all, I've decided to take the PenCam back to the store today. It's all repackaged in its little box for return to the shiny glass case it came from. Initially I was going to wait until it was daylight to check out the quality of the picture outside since other reviewers have said it takes great pictures in daylight. But it started to annoy me from the moment it first fell over on its stand (didn't anyone even test that before shipping it out?), and I've decided I'd rather invest more money on a better quality digital camera with a flash. After all, the greatest photo ops usually happen in the dark, no? (Tell me the last time your best friend was drunk and streaking down the main strip in broad daylight. ;)
I won't rate this camera a "1" because I think it would make a good first camera for preteens, teens, and those looking for a fun toy. It's inexpensive and relatively easy to use. Certainly it's better looking than the other inexpensive, pink plastic "My First Digital Camera"s out there. But the overall low quality of the product will prevent me from giving it to my sister.
Note 1/1/00: I revised my rating of this camera from a 2 to a 3 and edited some of the content based on helpful reader comments. Although I still think that for such a basic camera, its basics could have been handled better, I rated it previously at a 2 when I was still steaming over the poor design rather than when I was in a more levelheaded frame of mind. I thank the commenters for bringing the fact that I need to keep its price range in mind to my attention. I still would not recommend it to any of my friends, though, so I leave that as it is. Simply put, I did not like it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
xuvetyn
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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