dr_resq's Full Review: Aiptek Mini PenCam 1.3 Digital Camera
Ahhhhh, the Aiptek. *grin* This will be a long term use review also, as I have had this little camera for about three years now. And yes, it still works. I have even carried it in my pocket riding motorcycles on hundreds of miles of back country trails! Frankly I was quite surprised to find this little jewel even listed here at epinions. Actually I wound up buying 2 of them, but more on that later. I bought the Aiptek as my high risk digital camera...the one I'd take along into places and conditions I wouldn't dream of taking my expensive one. A disposable digital camera, more or less. With a little ingenuity and tinkering this can be a very useful litle camera and the prices on it have come down drastically in the last few years.
What does it do? Well, if there is enough light, but not TOO much light.....it might just take a picture. It will, on occasion, even take an O.K. picture, all things considered. In order to get that O.K. picture you will need a good amount of light, lets say outdoors in the early morning or late afternoon. Midday with a clear sky and bright sun may be a tad too much light, resulting in a somewhat washed out photo. Take my advice and do not even bother trying to take a picture outdoors at midday with a clear sky in fresh snow. Unless you have a thing about collecting pictures of white blankets. Yeah, it's like that. This is about as basic a camera as you can get. On the other end of the lighting issue, if the scene is under lit as the Aiptek sees it you will get a grainy photo...the darker the scene the grainier the photo. And what this camera considers to be not enough light will astound you at times. This is not an indoor camera, generally speaking. In short...this camera has no flash and the auto white balance is terrible.
Another issue is the annoying loud beep every time you power the thing on, off, access the menu, or take a picture with it. It's hilarious in a way. They make this tiny little camera that just about makes you wanna go join the CIA or something just so you can covertly photograph spies at a formal ball wearing a tux and sipping martinis served by scantily clad co-ops. Then, you put the batteries in the thing and realize that ANY button you touch causes your "spy camera" to squeal like a ticked off parakeet. Oh, and it eats batteries like a '69 Ford Estate Wagon eats gas. Particularly if you have more photos than the flash drive will hold. (about 12 if I recall correctly) After that the camera is using the batteries to store the photos. They will go dead relatively quickly, within a few days at any rate, and you will lose all photos other than those on the flash drive. You will need to download your photos ASAP and remove the batteries while the unit is not in use. Or, get creative...more on that shortly. Ready to run out and buy one yet? But wait, there's more!!!!!!!!!
Now for the funny part. Once you understand the shortcomings of this little camera and know what you can and cannot do with it you really can get some O.K. pictures. No, really!! It's actually kind of fun, a challenge. To look at a good picture and know you took it with such a skeleton of a camera. This camera is actually built pretty tough in spite of it's cheap feel, and it really is tiny. You can literally carry this thing in your shirt pocket comfortably and even forget it's there. For the technical aspects of the camera, such as storage capacity etc.... click this link or paste it into your web browser.
http://www.epinions.com/Aiptek_Mini_PenCam_1_3_Digital_Camera__Camera_PCM13/display_~full_specs
Now, for how I wound up with two of these things. I decided that the incessant chirping and constant dead batteries were just not acceptable. I bought a second one just in case after cracking mine open to try and resolve these issues things didn't go well. Everything ultimately worked out fine however so now I have two Aipteks. Both are totally silent, both have the annoying (to me) little keychain attachment that was too close to the shutter button removed, and both have a little micro"ON/OFF" switch from Radio Shack installed. Batteries last for weeks now instead of days and I am expecting to hear from the CIA any day now about that application I put in. I hope my scantily clad undercover (snicker) co-op is a redhead. I have this thing about redheads. 'Specially scantily clad ones. With martinis.
Since I am not necessarily recommending anyone take these steps, and if you open up your Aiptek you certainly will void your warranty, I am not going to list the steps to "fix" the Aiptek here. If you are determined to do this and are an experienced tinkerer with at least a basic understanding of how things work e-mail me and I'll hook you up. Not with a "how to do it" but rather with the "how I did it". Know what I mean? It's actually a pretty simple camera to work on.
At any rate, my little modified Aipteks have 3 years and countless photos and many hazardous tasks and rough handling to their credit without any problems. Are they good cameras? mmm....no, not really. Are they fun cameras? Yup, they are.
The Aiptek is a no frills, utility, functional, sturdy and even fun little camera. All in all, good clean fun for the buck.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 70.00 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
1 year warranty 1248 x 960 resolution for crisp, clear pictures Built in 16 MB Flash memory, as well as 16 MB SDRAM 1.3 megapixels Web-cam capabilityMore at Amazon Marketplace
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