Pros: Small, compact, light weight fits in shirt pocket, good pictures, voice recorder
Cons: No flash, No protective cover
The Bottom Line: it is a good camera, has a voice recorder, takes good pictures, not megapixel but good enough to email, and print out, has excellent software.
ezlance's Full Review: Aiptek PenCam VR Digital Camera
I know, I may get blasted for this but for me 2 reasons,
good pictures, and built in voice recorder, and the ability to combine both, of which I will
discuss in full detail later on. I apologize for the sentence structure, but epinion's software does not like my MSWorks.
What else you asked, well in a nutshell, it is small (5 1/2 inches long by 2 inches at its
widest point) compact, (fits in a shirt pocket) is light weight (about 3 ounces) takes good
pictures, and has good battery life, uses 2 AAA (2 weeks for alkaline and, about 1 week
for nicads) A suggestion put a small sticker on the bottom of the camera with the date that
you put the batteries in, It does blink when the batteries are low, but more than once, I
have been caught holding the bag. The uses I have found for this more than have paid
for this camera, many times over. I will provide several that I use all the time later in the
review.
I will provide a quick overview of what I thought the main features are, for a more though
review, please read the excellent review by -jbach36
He covers all the bases.
But for those who don't have the time to read his review, or would like a different view
point, I will do my best.
The camera is multifunctional, It will take 26 640x480 pictures (these are pixels, little
colored dots that make up the picture) and 107 320 x 240 in low res mode, (not bad, but
stick to the 640x480), it does have interpolation that will get this size to 1024x678 but all
it does is make the picture bigger, not better in quality, it has a similar feature in low
resolution 640x 480. I personally don't use it, since I think it degrades the picture, and a
voice recorder, self timer, ( it shuts off in 30 seconds if no activity) which is good, saves
the batteries.
The camera is easy to operate, on the side is a little button, and a LCD screen, it is big for
this camera about 3/4 x 1/2 inch, bright you can see the letters and numbers, but it is not
back lit. The options that appear on the screen are: HR (high resolution), Ar (record
voice) Ap play back dP erases the last picture dR erases the last voice recording, This is a
neat feature, and if you are like me, and make mistakes it comes in handy) CE
(continuous mode used for doing the video pictures about 7 seconds high resolution and
20 seconds in low resolution this resolution is OK for checking a golf swing, or
demonstrating something that moves, and remember that with the software that is
included, Ulead Video Studio, you can save these 20 second movies and combine them
and make a longer movie. I did, it takes a little while but it is relatively easy, to make a 3
or 4 minute movie, a little jerky though ) Se Self timer ( it will take a picture in 10
seconds without you having to click on it) neat if you want to use both your hands to hold
something for the camera to take a picture of) Lr low resolution and CL Clear, clears
everything in the camera. The camera has a built in speaker, and is sufficient to let you
hear clearly, not loud, what you said. I agree with jbach36 ( holding it up to your ear, is
best, especially in a noisy environment. Each time you hold the button, it records for ever
long you hold the button down. it plays back each as a separate file, for example 3 voice
recordings, 5 seconds each, you can play back each recording. I do not know how long the
voice recorder can record, I make quick notes 5-10 seconds each, and have been able to
do this for at least 4-5 minutes and still take pictures.
The best feature of this camera is the ability to take a picture, and make a note about this
picture using the voice recorder. No more pads, and pencils, and trying to remember what
the date of the picture was, or why it was important. Later the software program lets you
quickly convert the picture and voice into an avi file, so that you have a talking picture. I
use this on my job constantly, take a picture of the process, and note the date and time,
and what is occurring right then, no problems, or questions later. All with just one device.
It is also fun to use this feature, when we take pictures of our cats, and provide voice
commentary to them, we then email the pictures with the voice. I have
friends that have very expensive cameras that can do this, but the software that is
included is a nightmare to put together. This camera's software, allows you to combine
the picture and voice, in under 10 seconds, once the two have been down loaded.
The camera lens is glass, and takes much better pictures than my aiptek trio, the quality in
high resolution is very good, especially outdoors with natural light, and when there is
sufficient light indoors. Low resolution, is fair, I personally don't use it. Remember it has
no flash so you need lots of light. The lens is recessed, so there is less chance of getting
your fingerprints on it. But please, if you do get this camera, use a small plastic bag, to
keep it in, and if someone wants to see it, make sure that they hold it by the handle.
Because of its small size, and weight, it fits and hides nicely inside a mans dress shirt
pocket.
It comes with a USB cord and connects very easily to the USB connection of your
computer, The CD, that contains the Aiptek Manager software, loads easily, and once this
is installed, all you have to do is connect the above USB cord, click on the down load
icon and the pictures appear, (small, though 1 inch in size) on the software screen.
Clicking on the picture allows you to make changes, or save it, or in some cases turn it
into a talking picture. The software that I use is (Ulead studio photo, this is on the CD that
you get) once the picture is on, clicking on the automatic setting and then clicking on the
color, light and focus, will provide you with excellent pictures 90% of the time.
I guarantee you that if you take a half way decent picture, this software will make it
better.
The other software program is Ulead Video Studio, this is a good program, since it
provides you instructions and an example of what to do, I have used this to make mini
movies.. I must warn you however, as with any software program, it will take some time
to learn. My learning curve was 2 hours.
The other software program I use is Ulead 360 degrees, in this one the learning curve is
less than 1/2 hour, It takes the pictures and warps them so that they become close to 3D, I
can't describe this other than saying, it is worth a look.
The other software program, Video Live Mail Plus, this program allows you to condense
a movie by up to 900 times, where they got this figure I don’t know, but it does condense
the movie, for example I did a movie that used 16 megs of memory, using this program it
condensed the movie to about 1.2 meg. And yes it was watchable, and not bad. This
comes in handy if you want to email someone, and not have them spend a lot of time
downloading a large movie file. It doesn't do sound. My learning curve about 1/2 hour.
The camera is a video camera, and not bad. I use it instead of my logitec, since it takes
better close up pictures, and less cords to have around. I use netmeeting software, this is
included, and it recognized this camera with no problems.
Bottom Line this is a good camera, not a megapixel, or super high quality, but good
enough to print out pictures, and email, and at $79 it is a steal, I paid $99 for mine. I have
gotten rave reviews from the neighbors on some of the pictures I have taken, and more
than one thought it was a Sony megapixel. I love that. It just depends on the lighting, and
practice, and subjects that don't move. I have taken good pictures, and lousy ones. The
pictures when printed out 5X 7 inches look excellent, on just plain paper, Larger ones, 8
1/2 x 11 are OK, but smaller is better. Color will vary depending on the light, but cats,
people and outdoors can really look good. Flesh tones come through well, I use a
Lexmark printer.
My only complaint, is that it does not have a flash, Aiptek please hear me, and a protector
to keep it in. Other wise, for the price, and for the excellent software, small size, high
battery life, built in tape recorder, and multiple uses, (for the many uses alone, I highly
recommend this camera).
As promised some of the many uses that I use it for, daily.
Take pictures of our cats, and my wife and myself give commentary, and email these out,
as talking pictures.
Take pictures when I am with a client, document with voice the date, time and the
problem that is occurring. No more miss-understandings, or let’s go back and see what is
happening.
Take pictures of what is in the garage, and make a voice note of what and where the items
are located. No more searching.
Take pictures of fixing items and make a voice note for each step of what was repaired
and how it should be put back together. No more reinventing the wheel.
Taking pictures of what is on the TV screen, and recording the voice, so that I can later,
use it as verifiable statistics, I have the voice of the speaker, and the picture, for complete
accuracy.
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