I suppose I could withstand the digital camera craze no longer, and so I now own a Panasonic PV-SD4090. After a week or so, let me begin by saying that this is a great computer for the money, and I recommend that anyone who wants a good deal go buy it now, but here's everything you need to know

What comes in the box...

1 Super disk (120 MB) for Zip drive
1 AC Adaptor
1 Lithium-ion battery pack
1 DC cable
1 AV cable
1 USB cable
1 Camera strap
1 Adobe photoshop cd-rom

The Technical stuff...

Zip-drive compatible
1.3 Megapixel
3x optical zoom and 2x digital zoom
FD Compatible
2.5" LCD color monitor

What makes this camera different (and good)...

The best feature, in my opinion, is the floppy disk drive that is located on the side of this camera. It allows you to use your everyday 3.5" floppy discs to store pictures, and even better, you can use your zip drive to store an amazing number of pictures. The camera comes with a special 3.5" floppy disc that is called a Superdisk, which can hold 1500 images at low resolution, about 900 at middle, and 450 at high resolution. The average disk, however, will hold 5, 10, or 17 images depending on resolution.

Just FYI, the resolutions are as follows:
Low: 320x240
Medium: 640x480
High: 1,280x960

This camera also comes with a built-in flash, speaker, and microphone. The microphone and speaker can be used for the special recording feature that allows you to take a snapshot with 10 seconds of audio running over it. (The superdisk will fit about 90 of these sets in a low resolution mode)

The 2.5" color LCD display screen lets you preview each picture immediately after you take it, which allows you to determine if you would rather keep the picture or "record" over it.

Battery life

The lithium-ion battery took about an hour too charge completely and has lasted about 10 hours so far, but it is looking about ready to be charged again. Just another FYI, replacement batteries cost in the area of $100.

Price, and other miscellaneous comments...

First of all, the price of $500 that I payed seems to be much more than worth it for such a versatile camera. Perhaps it is the $100 rebate that comes with it (which I will use for another battery) but I do not see any cameras on the market that are a better deal for the money than my Panasonic.

Also included in the package was an offer for a free zip drive, and who can pass that up? Hundreds and hundreds of pictures stored on a single disk...excellence.

This camera is much bigger than a number of the newer digital cameras, but that makes it feel more like a traditional camera and it sits well in your hands. I haven't dropped, thrown, punted, or otherwise used this camera as a projectile, but I feel confident that its construction will last for a good while...certainly longer for new technology to surface.

I do not know all that much about Adobe Photoshop Deluxe, but it is nice to have a photo-editing program in the box with the camera.

Recommendations...

I Strongly Recommend this camera to all people! The 3.5" floppy disk feature will save you $$$ because you wont have to buy those expensive memory chips that can run anywhere from $40-$100. This feature is also much easier to figure out than using the USB port on your computer, and thus I recommend this camera to all the technically challenged individuals out there.

Many people may be worried that the cost of printing the photos or getting them developed (yes, there are some places that develop pictures off of floppy discs) can be too much. Rest assured, fellow skeptics, this camera will not let you down.

Thanks and have a great day :)





Recommended: Yes