I bought my Argus DC1500 Digital Camera a couple of years ago because of the price. I only paid $25 for it so I figured I had nothing to lose if it did not take good pictures. At the time, all I wanted was to be able to take snapshots of the kids with it, and it worked fine for this as long as the pictures were taken in good lighting.

I say in good lighting because it has no flash, which is one of its biggest downfalls. If you only take pictures in good lighting this is fine, but most of us like a little more flexibility in a camera. I like to be able to grab a camera and not worry about the how well lit the area is before snapping my shots.

It has two resolution settings. For highest quality you should choose the 352 x 288 setting. You should get around 20 pictures at this setting before filling the camera. To increase the number of pictures, you can set it at 176 x 144 for lower quality pictures. I don’t recommend using the lower setting unless you really need to take 80 pictures before downloading them to your computer.

The pictures are not great, even at the higher setting, but they are not bad for a 1-megapixel camera either. I found them to be acceptable for general purposes such as posting on a web page, or sending snapshots to friends and family. They are not suitable for enlarging though, and are not good enough for special pictures. I would use a higher quality camera if you want higher quality pictures, but considering the cost of this camera, I was not disappointed. I got what I paid for.

The second problem is that the Argus DC1500 Digital Camera has no removable memory for additional picture storage. This is not a major problem since the internal memory holds up to 80 pictures at its lowest setting and about 20 at the highest, but I still prefer to have a removable memory card. This would eliminate the need to unload the pictures quite so often. I thought it would be nice to take on vacation, but once the camera is full, you are done unless you bring the whole computer along!

There is no LCD display on the Argus DC1500 Digital Camera either, but then again, you really can’t expect this on a digital camera in this price range. This doesn’t present a problem for me either. It’s just another of the features that would have been nice. It is definitely not something necessary for a digital camera to have.

The Argus DC1500 Digital Camera can also be used as a PC camera, and with the AVI movie capture it is capable of taking up to 8 seconds of Internet compatible movie clips. You may wish to use this feature to display your pictures online or email them to a friend. Whatever you decide to use it for, this is a nice feature for an inexpensive digital camera.

Included with this Argus DC-1500 Digital Camera were the software and cable to connect the camera and download all of my photos and movie clips onto my PC. This makes it very convenient whether emailing pictures or posting them onto your web page. Installing the software and downloading the pictures was simple. It only took a few minutes and my pictures were ready to display.

The Argus DC1500 Digital Camera operates on 3 AAA Alkaline batteries, which are readily available in any store, so replacing them is not a problem The batteries do wear out fairly quickly, but not as quickly as in some other cameras I have used.

Although I do not use this camera anymore since I bought a higher quality one, my children still use it. It has held up very well to all of the use it has gotten. It does not look like it is built to last, but it has withstood the test of time with my family.

I recommend this camera for older children and beginners. It is a good starter camera for anyone who does not need high quality photos. If you want better quality photos, you should buy a more expensive camera such as the Vivitar ViviCam 3315 Digital Camera. It is a nice little camera for less than one hundred dollars.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 25.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use