Gateway DC-T50 Digital Camera: Looks Aren't Everything (Updated 2/27/05)
Written: Jan 15 '05 (Updated Feb 27 '05)
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Pros: Solid metal body, small size, good 1.5" LCD
Cons: Inconsistent white balance & color, memory errors - Updated: See Fix!!
The Bottom Line: The Gateway DC-T50 looks great and has a good price. Battery life is poor, color/white balance are inconsistent. See review for "save error" fix.
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| RBradford's Full Review: Gateway DC-T50 Digital Camera |
When I received an e-mail from Gateway offering me $100 dollars off the purchase price of the DC-T50, I was intrigued. I checked it out on their Web site and found that in addition to the coupon, there was a $50 rebate also available (without purchasing a printer or anything else). After discounts & rebate, the final purchase price was right at $200 dollars. Considering most other cameras in the 5 megapixel range were closer to $500 dollars at the time, I jumped on the offer.
At first glance, the Gateway DC-T50 has a lot of promise and looks really sharp. Unfortunately, this little beauty has a lot of issues and possibly a bit of brain damage.
I was very impressed with the camera right out of the box. The DC-T50 has a resolution of 5.25 megapixels, with a 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. The lens is all glass, with a range of F2.8-F6.7, and the body feels very solid (all metal). There's a built-in flash and the lens retracts into the camera when off, closing itself and not requiring any kind of a lens cap.
It has a 1.5" color LCD screen on the back, which is good size for this small camera. The display is strong and clear, but does tend to get washed out in strong sunlight (which I understand is not uncommon). Having said that, when I took the camera on a vacation to the beach in July, I was still able to use the LCD to compose pictures even in bright sunlight during the middle of the day.
The camera has a dial on top to select different modes and it's very intuitive and easy to use. The buttons are all well placed, with the power button recessed into the top of the body (so no accidental turning off of the camera while trying to take pictures). The viewfinder also has an adjustable dioptor for people with glasses. Also, for those planning to use a tripod from time to time, the DC-T50 has a metal tripod socket (not plastic like a few smaller cameras I've seen).
Here's a quick summary of specifications:
Resolution: 5.25 megapixels total, 5.0 megapixels effective
Dimensions (W x H x D)
94mm x 63mm x 35mm
3.7" x 2.5" x 1.8"
Weight without batteries: 180 g / 6.3 oz.
Image Resolutions:
2560 x 1920
2048 x 1536
1280 x 960
640 x 480
Memory: Secure Digital (comes with 32MB card)
Lens: F2.8-F6.77, all glass lens
Zoom: 3X Optical, 4X Digital
LCD: 1.5" color - 134,000 pixels
File Format: JPEG (EXIF 2.1), DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compliant
Exposure Control: Program AE, Full Manual (shutter & aperture), Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Exposure Comp ( /-2.0)
Exposure Metering: Multi or Spot
White Balance: Auto, Outdoor, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent 1 and 2, Manual
Sensitivity: Auto, ISO 100/200/400
Shutter Speed: 8 to 1/1500 sec
Aperture: F2.8 - F6.7
Recording Modes: Single, Continuous, AE Bracketing
Interval Recording: 1,3,10, or 60 minute intervals, capture 2 to 99 pictures
Movie Mode: AVI recording without audio, 160x120 or 320x240 at 15fps
Features:
Built-in flash: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced on/off options
Easy to navigate menu
Microphone & speaker (for adding comments to pictures)
Secure digital memory card (includes 32MB card)
Optical viewfinder (adjustable)
Self timer: 10 sec, 2 sec, or 10 2 (takes one at 10 secs and another 2 secs later)
Built-in metal tripod mount
Data Interface: USB 1.1
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable battery & charger (included, in-camera charging)
Software: Imaging software and USB driver
System Requirements: Windows: 98/Me/2000/XP. Macintosh: System 9 or higher
As far as size, this camera is tiny compared to many of its competitors at the time of release. It's small enough to put in a shirt pocket while still being large enough to handle easily. All in all, this camera looks and feels solid and is very impressive out of the box. However, it's not perfect and does have some major flaws. Below is a quick summary of my observations:
- Start up time is fair, taking about 4 seconds from "on" to ready to shoot
- As with many digital cameras, the DC-T50 suffers from "shutter lag". Don't expect to shoot any real action shots with this one.
- Outside pictures generally come out good with accurate color in bright daylight
- Inside pictures tend toward yellow even with White Balance adjustments
- Inside pictures also tend to be over-saturated with color
- Flash tends to be underpowered, only works well at close range
- Camera is actually manufactured by Toshiba and is the same camera as the Toshiba PDR-5300 (but just try to find a store that sells the Toshiba), accessories can be difficult to locate (such as batteries)
- Battery life is average to poor, recommend buying a couple of extras (HINT: battery is the same as the Fuji NP-60, which is easier to find and cross-reference)
- BIGGEST PROBLEM: Camera tends to have frequent "card errors", resulting in camera malfunction and corrupt picture files (translation - corrupt file = no picture)
If the memory card errors didn't exist, I would recommend this camera to first-timers who want to learn more about using a digital camera before investing a lot of money. However, since reliability is a big issue with me, I can't honestly recommend the Gateway DC-T50 unless it's not critical that your pictures actually save each time. When I do take pictures, I usually take about 3-4 pictures of the same subject just to make sure at least one saves correctly. (I've tried several different SD memory cards, all name brand, but the errors continue. Based on what I've researched on the Internet, this is a common problem with this camera.)
The moral of the story - you get what you pay for! Spend a little extra and buy yourself a nice Canon, Olympus, Fuji, Kodak, or just about any other name brand. If it's any clue as to how good the Gateway DC-T50 is, notice they don't even sell it on the Gateway Web site anymore. It's also just about impossible to find its twin under the Toshiba label (PDR-5300).
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Updated Feb. 27, 2005 - Fix for "Card Error" Issue:
As I indicated above, one of the biggest reasons for not recommending this camera has to do with problems saving pictures to a SD card. I've lost pictures because the camera didn't save them or they became corrupted. As a result, I indicated this camera was unreliable and should probably be avoided. However, after writing my original review, I got to thinking about it further and decided to experiment with the camera. As a result, I was able to pinpoint the problem and have now fixed it!
Ironically, it all came together when my hard drive in my home PC failed. When I replaced it, I had to boot my computer from a floppy disk. However, I didn't quite get the disk all the way into the drive and received an error that the disk couldn't be found. When I tapped the disk, it slipped the rest of the way into the drive and everything worked fine. That's when it hit me - maybe the problem with my Gateway camera was something just as simple. Turns out I was right!
Here's the deal: The Gateway DC-T50 has a door on the bottom of the camera where you insert both the battery and the SD digital memory card. The battery and SD card both "click" into place, then you close the door. However, I realized that the SD card doesn't actually seat into it's slot as firmly as it should. It needs additional pressure to hold it securely into place. This explained the occasional corrupt or unsaved file - the camera wasn't making good contact with the card and not all data was transferring properly.
The fix was amazingly easy: I simply rolled up a small piece of paper and inserted it between the SD card and the door of the battery/SD compartment. When the door is closed, it presses the paper against the SD card - pushing it deeper into it's slot where it makes solid contact. As a result, I've used the camera flawlessly for over 100 photographs without ANY error messages or corrupted images.
I'm amazed - so many issues and it's all apparently just an issue of the door not holding the SD card into place securely. This seems like such a simple flaw that Gateway/Toshiba should have been able to identify it and either offer a fix or redesign the camera to resolve the problem.
Based on this new discovery, I'm actually pretty happy with my camera - although the white balance issues and underpowered flash still create some challenges (but for the most part I've learned how to compensate for these shortcomings.) With my new fix in place, I now feel like I got a pretty decent camera for the price. I can now recommend the Gateway DC-T50 provided you are comfortable doing the minor adjustment I described above.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners
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Epinions.com ID:
RBradford
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Location: Dallas, TX
Reviews written: 109
Trusted by: 32 members
About Me:
I'm a Computer Hardware, Software, and Gadget Junkie.
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