A grreat Camera for the Dosh
Written: Mar 30 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Photo Quality: |
|
|
| Shutter Lag |
 |
|
|
Pros: Great Camera, Clear Images
Cons: Battery contacts
The Bottom Line: You can't go wrong with this camera. Although there are just as cheap 3 MP cameras around this is better than many of them.
|
|
|
| callancool's Full Review: Jenoptik JD C 2.1 LCD Digital Camera |
ORIGINAL REVIEW.
Jenoptik is rather a much an underdog in the digital camera market, having a reputation of providing cheap digital cameras of 'bargain basement' quality. But is this reputation justified or not? Jenoptik's parentage is based in the camera heritage of Carl Zeiss, a highly respected company famed for its high quality 'Biotar' lenses which are highly sought after lensesfrom the 40's & 50's, being arguably the best lenses you could buy (before the Japenese got in on the act). It is described as the 'Legal successor' to the business of Zeiss, and The Jenoptik buisiness provides specialist industrial laser cameras for the top end of the industrial photographic and scientific markets and is well respected in that field,so it is surprising that it markets its cameras at the lower end of the spectrum, given such famous credentials. In fact the Jenoptik range is is not stocked by as many Uk retailers as it used to be, with only Time computers 'The computer World' chain and Dixons Group Jessops stocking the latest models. However, for a while now, Jenoptik has been importing cameras from China and re-badging them, leading to issues about quality. However, recent advances in Cmos sensor technology have brought about an influx of 2 megapixel cameras under the £100 price range. For example, the JD 1.3 bosts a tft screen and seels for about £70, whilst it's almtost identical twin the JD2.1 comes in at around £90-£100. It's the 2.1 which we'll be reviewing here, and as you can guess the 2.1 stands for the image sensor size, of 2.1 megapixels. However as a name this is a little misleading, as the camera will actually take pictures at 3.0 megapixels, although this setting is interpolated and as a result quality suffers.
So how does the camera rate. Well first impressions as you take it out of the wrap are of a lightweight plastic cased camera. However, insert the batteries and it feels quite solid, unlike some cheaper cameras. The box tells us it has a Cmos sensor which usually realates to poorer image quality than those with Ccd's. However Cmos's are lighter on battery load, and thankfully this camera seems to last well on the 4 supplied AAA alkalines. The buttons on the cam,era are as professionally made as those on any branded camera and the dial moves easily enough without feeling too loose ot too stiff. The screen is 1.5 inches and gives a clear picture, especially when being used as viewfinder, and is actually better in this respect than say the similary priced konica KD 100 which is only 1.3 Megapixels.
The lens states that it's a Biotar lens, though as this is a rebadged camera, wether or not its a genuine biotar lens manufactured by Jenoptik stuck onto the camera or wether they've just used the name as they own the rights is unclear. The manual is fairly well written, though it's obviously written by someone from China, as it contains a few translation errors that appear to be beloved of translators of cheap rebadged hardware from the far east. Pictures accompany every stage, although it must be said that often there is not much text to back them up, the transferring of images to the harddisk being a good example, telling you what the filename will be and showing a picture of explorer, but not telling you to drag and drop the files over. In that example the camera is shown as removeable drive f (must be a cd writer in the pc used for the screenshot) yet the text tells us the camera will appear as drive E.
So onto using the camera. Upon powering it up by holding the power button down for 3 seconds you are presented with a blue screen showing the mode the camera is in, be it manal photo, auto photo, playback, video, audio, or PC cam modes. These are accessed by the dial on top of the camera. Then the lcd shows the lense image. Though you can turn it off at any time, changing modes automatical switches itself on which is not a good idea, especially if you take shots without it to save battery power. The menu buttons are easy to use and aren't fiddly to use, but easy to operate, though using the circular set of buttons can be confusing at first untill you get used to it, after which it becomes a breeze. The icons by the buttons are clearly marked though deciphering what they srepresent needs the manual. Also, the setting flash mode is not accessed through the menu, but by cycling through using the bottom buttons. this is also used for selecting thumnail view in playback mode, though the icon used to represent it is identical to that used by some other manufacturers to represent image size, so don't be confused. Theres a macro switch on the side, but this turns the flash off yet fails to reverse this upon selecting normal mode again.
so how well does it take pictures? The image size, and quality are all accessed through the menu, as is white balance, date, beep, timer delay, language and power saving modes. Oddly the manual shows a 'video mode' setting which is not present so ignore this. Another, rather annoying, quirk is that the camera defaults to Germam for its menu language. Luckily the English manual tells us how many times to press each button before we arrive at 'change language, though thanks to the 'video system' item not being present you only have to go doewn 6 times and not seven. In case you're stuch the language option in german is 'sprache' as in 'Sprachen sie Deutsch?' Once thats been figured out its easy to start working your way round the menu.
The camera has an auto focus lens, that does a great job if it's allowed the time to focus and adjust itself to the light properly first. if the screens on this is cleary visible especially when settling the camera still after movement as it re adjusts. Avoiding the effects of this simply mean waiting a couple more seconds before taking your shot, otherwise you might end up with a blurred photo or a funny colour tint. However taking your time over this produces shots of excellent clarity, comparable if not better than a 3 year old 2 megapixel Kodak costing three times the price. It must me noted though that distant background objects don't focus completely sharp as theres no macro setting for distant objects. The seamless digital zoom is a pleasure to use, the level increasing by 0.2 each press of the button up to itsts maximum 4x, and this doesn't reduce the image size unlike some cameras do, though the end photographs are disappointing at anything over 1.6 mqagnification. Overall picture quality is superb if you get the autofocus right, though slightly overexposed and a little touching with the contrast improves photos, but in most cases you wouldn't need to as coulour is so vividly reproduced. If you get the focus wrong not, it's very disappointing. Having said that a half resolution 800x600 image from the jenoptik viewd at 1x magnification knocks spots of a 1280x1024 image from Konicas aforementioned KD100 at 1x magnification. Indoor shots in a well windowed room in daylight are great even without a flash, though using the flash at night with normal lightbulbs on gives a warm creamy effect to photos on auto white balance, though setting this to tungsten gives some improvement, but may result in an overexposed image. Outdoor shots in daylight give the best results, totally faultless for a cmos sensor, which is surprising, and they print out well to A4 size.
However the camera does have its niggles. It was giving 'not support' (bad Chinese translation) errors and freezing the camera trying to playback some images, so that only opening the battery cover would enable the camera to be switched off. Luckilly a replacement didn't appear to have this defect. The shutter button is a kind of two press affair. Holding it down halfway gives you a preview on screen, whilst a full press takes the picture. Initially it would not take a picture evey time it was fully pressed (and pressed hard too may it be said) though the replacement camera seems to have helped this. As for the number of stored images, the manual states nine at its highest setting, though in practice 12 was achieved. Also it states just over a minute of video with sound is possible, though almost a whopping 7 minutes was achieved though average length was around a minute.
The video itself is good quality but can be slightly blurred if the camera is not held steadily and moved slowly without jerking. Though its video output is normally very rich in colour, filming indoors with tungsten lighting produces a dark red image with no noticeable colour which may account for well account for 7 minutes of video from an 8 meg card. Indoor filming in daylight presented no problems whatsoever, apart from the slight bluriness which was eventually eliminated on later shoots by ensuring a steady hand was used at all times. Playing the video back at its native resolution of 320X200 pixels produces great images on a monitor, but doubling the screen size produces badly distorted inmages, unklike Konicas aforementioned KD100 which although produces opverexposed video does blow up well. Perhaps this is why there is no video out on the Jenoptik, as it proobably wouldn't look good on a tv screen unlike the Konica which is more than acceptable in this respect.
The camera itself has two image quality settings, fine and normal, with nt much to choose between the two. File sizes for for a 2 megapixel image are resonably sized between 300 and 650 kb dependant upon quality setting and number of colours detected. It must be noted that the number of pictures available in memory displayed as less than that quoted in the manual, though in filling the memory the manuals quoted figure was exceeded. Although it was never filled with all images at half size and normal quality, the manuals quoted figure for that setting was 159, though the camera on an empty memory at that setting was only displaying 51. With the camera producing 33% more photos at best setting than the manual quoted it appears reasonable to assume about 200 photos on its lowest setting would be average. However its macro mode is appalling and should be avoided unless nesseccary. One dreads to think what a macro shot taken with a full 4x digital zoom would produce.
So there you have it, the Jenoptik JD2.1. At £90 its not a bad little camera for the money, though in all fairness you do have to spend some time getting to know the camera to get the best from it, but once you're accustomed to its foibles you'll get super clear shots.
UPDATED 27/02/04.
Hi, the Coolsters here with the update on my groovy fab camera, and gues what? Not only have I uploaded 7 brilliant photo's, superbly taken by me, the camera's been reduced to £60.00 in dixons and jessops. Whoopee! Anyway here follows a list of it's faults which aren't many, plus a couple of things the manual doesn't tell you is possible.
Firstly, it's not a low light camer, thanks to it's Cmos sensor. If you try an indoor shot at night in a living without flash you get a bad red cast to it, and it can look grainy. Reducing the red in a software programme makes it look even more grainy and people look as though heyve very pink cheeks. With the flash on it's great if the subject is in distance, but not too close, otherwise they'll be flashed out. In a datk club, again if the subject's in distance they'll be fine, but if they're too far away, then a blurry grainy image is produced because of the low shutter speed and cmos sensor. Anything under bright spotlights is captured well, which is surprising for a cmos sensor. Outdoor night shots are a no no as the shutter's too slow to focus sharply, and the flash is too weak, even if there's streetlighting to help. The only thing you can film is Fluorescant illiminated lighting like shop signs or Illuminations and christmas lights. Even these will come out blurry without the use of a tripod, So if you plan on taking shots of Blackpool Tower as your hubby drives down the lights, forget it!
Secondly, there's a recurring problem with the battery cover. As this is a clone camera sold under different makers names all the clones like Digital Dream suffer from it. Don't worry, it won't snap off. What happens is, that with wear the contacts inside the camera bend down, loosing contact with the top of the camera. Jenimage (Jenoptik don't make Jenoptik consumer cameras anymore, a German retail chain called 3Mbo has the rights - more on that later) told me it was a common fault. They offered to replace it for a new camera - if I returned it to them at my expense they'd mail the new one at their expense. As I'd never filled in the guarentee and sent it off (I lost it) they said I could enclose a copy of my receipt which I had. (Time refused to do anything if the camera was more than 28 days old stating 'Return it to Jenoptik'.) They also told me the fix to avoid me doing that. You have to be careful doing this, but if you get a slim screwdriver and gently prise them back up till all batteries are in line (put the batteries back in to check this). On mine, only the contact nearest the side edge was affected, probably because it suffers the worst stress opening and closing.
Luckilly the camera's survived the dreaded 'Drop test' several times, though each time the memory card looses contact and isn't recognised by the camera. If it happens, simply re-insert the card and everything's hunky dory again. This actually has an advantage. As the camera case has no pouches for media, if the card becomes full simply power off, open the battery cover and eject the card wihout removing it. If you now close the cover you'l find the card isn't recognised and you can use the internal 8mb memory instead and keep the card safe. Another gripe is that image quality doesn't seem as sharp now as it did when it was new, but that's probably my eyes or the monitor I use which isn't as sharp as it used to be.
As you know battery life in't brilliant, and if you use audio mode a lot (it's great for recording sermons like a dictaphone) the screen being always on runs the batteries out after half an hour. However, the manual doesn't tell you how to turn the screen off in audio mode, if you try pressind display, it won't turn off.But you can record sound with the screen off. How? Simply press the display button twice before you hit the shutter. When you press the shutter it beeps, telling you it's recording. When you're finished recording, another press stops audio capture. You can press display twice to turn the screen off for pictures too, but after it's taken it auto previews them, and reverts back to always on. Video recording needs the creen on, and you can't film with it off. In this mode if you turn the screen off it automatically comes on as soon as the motion capture starts.
Lastly, one reviewer recently wrote that the controls and menues were hard to get to grips with. I can categorically state the opposite. Once you're used to the 4 way buttons and the mode dial, it's a breeze to use.
JENOPTIK.
Now as I mentioned before, Jenoptik cameras are not made by Jenoptik. They're made in China for the company who owns the Jenoptik rights to make consumer cameras, a German retail consortium called 3Mbo. Jenoptik do make high end studio Digital cameras of the highest quality (far better than your average top of the range Cannon or Olympus) of up to 22 MP, (the biggest file size for that camera is just under half a gigabyte at a resolution of 10688x8000 pixels , with the lowest size of 62 Mb and 5344 x 4000 pixels) and these can be found at www.eyelike.com . As for the Biotar lense on the camera, I correctly stated that Biotar was a Carl Zeiss design, but Zeiss once a Jenoptik company,are now owned by Kyocera the printer people who also own Yashica and Contax. Jenoptik must have kept the Biotar trademark for themselves. The Jenoptik comsumer camera division, now it's no longer owned by Jenoptik has been renamed Jenimage, in fact Jenimage.com list the cameras as Jenimage, and the bioculars oddly enough as Jenoptik. The site is outdated, and even the JD 3.1 megaslim is not listed, which is odd.
CONCLUSION.
Well that's the update. I can safely say that after 9 months continual use I'm still happy with it. I must admit an optical Zoom would be nice (Dixons group had a couple of 4MP cameras in for £130 with optical zoom but I couldn't afford one and they've all gone now), but I'm pleased with this. Price wise, it's now down to 60 notes at Dixons, which for it's outstanding picture quality is a bargain. It's been superseded by the JD C 3.1 megaslim, (3mp) which is only £70 at Dixons with tv out as well. I believe that model has autofocus but am not sure. I know it has a cmos sensor and I guess it interpolates to 4mp, but cant say if it does. However, I waas unimpressed by shots taken by other 3mp Cmos sensors so I'm reserving judgement on the 3.1. As for the 2.1, grab one while you still can.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 135
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
callancool
|
|
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.