The camera of choice on a budget
Written: Jun 09 '04 (Updated Jun 09 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Photo Quality: |
|
|
| Shutter Lag |
 |
|
|
Pros: Cheap,
Great screen,
Good image quality,
Excellent array of extras,
Great software
Cons: Slightly large,
Movement can blur photos,
Video quality not up to scratch
The Bottom Line: This camera is cheap, but delivers good images and overall an impressive package - excellent value for money.
|
|
|
| steverocks's Full Review: Nisis Pocket DV4 Digital Camera |
Let's get one thing straight. If you are looking for camera that will produce magnificent, professional-looking digital photos, save up more money and go for something with a little more kick. Equally, if you are looking to replace your old Video Camera, save up and get a camera that has MiniDV. This camera is not meant for professional usage or home movie-making.
That out of the way, the Nisis DV4 is a fantastic little camera for those on a budget. I bought it because I was looking for a digital camera that took decent pictures but which also had the option to record video. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the DV4 actually surpassed my expectations of what I could get for £110 (~$160, which is what I paid). I challenge anyone out there to find a camera that gives you this much for so little.
There are several functions that this camera performs with varying success. The first and foremost reason for getting a digital camera such as this has to be the quality of the stills (photographs). I can safely say that image quality is excellent, and well worth the money. The standard image quality is 2Megapixel, but this can be increased to effectively 4Megapixel. I say effectively because this is using the cameras electronics to blow up the photo and then 'guess' the pixels inbetween. However, whilst this can be a noticeably tacky effect on other cameras, using this mode on the DV4 does make the pictures sharper when scaled back down to the usual 2Megapixel size, and so I have no gripes with this. Photo quality is generally good, with good colour definition and focus. The camera has a fixed lens, meaning there is no optical zoom (REAL zoom). The packaging boasts 8x Digital Zoom, but all this does is select a portion of the photo and scale it up - resulting in a loss of picture quality. So again, if you want a decent zoom for, say, wildlife photography, look elsewhere.
There are only two things that cause slight annoyance when talking about the Stills mode. Firstly, the flash, whilst being excellent at the appropriate distance (ie 3m ), tends to overexpose what you are photographing if the distance is less than 3m or so. This isn't so much of a problem when taking pictures of a room or distances, but when you try and take someone opposite you at a dark table, say in a bar, the flash can ruin the photo by making everything far too white. You can manually turn the flash off, and I recommend doing so unless its far too dark (ie you cant see anything). In that case, step back a few steps and it should be fine. The only other gripe I have is that photos can be blurred very easily. This only causes problems on the higher photo quality settings (ie 3-4Megapixel), but means that movement of the camera by a few centimeters when taking a shot results in the shot being blurred. I suppose I should keep my hand steady! But I do think it takes slightly too long to take the picture, thus blurring can result.
The unit has a fold out 1.5" LCD screen, which is excellent. It's brightness can be adjusted, and is viewable in all but direct sunlight. It is an excellent way of seeing what your shot is like, and whether you'd like to keep it. You can also zoom and move around the picture whilst zoomed in the 'Preview' mode.
The video mode has a few different quality levels. It has VGA quality movies (640x480) which are not bad quality, but they tend to pixelate very easily, and blur very easily too. On a 128mb SD card you can get 10 mins of this. The lesser levels are QVGA (Normal, Fine and Best). All of which are smaller at around 320x240. Again, these are nothing to shout home about, but they are fine for the odd video of your mates mucking around and such. This is not the camera which will replace your home video camera, and nor would you expect it to be at this price. What you do get is some cheap and cheerful video for messing around with.
There are other modes which, although you wouldn't buy the camera for them, are a welcome addition. The Dictaphone is very handy for memos and recording sound, but at distances it can get a tad distorted. I haven't tried it at lectures yet, but I'm hoping it will be up to the task. The mp3 player is also very useful, allowing me to put mp3s onto the SD card and listen on the move. Playback is excellent quality, with extra bass settings. The organisation of the mp3s on the menu is very basic however - they are effectively just listed in the order you put them on the SD in. So fine for maybe an album for a trip somewhere with a journey to endure, but its not going to replace your iPod any time soon.
The rest of the camera is solid and suprisingly featured for such a cheap camera. It comes with a leather hand-strap (which is invaluable for holding the camera), a mini tripod to keep the camera steady when taking shots, a USB cable, a set of 4 rechargeable batteries, a battery recharger and a carrying case. All of which do the job well. Also included are some decent headphones, which is also a plus. Putting a battery recharger in the package along with the batteries is frankly brilliant. It means you don't have to worry about battery usage again, and for a cheap camera like this I was most suprised to find it there. Big thumbs up Nisis.
Next - the battery life. I was amazed with how long this little baby keeps going. I recieved it for Christmas, used it throughout the festive period across New Year, and recharged the batteries for the first time towards the end of January! This thing just keeps on going and going. The rechargable batteries take about 16 hours to charge, but you'll easily get a months normal usage before you have to recharge them again. Phenomenal.
One thing that you may not expect from this camera is the amount of free software you get with it. I stress now, this camera does link up to Mac's, but the software is PC-only. But the software is great. You get the following on a CD:
-- PowerDirector Pro: An excellent movie editing program
-- Media Show: Inferior video compositing, not great
-- Photo Express: Very good photo editing software, most used of all programs.
-- Photo Explorer: Alright for browsing your photos, but there are better programs.
The two that really stand out are PowerDirector Pro and ULead Photo Express. PowerDirector has some excellent tools for turning your little video clips into works of art. Photo Express is probably slightly the better of the two, mainly because it has some brilliant effects and styles to add to photos. If you want to do something to a photo, this baby can manage it. Brilliant.
As a final note, a SD card is obligatory. I ordered a 128mb SD card with mine, and i'd say that was a minimum. For photos only 128mb is fine - you'll get about 324 shots on 2Megapixel mode, 161 shots on 4Megapixel mode. By the by, the internal memory is 16mb, which is OK, but really you're going to need more. However, if you start using the camera to do video or mp3, then you'll find space runs out fairly quickly. So I'd recommend 128mb minimum.
In conclusion, the Nisis DV4 is a very competent camera. I'd say it was pitched slightly above entry level, but it's not quite up there with the bigger boys. This camera is perfect for holidays, University, College, or for people who want good quality photos for a bargain price. Highly recommended.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
steverocks
|
|
Member: Steve Robinson
Location: London
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.