What a difference the right battery & memory card makes!
Written: Nov 02 '03 (Updated Nov 26 '03)
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Pros: Price, features, accessories, software packaged,quality of pics, adequate ZOOM, and upgradeable memory.
Cons: Battery drain, small LCD, and no manual focus.
The Bottom Line: Would buy all over again. If you spend some more money on memory & batteries, you'll have a great camera that'll take all the pics you need.
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| gbistany's Full Review: Visioneer MX230 Digital Camera |
My Visioneer MX230 has almost all the same features of significantly more expensive cameras. I am extremely happy with the zoom, picture quality, display/viewing features, adaptability, and ease of use.
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PROS
Video clips up to 60 seconds in length with sound.
Can "playback" video clips with sound on camera (mini speaker).
Can connect camera to TV through standard RCA plug to view pics from the camera directly to TV.
Great quality pics.
Good enough ZOOM (3x optical + 3x digital).
Small & light size.
Easy to use (features).
Various settings for lighting conditions & ZOOM.
Comes with cable to connect directly to any PC with USB ports.
Software packaged with camera with accomplish almost any image editing needs you have.
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CONS
Longest video clip length is 60 seconds (better than many others, but should be unlimited ... to extent of memory filling up). You can keep taking consecutive 60 second clips and paste them together later with digital editing software on your computer, but you loose out on the ability to have a continual long clip.
"Red-eye" is common on normal flash mode. Does have a flash setting to reduce red-eye. This also can be fixed with image editing software on PC.
As all digital cameras, very limited "internal" memory (8MB). Plan for 8 higher quality pics or about 24 medium quality pics with internal memory. Better yet, plan to buy an SD Memory Card (which expands the memory/picture storage). Count on one picture per MB of memory for high quality pictures. I bought a 256MB and that has been fine. Prices are coming down on the memory cards. I bought mine on eBay for about $60, but I've recently been seeing them retail (with rebate) for same at various computer stores. You will also need a memory card "reader" to allow your PC to "read" the files off the card. I actually got several card "readers" (Dazzle) for free during one of OfficeMax's recent sales.
No manual focus (for those pesky times when the autofocus can't get the focal distance right). I've had some trouble focusing in "Macro" mode.
Battery drain SUCKS, literally! Alkalines drain after about 8 pictures. The 500 mAh NiCads I initially bought lasted about 25 to 40 pics. There is solution, though. Plan on spending some money on TOP QUALITY AA batteries. I got the best of the best of the best. I found some NexCell NiMH 2100 mAh on eBay. These go for $2 to $4 retail EACH! I paid about $1.50 each battery. I got 12, but now realize that 4 is probably enough, but 6 to 8 batteries would be plenty. Now I can get 250 to 500 pictures per pair of AAs I install.
Small LCD display.
No picture editing within camera. This is actually no problem at all for me. I beleive in taking as many pictures as possible. No deleting by me (let alone any on-camera editing of images). I dump all the pics off the memory card onto my PC and delete or edit (if necessary ... mostly just cropping, adjust brightness, and eliminating red-eye) from there. Why waste battery life & view your editing on small LCD?
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Overall, I'm extremely satisfied. I was able to purchase my camera for $99 at OfficeMax. I bought a 256MB SD memory card on eBay for $60, a NiCad/NiMH battery charger at CompUSA for $15 (came with 4AA & 4AAA NiCad batteries which I use in other items since I bought better batteries), and 12 NiMH batteries on eBay for under $20.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
gbistany
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Reviews written: 1
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