Review: Pick a Digicam!

We look at a small selection of affordable digicams with list prices between £500 and £800, starting with the Pentax EI-2000.

When we first looked at this digital camera, the features that immediately impressed were the SLR (Single Lens Reflex) design, the excellent macro focussing, manual exposure metering, the hot-shoe for an optional external flashgun, video shooting, the general handling, and the copy of Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE that was bundled.

Product	EI-2000
Company	Pentax
Web	www.pentax.com
Price	£699.99 (discount around £300)
We like	SLR; macro focussing; Photoshop 5 LE; now sold cheaply.
We don't like	Resolution behind the times; relatively bulky.
Rating	8/10
Requirements

SLR styling brings plus points and minus, but the over-riding benefit is accurate framing of subjects, especially close-ups, without having to resort to the LCD panel which, on any digicam, gobbles power like there's no tomorrow and is next to useless in daylight. The SLR viewing feature, unfortunately, adds both size and weight, and that might be sufficient to put off the strictly amateur, snap-shooting photographer. The Pentax's menus are no more difficult than the best of the reset, and a deal easier to master than some I've used.

Macro focussing on this camera was very good, if rather slow. The capability to take extreme close-ups is surprisingly handy, and the SLR viewing and framing of subjects means there's no chance of parallax error as there would be with a direct optical viewfinder.

Optical zoom

A 3x optical zoom is standard in this digital camera price bracket. Pictures were, I thought, not quite as razor sharp as those from some cameras I've used, but they were perfectly adequate for the general run of prints, right up to 10 x 8 inches. Colour balance, flash exposure, and subject detail were all good.

The 2.24 megapixel CCD adds 12 bit x 3 colour depth, and that's all that will be necessary for most photographers, bringing the bonus of smaller file sizes to fill the bundled 8MB Compact Flash memory card.

File formats

The JPEG file format has three levels of compression, though an uncompressed TIFF mode is there for the dedicated. Through the lens metering, with a choice of average, centre weighted, or spot, and compensation over the range + or - 3EV in five steps, is supplemented by auto-bracketing in three frames by either 0.5 or 1.0EV steps. The shutter provides a 1/1000 sec to 4 sec range, and for the manual modes there's an LCD display with an exposure meter built-in.

Single shot, continuous shooting, variable Timelapse, remote control (option), integral IrDA Infra Red transmitter, and self-timer are all there, and with integral flash, or external flash from the hot-shoe, full white balance control, diopter adjustment on the optical viewfinder, 45 sec sound clip recording for individual frames, auto-picture orientation (vertical shots automatically show on the screen the right way up in preview mode), AV output (NTSC or PAL), and USB file transfer, this is comprehensive.

In conclusion

Complete with mains adapter/charger, plus the excellent Photoshop 5.0 LE software, this camera lacks but little. It's a shame that Pentax have decided not to uprate this camera with a 3.3 megapixel CCD to bring it more into line with contemporary models, but at least you can now buy it for the princely sum of just £299 (Digital Depot, 01438 367619). A snip!

QV-3500EX digicam

Product	QV-3500EX
Company	Casio
Web	www.casio.co.uk
Price	£500, or £700 incl a 512MB IBM Microdrive. Discount abt £440.
We like	Generally good picture quality. Accepts Microdrive.
We don't like	Low light auto-focus difficulties.
Rating	8/10
Requirements

The Casio QV-3500EX is a 3.34 megapixel CCD digicam which gets excellent reports from all who try it. Unlike the Pentax I2000 it is not an SLR but has an optical viewfinder supplemented by an LCD screen.

It isn't a small camera, but it handles well, has a fast f2.0-2.5 lens, a 3x zoom lens (33-100mm equivalent on 35mm), with digital zooming up to a total of 12x, and informative LCD displays.

Five 1MB images at the highest JPEG quality are all that will fit on the supplied memory card, but fortunately the QV-3500EX accepts an IBM Microdrive. Its 340MB of storage (in our case) allowed for 250 pictures of the highest JPEG quality. An uncompressed TIFF mode is available, but that spells huge files.

Optics

The f2.0 Canon lens stops down to f8 in manual or aperture priority mode, and the shutter speed is variable between 60 secs and 1/1000th sec. ISO 100 (default) to 500 is offered for the CCD sensitivity, and shots were judged to be sharp in the main, with good colour saturation and good shadow and highlight detail.

This camera's auto-focusing was fooled once or twice under low-light conditions, and while cameras do vary in their ability to cope with low contrast subjects, it's a little disappointing to find it in such an excellent camera in other respects. Most of the time, though, auto-focus was fine.

Ergonomics

The shutter release was smooth, and there was a beep option you could switch on to warn that a picture had been captured. A wide range of preset exposure types was a useful provision, and even short video clips could be taken.

With infinity, manual, auto, and macro focusing (the latter not as close as some models on the market) covering the focus ranges, and normal, portrait, landscape, night scene, panorama, plus 'best' and 'video' modes, together with subject type optimisations, the usual over-rides for exposure and white balance, it's usefully supplemented by spot, centre, and multi metering modes.

In conclusion

All things considered, the Casio QV-3500EX would be a desirable acquisition. Producing images of generally good quality for the money, and offering a wide range of features, together with Epson's emerging Print Image Matching (PIM) technology, the camera should satisfy most. The camera has weaknesses, but then so does every other model you'll consider. Overall it has to be considered a good buy, but bear in mind the image storage and potential low-light focusing difficulties.

Ricoh's RDC-i500

Product	RDC-i500
Company	Ricoh
Web	www.ricoh.co.uk
Price	£699 (discount abt £520)
We like	Picture quality; accepts Microdrive; macro focussing; connectivity.
We don't like	No memory card or modem provided.
Rating	8.5/10
Requirements

Digital camera shapes vary, and the RDC-i500 reminded me of an ancient 110 camera with its flat design, but quality is what this camera is all about. A 3.34 megapixel CCD, offering up to 2048 x 1536 maximum resolution, coupled with a sharp 3x optical zoom lens, supplemented by 3.2x digital zoom, macro focussing down to 'nearly touching' distances, plus on-line connectivity, makes versatility a key-note point.

The first default mode automatic setting of a CCD's ASA rating I've seen (as well as 200 up to 800 fixed) was considerate. Adjustable flash strength was useful for those who, like this reviewer, think the main flash mode a trifle strong, resulting in some loss of highlight detail.

The two inch LCD could be swivelled for best angle, but the optical viewfinder, complete with eyesight adjustment, was very usable. Twin shutter release buttons facilitate landscape or portrait mode shooting, and a lens cap was provided, as was a soft carrying pouch.

Resolution

Lower resolutions of 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480 catered for those with an eye on memory capacity - for which none was supplied beyond 7 MB of internal memory. But the i500 will usefully accept an IBM Microdrive, a huge plus point. A 340MB Microdrive gave, even in the 2048 resolution mode, with medium compression, 600 shots capacity.

Auto-focusing was accurate, even in low light situations. With the i500, if focus could not be found the LCD showed a very blurred image that was immediately recognizable as an inability to focus properly. When it happened, that was always in ultra close-up mode.

Macro mode focusing was rather slow but remained generally accurate. My photo of the Petunia was shot using backlighting, but in this case the lens was far enough back for front lighting to be usable if required.

Video

Short bursts of low res video output at 15 frames per second will be valued by some, as will split screen shooting, multi-mode light metering, voice memo, and the text shooting mode where recording was in B&W, with tone gradations eliminated.

The camera's main control wheel at the rear makes for quick selection of shooting or viewing mode. The power on/off button was at the centre of this wheel, the zoom control falling to hand at the periphery.

Communications is a useful offering in this Ricoh range, but you'd need to add a Type II CF modem for Internet connection or emailing. Pictures for mailing have to be copied to internal memory because the CF modem replaces the memory card. All of the necessary leads were supplied, together with perfect bound manuals plus quick start and battery guides.

In conclusion

Picture quality with the Ricoh RDC-i500 was very good. At £700 (discount about £520) it's in line with current values, though potential buyers would have to bear in mind the memory card and modem that will probably have to be bought to complete the package. A recommended camera, then, and my choice if SLR facility is not deemed necessary - in which case I'd go for the heavily discounted Pentax I2000.

 

 

Don Bradbury