Image Is Everything With Low-Cost Digital Cameras
Digital photography has all the makings of a great hobby for adults and kids alike. There’s no film to buy, the cameras are easy to use and taking pictures is essentially dummy-proof. If you mess up one shot, you can just take another and another and another until you get it right or run out of memory space.
There is only one catch with digital photography that has so far kept it a relatively exotic pastime--the cameras have been so expensive (about $300 to $1,000) that even for the most gizmo-crazed, buying one requires some reflection.
After years of waiting, the price of digital cameras finally has begun to plummet earthward, with several now on the market for less than $150.
Some of the models--such as the $69.99 Nick Click and the $90 Vivitar E-Cam--are designed as children’s toys, and the quality is what you would expect--very low.
Three other cameras--the $89 JamCam 2.0 from KB Gear Interactive, the $150 WebCam Go from Creative Labs and the $100 DCL 450 from KLH Audio Systems--have higher image resolutions and edge a little closer to being usable for taking picture for a Web page.
The resolution of a digital camera image is measured in pixels, the tiny squares that can be seen when an image is enlarged. The more pixels in an image, the better its resolution. Higher-priced digital cameras are pushing 2 million to 3 million pixels per image.
The best of these inexpensive cameras take images that have a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels, or a little more than 300,000.
The resolution of these cameras is a big jump above the Nick Click, but the pictures still are often coarse and blurry. The color reproduction is not particularly true and only one of the cameras in this group has a flash.
But at $89 to $150, these are noteworthy entries into the digital camera market and suggest that prices will come down even further as the market develops.
What has brought this new generation of low-priced digital cameras is the development of light-sensitive silicon chips, known as CMOS chips, that replace the more expensive electronic components predominant in high-quality digital and video cameras.
The resolution of these chips is going up and the prices are coming down. In a few more years, they’ll probably be giving these cameras away when you visit Disneyland, open a new checking account or sign up for America Online.
Nick Click (aka Barbie Photo Designer)
Mattel Inc. rolled out the Nick Click late last year. It’s identical to the granddaddy of inexpensive digital cameras, the Barbie Photo Designer, sans the pink trim.
Mattel introduced the Barbie cam in late 1998, targeting girls from 6 to 10. At $69.99, it is the cheapest digital camera on the market now.
You can tell right away that this is a camera from a company that knows kids. The installation is effortless and using the software is as easy as it gets. You can decorate a scrapbook of your photos, insert your pictures into scenes with Barbie and customize your picture with all sorts of special effects.
The camera is one of the sturdiest in the bunch and comes with a big on-off button and indicator light--not a small issue when kids are using a battery-powered device.
Unfortunately, this is about all the good news there is about the Barbie cam, which really is a first-generation product that has been passed up by other cameras. The camera’s resolution, at 160 pixels by 120 pixels, is far too low compared with other low-priced cameras on the market.
The software is what makes this camera worth getting, but the pictures, when enlarged to a reasonable size for viewing, are far too coarse with visible blocks of colors that make your images look like a modernist painting.
JamCam 2.0
The latest wave in low-priced digital cameras are those with a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. For the same price as the Vivitar and little more than the Barbie cam, you can buy what is among the best of the ultra-inexpensive digital cameras--the JamCam 2.0.
It’s as simple to use as the Barbie cam, but produces pictures that look fairly smooth and detailed.
Thanks to its higher resolution, its picture also can be viewed at a decent size without the blocky chunks of color that appear when very low resolution images are blown up.
With a little practice, the images can be good enough to use on a Web page, although the pictures still are not as sharp as those used to sell auction items on EBay.
The JamCam also comes with one of the best image software packages for home users--Microsoft’s PictureIt! 99.
JamCam has its share of problems. To begin with, it can hold only eight pictures in its memory when used at its highest resolution. That boils down to a few minutes of shooting before you have run back to your computer to unload.
Unlike film cameras, digital cameras beg you to waste pictures. With room for only eight images, you’re back in the old days of conserving your photos.
For all its drawbacks, the JamCam is a good first step into digital photography--just don’t enter with overly high expectations.
The JamCam 3.0 is due out in late summer and it will have a flash, removable and expandable memory and still be under $100.
WebCam Go
One of the most innovative cameras is the WebCam Go, from Creative Labs. It is designed mainly as a video camera for video conferencing and chat over the Internet.
But unlike other PC cameras, you can detach this one from your computer and use it as a single-shot digital camera. With 4 megabytes of memory, it can hold a stupendous 90 images.
Unfortunately, even with its 640-by-480 pixel resolution, every picture I took with this camera seemed fuzzy.
One of the really annoying features on this camera is its focus ring. Unlike all the other cameras, which are just fixed-focus devices, the WebCam Go requires you to focus your shots.
The focus ring may work fine for a stationary PC camera for video chat, but for a still camera it is impossible to use comfortably. And because you view your image through a separate view finder, you have no idea if you have accurately focused your image.
At $150, this is also the most expensive of the low-priced cameras. There are many nice touches to this camera, including its clear controls and padded carrying case. But it is all a waste when the pictures don’t come out very well.
DCL 450
The DCL 450, from KLH Audio Systems, is the only camera in this group with a flash, which allows you to shoot indoors in low light.
Flash is certain to be a standard feature on digital cameras under $150 this year, but for now, it is found on only a few cameras, including the $100 IXLA SuperPro 640, which arrived too late to be reviewed.
The DCL 450 produces relatively sharp pictures for a 640-by-480 pixel camera, about the same range as the JamCam. But the color quality is off in some shots, often giving pictures a harsh appearance.
Although it is nice to be able to shoot at night with the camera, it is way off the mark with its software.
The camera comes with two bare-bones programs to upload images to your computer and view them. Compared with the elegance of Microsoft’s PictureIt! 99, the software just doesn’t cut it.
E-Cam
Camera equipment maker Vivitar announced its entry into the lower-end of the digital camera market last spring with the E-Cam, an $89.95 camera aimed at children. The camera can hold 24 photos in memory, but again, the problem with this camera is that the resolution--160 by 120 pixels--is just too low to be much fun even for kids.
All of these cameras are a compromise between quality and price. If you really want an inexpensive camera now for your children or for an upcoming vacation that you want to show off on the Web, your best bet is the JamCam 2.0.
But given all the drawbacks to even the better models, it would be better to hold on for a while. By late summer, the JamCam 3.0 will have a flash and enough memory to hold a decent number of pictures.
If you can wait another year or so, the next generation of low-cost digital cameras will come out with even higher resolutions that will make them a lot more fun.
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A Snapshot Evaluation
* Nick Click (aka Barbie)
$69.99
Very kid-friendly, and fuzzy photos show it
* JamCam 2.0
$89
Easy to use, smooth and detailed pictures
* Vivitar E-Cam
$89.95
Kid-compatible, poor resolution
* KLH Audio Systems DCL 450
$99.99
Pictures are sharp, but color frequently is off
* WebCam Go
$149.99
Doubles as PC video camera, but photos are blurry
For more details, please see C5
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Affordable Digitals
Digital cameras are falling in price. Here’s a look at five below $150.
Source: The manufacturers
Researched by NONA YATES/Los Angeles Times
