Customer Reviews

Aiptek PCM13 PenCam 1.3MP Digital Camera

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Aiptek comes with batteries, USB cable, a mount for desktop/computer top mounting for use as a web cam, an adjustable neck loop and software which includes 'Mega Manager' and Ulead 'Video Studio' and 'Cool 360' (for making a 360 degree spread). It is so light to carry; I use the neck loop and place the camera in my top pocket where it is more secure and readily available.
When turned on one can cycle through a small list on the menu for a short video, single shots or erasing selected files or all contents. The lens focuses for normal portrait/landscape or up close; a very simple utility. Shooting is a breeze: literally, point and shoot using the eyepiece but KEEP THAT CAMERA STEADY. With no zoom one may have to get rather close to the subject and it prefers good sunlight. The camera turns itself off after a short period of inactivity. Picture quality is only average, but then this is not a mega-pixel camera: personally I find it more than adequate for quick snaps, email and for fun things. The web cam feature is fun as I work in an office with 6-foot high cubicles and I just raise the camera arm height and literally 'have a look around' to see who is nearby!
Getting files onto a PC and emailing is a breeze but I haven't tried the "Cool 360" yet.
One problem which caught me napping several times is that the batteries run down for a pastime. It uses two AAA batteries but you MUST carry spares if you want to shoot more than, say thirty shots, even though it will hold many more. When the batteries get low, it just refuses to take any more pics, not even a "low battery" warning.
So, in brief, a great useful and fun camera for the money; grainy but good-enough pics; bad battery duration., don't go out without spares.
Would I recommend it: Most positively but remember it's limitations. It suits me real fine.

A couple of years ago I bought a digital camera (640 X 320) to see if I would really use it. Several hundred photos later I knew I needed something better. My digital did very nice landscapes but nothing close up and people looked "boxy". I was hesitant about buying an expensive camera because you never get to see the pictures the camera is capable of taking and I didn't want to spend a lot of money and have the same problems. We saw this little one advertised as a 1 Megapixel and I said "no way". Later I saw the same camera in [local store] with a copy of a picture attached saying "actual picture taken with camera". It was great. I bought the camera and have been very happy. I did not expect it to perform like a more expensive one with lots of features but it has really surprised and pleased me. It takes worse pictures in low light than my 640 x 320 but I am more than happy with its real features. The close up works GREAT! I can take pictures of documents and they are clear and readable. And I can take it to the beach and take shots of the kids playing in the sand and salt without worrying about ruining an expensive camera. And no one is "boxy"! For the price I didn't expect a lot of features but it has performed well above my expectations. I would gladly recommend it to someone who wants a snapshot camera that will take nice "people" pictures without a big investment in funds. My first day at the beach, I took 59 pictures at High definition and was totally blown away by the improvement over my 640 X 320. Now I can take my time and decide which digital camera has the features I want instead of settling because I want to be able to see faces!

I bought mine direct from the factory on sale for 39.99 with a free case and this is truly the coolest camera I've seen for the money. Pictures are bright crisp and clear outside. Inside requires light of course like any camera, no flash. Movies are very high quality and it will do 640 by 480 res clips!!! Comes with a hell of a software package and is just too cool for words. Even has adjustable focal length for closeups of flowers etc. I LOVE THIS THING! I bought it for launching in a rocket to take aerial video but now I may not, it's just too cute to risk!

For the price you pay, this is a pretty good camera! It's handily pocket-sized, takes decent screen-resolution pictures, and stores more than 40 of them at high quality. Macro focus makes for excellent closeup shots. the Pencam 1.3 is excellent for web or non-professional-level digital photography.

On the down side, however, it's only good for bright light conditions, high-contrast photos sometimes suffer from aliasing (pixelated edges), the video feature is near-useless, 2 AAA batteries rarely last more than a week, and worst of all, there are no Apple drivers, so I need to do my photo transfers through VirtualPC on my iBook.

this is a sweet deal on a fairly good mini-camera. I've been using it for art photos on my photolog, and I'm quite happy with the output, and the fact that I can take quick, discreet pictures without attracting too much notice is icing on the cake. :)

UPDATE: unfortunately, I've just found that VirtualPC on Mac OS X does NOT work with the Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3 in a virtual Windows 98 or 2000 environment. It hangs while downloading images, whether from the Camera Manager or the TWAIN interface in Photoshop.

The good news is that Mac-users can still use the MP1.3 with a piece of open-source software called Macam, which even Aiptek's own customer support rep suggested. It's at [ http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net ]. Macam is technically a video webcam app, but hooked up to the MP1.3, it will instead function as an image downloader.

Hope this helps.

I purchased the PocketCam 1.3 for my kids over the holidays. All was right in the world when it worked. To begin, the company hasn't done the necessary paperwork with Microsoft to ensure that when loading the software on Windows XP you don't get the error messages telling you you could really mess up your computer by loading this piece of software. After assurances by the tech support team, I went ahead and loaded the software with no problems. But it doesn't end there. The camera just died in early February. It took the company almost 2 months to get back to me (after more than 5 emails and phone calls to their tech support team). It's now April 2 and they still haven't resolved my issue. When the camera worked, it was a great starter digital camera and my kids loved it because it was easy to use and it took decent pictures. I've since purchased a Canon Elph and I stand in awe of that piece of machinery. I would stick with a reputable company when making any electronics purchases. This company is not one of those.

I think this is a simple case of deciding what you want. The Aiptek camera tries to cater to consumers that don't know what they want. Its an adequate webcam, an adequate take anywhere digital camera for very small photos or large web pictures for your website or online auctions, and an adequate camera for taking small movies. But with that said, the camera does not excel in any areas.

-Webcam- the actual quality is very nice when compared to some other usb webcams (but it is more expensive) and it can be powered by the USB connection. But there are some problems with Yahoo Messenger, so if you want to use Yahoo with this webcam, beware, there may be some minor hiccups. It comes with a decent stand, but the base sometimes will give way to the rigidity of the USB cord and will tend to pull the camera over. The webmovies are almost unusable. Apparently this camera uses some kind of little used codec that most people don't have unless they have the aiptek software... so don't count on sharing small webmovies with other people.
Like all cameras of this sort, low light is its mortal enemy.

-Digital camera- the camera MSRP is about $80. There are some cheap sub $100 cameras that are 2 megapixels. I know I personally saw a 3 megapixel camera from kodak for $100. So is it really worth it to buy this camera for 1.2 megapixel resolution? On the plus side, the camera does offer a macro mode which I have used to varying success for taking pictures for online auctions and this camera does have the advantage of being very small (if you are a spy or something?). Also I found the memory adequate if not robust. In all probability you will not be taking many pictures with this camera anyways.

-Battery Life- If this is mainly a webcam, the battery life really doesn't matter since it is powered by USB. But if you use this for a camera I found that the camera will last a few days of sporadic phototaking. Purchase of rechargable batteries are recommended.

Summary- My recommendation is to know what you want. Do you want a webcam or a small digital camera? If you MUST have both and you can't afford to spend a little extra to buy both, then the Aiptek camera is an adequate compromise.

This camera caught my eye because of the small size. Unfortunately, that's about all it has going for it.

In bright sunlight, the pictures it takes are bright and vivid. However, in overcast or even brightly lit indoor conditions, it just doesn't perform. The poor medium and low lux performance of this camera makes shots under these conditions too dark to be useable, and no amount of digital adjustment will fix them. Because of the need for extremely bright light, its' utility as a web cam is nearly useless.

The manufacturer chose to use a manual focusing knob as an alternative to fixed focus, but since you can't see the focused image, it is all too easy to wind up with blurry shots.

Battery life is advertised as 10 days. Even with no photos or video stored, my battery life averages only 2-3 days.

This camera is being returned tomorrow. Even as a low priced camera, it just doesn't do the job.

This camera may be good for someone wanting a small camera. It's size is basically little bigger than the 2 AAA batteries it holds. It actually has a real camera lens rather than those little purple specks you see posing as a lens on most of these cheaper cameras. I was impressed with the softwear especially the panoramic stitching softwear which can produce a 360* effect and I have used it with photos taken with other cameras. The image quality is on par with a 110 film camera, a bit soft but clear. As others have mentioned, it is a bright light only camera. For about $20 more you can get a normal size camera with a real flash which can take much better photos, but hey! it's huge compared to this. About the only gripe I have with this camera is that it needs a battery cut-off switch. You need to remove the batteries after use, or they drain in a few days, so then you need a case which holds the camera and extra batteries which negates the small size!

This cam is really nice but there is a downside. The button for taking pics is very fragile. I tried calling Aiptek customer service to get it repaired but so far no respond from them yet (I just bought it 5-2-4, it only lasted for less than 30 days). I called and e-mailed Aiptek again, but still no respond. This cam is quite a deal but mine is broke right now so I am really really piss off. Can someone help me get this cam fix, since it is still under Manufacture warranty.

I purchased this camera during a vacation and quickly found that as long as you are outside, in direct sunlight, the camera works fine. However, if you try to take pictures indoor or in the evening, the quality is lacking. The pictures come out dark if at all. Would recommend a different digital camera.