Customer Reviews

Argus DC3500 2MP Digital Camera

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am the type of person that can bargain hunt and get by on great deals, even if they are missing lots of features that most people think are "necessary"....I thought I could overcome the problems people stated in the reviews. I was wrong.

This camera makes lovely pictures. Evidently, the lens and the Sony ccd chip are quality. I have no complaints about image quality. However, the time, effort and frustration that it took to make the photographs caused me to return this camera after a week.

Most bothersome is that this camera has a terrible parallax problem, meaning what you see in the viewfinder is not accurate. I had a little bit of this problem with my Kodak dc-3200, but this problem with the Argus made the camera unusable. Heads, feet, tops of buildings...all cut off. I would say the viewfinder is only 60% accurate. Unacceptable amount of error in my opinion.

I have 4 digital cameras. I usually don't pay attention when people complain about battery life, b/c all digitals eat batteries. This camera, however, is the worst yet. I drained 4 Nimh rechargeables after 10 pictures, no flash. Terrible. When the batteries begin to drain, the camera powers off. (without warning.) It is often difficult to tell if the camera is off or on. I read that in other reviews and thought the authors were just techno-illiterate. No way..they are right on. You never know if the stupid thing is off or on. And the buttons on the back? Tiny, and impossible to tell if you have actually pushed them and the command was read. You can push and push, and finally, the button will do what it is supposed to do.

Final problem...it takes over 30 seconds to write each image to memory after shooting it. Extremely slow....makes your subjects insane, trying to stand still...and all the while, you don't know if you have framed the shot correctly, if the button is really pushed, or if the darned thing is even on.

Really, buy yourself the Kodak dc-3200 if you need a cheap digital. While the resolution is lower, it is a nice, reliable, user friendly camera. I could never recommend the Argus.

This camera has the potential to be a keeper. Other reviews will talk about the features, The only one that falsely appears as positive is its price. almost all the reviews describe its major drawbacks (BAD DESIGN, BATTERY LIFE, COMPACT FLASH INCOMPATIBILITY, LACK OF AC ADAPTER, USELESS VIEWFINDER< FAULTY OPWER ON BUTTON)

THEY ARE ALL TRUE!

I Believe Argus designed a loser, and dump it on the market at a discount to get rid of them. Stupid mistakes like mispelled words in the display "MOMERY FULL" instead of MEMORY, or "RAGE" instead of "RANGE", are symptomatic of a total lack of attention to detail in its design and manufacture, followed by totally non existant testing of their product.

Instead of recalling it, accepting their mistakes, and God forbid, fixing them, they turn to dumping it on the market.

This, to me, demonstrates a company with arrogance and contempt for their customers.

The Designers and Engineers at ARGUS probably can't show their faces in public for designing a device destined to be rated as crap.

ONLY THE EXTREME DISCOUNT SAVES THIS CAMERA FROM THE TRASH HEAP. IT OBVIOUSLY COULD NOT BE SOLD AT THE PRICE OF OTHER 2 MEGAPIXELS.

BATERRY HOG? An understatement. I went through 8 AAA Alkaline bateries in 20 minutes just setting the camera up.

RECHARGABLE BATTERIES HELP? Yes but not much, What kind of a bargain is this camera really, if you spend the money you're supposed to save, on expensive batteries, and a recharger. You'll need 12-16 rechartgable AAA to have any fun with this camera.

IS IT REALLY THAT SLOW? YES! You will spend 1/3 of your battery life waiting for the camera to turn itself on. Counterintuitively, you might think "set auto shutoff to lowest setting." NO! This just frutrates you in how much battery power you lose turning it back on.

DOES IT TAKE GOOD PICTURES? Yes, just proving that careless design can not destry everything.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU NEED ANOTHER BATTERY CHANGE? It drops dead.

IS THE COMPACT FLASH INCOMPATIBLE? YES! don't spent money on a memory unit without trying it in the camera first. You'll just be throwing even more money away.

HOW DO YO KNOE IF THE PICTURE IS CENTERED? Don't look in the viewfinder. Hell If I know how to get the picture centered.

You will probably spend $20-30 more than a comparably featured camera to compesate for all the drawbacks.

That my friend is no bargain.

PRICE ISN'T EVERYTHING. Value your sanity.

This camera is the best digital camera you're going to find for the price. Yes, there are some draw backs to it but compared to the other sub one hundred dollar cameras, this one is awesome.

After reading the other reviews, I bought a charger and 8 AAA NiMH batteries. I'm glad I did. They weren't kidding, this thing ate up the alkaline batteries in less than 10 pictures. But, the NiMH batteries are great. I've taken over 30 pictures on my first set and it's still going. I was going to find an AC adapter but now I think that two sets of NiMH batteries make this a very useable camera (it just isn't useable with alkaline).

Another draw back is that both the optical view finder and the lcd screen don't reflect the true picture framing. I can understand the optical view finder being off but why would the lcd display be off? It's best to use the lcd since it errs on the small side and while the optical view finder makes you think you're getting everything in the picture when you're not.

Also, the small size and light weight of the camera make it a little hard to hold steady while shooting causing some blurred images. This is not too big of a deal, I'm already learning to make special effort to hold it steady.

The buttons on the back of the camera are really hard to push. Sometimes you can push them, feel the click, but it hasn't actually been pushed. This is kind of annoying but, once again, you get used to it.

Finally, an optical zoom would be nice but for the price you can't expect everything.

That's the bad side. The good side is that you get a 2 megapixel camera for half the price of any other one on the market. The pictures come out very well. There are a lot of nice adjustments like +/-EV and several different white balance settings. It also comes with a soft case which is a nice bonus.

Other things you'll need with this camera:
-8 AAA NiMH batteries and a charger
-digital imaging software - it comes with PhotoSuiteIIISE which is too stripped down to do anything but give you a taste of what a full blown program can do
-A compact flash card - the price of these is plummeting so grab 128Mb

Once again, for the price, you absolutely can't go wrong.

We bought it for our daughter as an inexpensive camera.
(1) It takes 4 AAA batteries
(2) It takes a LOT of batteries.
(3) The Simple Tech CF memory card included is not compatible.
(4) The darned thing creaks as you press buttons.
(5) It is SLOW.
(6) The most difficult digital camera to use so far.
Buy something else.

I purchased the ARGUS DC3500 after careful review and comparison. The Argus people need to go back to the drawing board on this camera. I had the following problems: Image Quality (color is very very bad); Battery life (I got 10 pictures max); The camera overheated; You could'nt tell if the camera was on or not and when it was it didn't work well at all. The argus is also very particular about what type of memory media you try to use with it. The argus has very poor firmware, even the words are not spelled correctly (what does out of momery mean exactly??). In a word, spend ... more and get something better ...

OK, I bought this camera when it was an AMAZON "Hot Buy!" One of my techie co-workers came running up to me and yelled, "Don't come crying to me when the lens falls out!!" Ha ha ha... It has 2+ megapixels and is perfect for around the house, at award ceremonies, for newsletters, websites and of course, EBAY.

I broke the Nikon 775 - the... digital camera, I borrowed from work. Yes that camera had better software - but it stops THERE.

The ARGUS is very compact, has an LCD screen and once you buy an additional card and card reader... you are SET to run with the big dogs!

If you decide in a year or two you have gone PRO, then by all means, [get] a NIKON, but for your learning phase, this camera ROCKS!

I recently purchased this camera from Amazon.com. Worst problem is that it only takes about 8 pics in high resolution, and it requires 4 expensive AAA batteries. Tried new Kodak[tm] rechargeable batteries, and it won't work (voltage is 4x1.2vdc). Manual says an optional AC adapter is available, but
I called the Argus center in IL - no AC adapter available. Never was! Manual has many spelling errors - often says "RAGE" for "RANGE" several places.
I may have to write this one off after a week! Don't buy it, as it will cost you BIG BUCKS in disposable batteries and psychic pain!
It sounded theoretically good. Uses too much power! It makes
noises. No instructions on how to insert an optional memory card properly (no diagrams or tips). Had I designed it, I certainly would have done a better job with the manual.
I took only a few good closeup pics at the 15 cm range before the single use batteries died. I put in another set of batteries, and I used them up in some quick experimental shots.
I did determine that an AC adapter should have a center (+). The DC jack looks to require about 3 mm OD by 1 mm ID. Argus people suggested that an AC adapter output 5 VDC with power requirement of 1.7 amps. The manual says 5 to 6 VDC and 2 amps. You would have to make your own AC adapter, and that would be hard getting it right. I am not even sure of the DC connector.
In summary, with proper lighting, this economically priced camera could (perhaps) perform well, if you could get an AC adapter. It appears you need to forget rechargeables for this camera, as I found out sadly that it merely blinks and turns off (presumably due to low voltage, needing higher volts that provided by rechargeables rated near 1.2 VDC each).
If you want HAPPINESS instead of the CURSE, better forget this one! I may take a total loss - because I don't have time for this sort of nonsense. I feel like suing Argus for breach of contract (no actual AC adapter, just a theoretical one). Right now, I am inclined to think ALL OF THEM SHOULD BE RECALLED!

I own Argus DC3550 instead of DC3500. The model I have has 3xoptical/2xdigital zoom and can take up to 2.1 Megapixels JPEG picture. This is my first digital camera and so far I am satisfied with its performance.
Pros:
- Price is low if not the lowest. Good for entery level photographer.
- Big 1.8" LCD display.
- build in flash with auto/red eye/night/fill-in options.
- Has Video Output function.
- Comes with a camera bag.

- Easy to set up when you first use it.
- User friendly USB PC interface. Just plug in Windows ME/2000/XP and the machine will recognize the camera as a removeable driver.
- The picture taken is clear even in the 640x480 mode. I tried taking pictures outdoor and indoor with 60 Watts light on. The pictures are terrific.

Cons
- The batteries drain very fast. I can only take 20 pictures when my 4 AA alkaline batteries died. I have to use NiMH rechargeable batteries instead.
- Can only take 12 seconds movie.
- You have to take off the len cap before you start the camera. Otherwise it will shut off automatically.
- The power button seems not functioning properly sometimes.
- No AC adapter.

Considering the price of this camera and the features it provides, I rate this camera as 4 star. If you are a beginner and your budget is tight, this camera is absolutely a choice.

Well, I got this camera & took a few pictures with it, but it was a hassle. The power button never seemed to work properly. I couldnt tell if the camera was on or off half the time & it would make weird clicking noises at me. The few pictures I was able to take turned out good, even on the lowest res.

There is a combination of 6 different qualities-
2 poss. resolutions: 1600x1200 (which still isnt 2.1 mp tho??) & 800x600; and 3 poss. compressions: super fine, fine, normal
This yields (w/ the onboard 8Mb) anywhere from 6 to 95 pictures.

From what Ive heard (this is really my first digital camera), most digital cameras drain batteries quick. Well, this one is a joke- the batteries were drained in a day. Save the 4 AAA batteries that come with this camera for something else & buy some NiMH rechargeable (I bought 8 so I'd have 4 to use while the others were charging).... You'll also need a battery charger (if you dont already have one)- ... And an AC adapter (which BTW is extremely difficult to find one that matches the specs needed) ... Luckily I got a free 32Mb media card, or that would've brought my total for accessories up near the price of the camera.

One more suggestion about battery life: turn off the preview and/or view finder to save power.

In conclusion, if you have most of the supplies ... To be honest though, I wasnt able to experiment with the camera too much before the power button stopped working, but based on the low res pictures, I should be very happy with one that works.

I agree that this is a very good camera, except for the battery drain. I have gone through so many battery's I had to invest in rechargables. They should really have an AC adapter come standard with the camera. I do like my camera, once you get the hang of the menu system and figure out if your camera is on or off it's easy to use. Does take very nice pictures. If you purcase this camera better get an AC adapter or rechargables as well.