Bell & Howell BH-21 PC Digital Camera

by Bell + Howell

Product Details

Product Manual [955kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00005B43S
• Batteries: 3 AAA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,393 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 1, 2001

Product Description

Charger Nickle Metal Hydride

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the low price turn you away - this one's a keeper!, December 30, 2001

By 

erixpc - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bell & Howell BH-21 PC Digital Camera (Electronics)

My young little daughter wanted a camera for Christmas this year and all I could think of was the high cost of film and film processing that I would have to come up with in the future. I remembered when my son was that age, of all the pictures he took, some good but mostly all bad! Luckily I came across this camera, it has so far saved me a bundle in film and developing costs. It's all ready paid for itself and she's only had the thing for three days! Yup, digital is the way to go. Quality you ask? Well, I was totally amazed at the quality of the pictures! It even comes with full versions of ULEAD software that lets you fix up pictures that you might have otherwise thrown out if it came from a regular film type camera. The only thing I wish it had is flash, but the neat thing about this camera is if the lighting condition was too low, it will tell you with a beep, and you will not be able to take the picture. We've found that you really don't need anymore than a turning on table lamp to take a picture indoors so not having a flash is not a big deal. What made me choose this camera over all the other lower priced digital cameras out there is the amount of memory it has for picture storage. This one's got a whopping 8 MB of SDRAM! That means 26 high resolution pictures or 99 low resolution pictures. And it's simple enough for a kid to use. I highly recommend this one, it's a keeper!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very limited, May 14, 2002

By 

California Dreamin "sr538" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bell & Howell BH-21 PC Digital Camera (Electronics)

There is no screen to immediately show you how your pictures came out. The LCD display on this unit only shows a count of how much memory is left. A display was one of the big advantages of the last digital camera I used, because I could overwrite shots that turned out badly. This unit also does not have the ability to overwrite the last shot.

It doesn't have a flash. If it thinks there is not enough light it will refuse to take the picture. If you remember how many shots were saved you can tell that it did not take the picture because the counter did not decrement. Or if you listen very carefuly, the beep it makes is slightly different depending whether it decided to take the picture or not. The slowest setting it will shoot at is 1/15 sec.

It also does not have non-volatile memory. What this means is that if you turn it off or change batteries, or if the batteries run out before you reach your computer, your pictures will be gone. Although it claims the batteries last two weeks, it does not have a bettery level indicator, so if you don't know or remember how much juice is left, and you value your pictures, you will always need to buy new batteries (3 AAA) before each trip.

I also did not think the upload software was very intuitive.

On the positive side, it has VGA & QVGA video modes, and does not use battery power when connected to the USB port, and the picture quality seems good for the price.

So it makes a reasonable PC-CAM for video conferencing, but does not come close to satisfying the needs of even an amateur photographer like me.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Very Good At All, August 10, 2002

By 

Aaron Goss (West Monroe, Louisiana, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bell & Howell BH-21 PC Digital Camera (Electronics)

I knew that the camera, with it's low price, wouldn't be the best I've ever used. Though, for the [money] I paid for it, I didn't expect much for a display...which is why I wasn't *too* disappointed by there not being *any* display but to tell you what mode the camera is in. The camera is fine, the functionality is decent, it's nothing near the higher-priced cameras I'm used to using, but it's ok. My only problem with it is that the CD they give with the drivers and programs on it for me was warped and refused to work. Another downfall...the company didn't have the drivers online...seems that they've gone into the scanner business and dropped all the digital camera stuff. Not a wise idea. Anything that is still in production and is being distributed should make sure, if drivers are necessary for use, that they have a location online where they are located. It's only the little things that are it's downfall. Overall, the camera is a decent start-out for children or beginners to get used to the basic concept of taking pictures and putting them on your computer/the internet. I give it a two out of 5 stars...