Customer Reviews

Bell+Howell Mini Digital Camera

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(4)

 

 

Just got one of these little cameras from ebay and am having lots of fun with it. My expectations were low but I was pleasantly surprised at the picture quality in the "high res" mode. No, the instructions aren't great, but the set I got was in French (!) and I managed to figure everything out.

I don't think I'd pay $25 for this camera, but it was certainly worth the $12 I paid for it on ebay.

I cant believe they are selling this thing. The pictures are blurred and do not have believeable color, much less actual color. Washed-out in high light, blacked-out in medium-low light. Worthless. Save your money.

It's like a plastic toy. There is no diagram with the manual to label the parts. Example: Manual tells you to press MODE button, but you have no idea which button is the MODE button. The drivers are not XP compliant. The quality of the pictures is poor. The product has no redeeming features.

How can you go wrong? A camera that fits on a keychain, takes digital photos and works as a webcam AND a video camera. Sounds too good to be true. Well, in a way, this IS too good to be true but in another way, this little camera delivers what it says it does. So let's run down the functions.

1. This is a small, box-o-matches sized camera that has a loop for a standard keychain. The camera is operated by a button on the front that switches function from snapshots, to PC-linked to taking a short .avi file for a video. There is no flash, of course. It's all run on a single AAA battery. And no LCD screen, either. It's plastic. Think: TOY.

The viewfinder is a small magnifying plastic lens that pops up from the top. It's hard to see into.

2. The software comes with an operating suite that runs the camera either to download files or to use as a webcam. ARCSoft picture-manipulation software is also included.

The software installed without a hitch. That's a good thing, because you really can't find the drivers for this camera on the web. So DON'T LOSE the cd when you get it, because the practice of downloading updated drivers won't help you here. Likewise, I could not find a newer version of the software.

The operating interface is a nice little console, easy to navigate. The pictures show up in thumbnails for saving and renaming.

ARCSoft is a standard free-with-purchase picture manipulating software. I had used it in past--not difficult, but I prefer Photoshop Elements, so I didn't install it from this CD. But for the money for this camera, it was a very nice touch to include image software.

3. There is a USB cable to link to the PC.

The resolution is 0.1 Megapixels. This is not great resolution. And the tiny lens gives a blurry, distorted look.

This camera does do everything it claims. I did hook it up to the computer and use it as a webcam, but the 3 foot cord was too short to position it well. I got a blurry picture of me typing, sent over Yahoo webcam to a friend. So it works just fine.

The short avi was blurry but recognizable as a car passing by the house. I am amazed this feature is included, but I suppose if the camera works as a webcam, an avi video file is not a stretch, even for a matchbox-sized camera.

The photos were predictably awful. Blurry, grainy, distorted. No value as art, even.

Summary: This cheap camera would seem to be just the thing to put on your keychain to have a camera at the ready, but it's probably worse than a phone cam. Spies would need something better. Kids will love it. I recommend this as a kid's fun toy, but really, if you want them to learn photography, a used, inexpensive digital camera with more pixels and a better lens will encourage them. If you find one of these for $5-10, it could make a good stocking stuffer for Christmas, but don't expect much in the way of good results or long life. It's bound to get lost.

It's a cute little thing, but who wants to pay $25 for a cute little keychain bobble? Put in a AAA battery, start it up, take one photo, and the battery is dead. But it doesn't tell you the battery is dead, so you keep taking pictures, but they don't get saved. When you go to download the photos, you find you've only got the first one. At the cost of one AAA battery per photo, this has got to be one of the most expensive digital cameras on the market.

Works ok as a webcam, but because its not really designed for that, you have to hold it in your hand to use it, so it's more or less useless for that application too.

Save your money!

I have high-end 35mm file SLRs, a very good digital camera and a smaller, more modest digital camera. But somehow I don't always have one of those with me when I want a photo to capture something important. This little thing is so small that I can take it anywhere and not notice it.

IF I am careful to get good lighting -- direct sunlight is best -- and IF I hold the little camera very steady when I shoot, THEN I'll get quite a decent small-pixel digital photo that looks pretty good in an email or on the Web.

No, this won't compete with a real digital camera, but then you won't always have that expensive camera with you. This one really can go anywhere with you, and you can get some decent pics if your expectations aren't too high and if you optimize the shot. Bottom line -- it delivers well on what you ought to expect from this tiny product.

Ok my brother and i got this camera for a Hanukkah present and it came with two different software disks one was titled"Photo Explosion Special Edition Version 1.5" and the other one is called "Art Explosion Picture to TV". I installed the photo explosion one and then i plugged in my camera and it said new hardware was found but then it couldn't work because it couldn't find software to use. Do i have ther right software or am i just doing it wrong?

Katie