Customer Reviews

GE-A835 8MP Digital Camera with 3X Optical Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am so pleased with this camera. Be sure to read every page of the manual and go through the features. The manual is well written and easy, but if you don't learn what the camera can do you will miss out. Fantastic price. Obviously GE wanted to sell some cameras at this point in time so they put a real goodie on the market for a good price. I'm so happy with this. I originally wanted the silver tone, but right now they are doing all the best sales on the black tone which is beautiful; it's only that I feared that the black my eventually scratch. So what. I am so happy with this camera and all the flexible features it has to take photos under different circumstances. Its body is a just tad lightweight if you pick up a pricier similar sized camera in the other hand, but the camera is functioning very smoothly and does not feel chintzy. We'll see how it wears over time, but it's worth if it serves for even only two years. I'm going to take good care of it and count on getting five years. Very happy. (added note: five months later and I'm still very happy with this camera).

I chose this camera over a Kodak only because of the price. When I first got the cam, it already had an issue---it wouldn't turn on with the rechargeable batteries I had. I tried some disposable ones just to see if the camera even worked and sure enough it did, but it drank 'em up in about 5 minutes. I thought to myself, "surely this cannot be right." So eventually, I checked on the [...] site and I came to find that the A835 and one other model has battery issues that could supposedly be corrected with a firmware update. I followed the instructions to fix the cam but it didn't work. After getting completely fed up with it, I contacted GE and all they could tell me was to use different batteries, some of the name brand ones. I had nearly given up on the camera altogether until something told me that I hadn't done the firmware update correctly....I was right. The file that needed to go on the SD card was apparently in the wrong place because after moving it around, I got the cam to FINALLY work! (*phew*)

Now, I only gave this product 3 stars because of the headache I've had for the past week trying to fix it and the scare it gave me initially that I had bought a c-h-e-a-p camera. Otherwise, the features are great, pictures and video are of decent quality (for the price) and the battery usage is....MUCH better, now that I have it working like it should. Still haven't used it an extended amount of time to see its true endurance, but it lasts longer than 5 minutes now, so I'm a happy camper.

To the potential buyers: consider my experience as a heads-up for what you can possibly go through if you purchase this camera. I don't know if every A835 has the battery issue but if there's a bulletin on the general-imaging website, chances are that you're going to be facing this problem too. Buy at your own risk.

As someone mentioned, the batteries tend to run out of juice quickly while using the camera. I called the company because I only had 23 pictures and a very short video and I was on my second set of AA Duracells. Apparently, there was a problem with the "firmware upgrade". I was told what to do online to resolve the problem and also told to use Energizer AA lithium batteries for longer life. I was told that the upgrade would be quite simple. My son did it for me and said that it was easy to do. I don't know yet if the problem is fixed but I am glad that a solution was offered by the company.

This is quite a nice little camera, particularly for the price you pay. It isn't incredibly feature rich, doesn't have all the manual options and bells and whistles, and the zoom is 3X at most which is lacking compared to more expensive models.

This is not an expensive camera though, and it works quite well for what it is and makes a great little point and clicker to take along with you wherever you go. The body of the camera is a bit larger than some of the competition, but it also feels a lot more durable. The cameras construction actually feels quite solid, especially when compared to the extra slim models released by other companies.

The controls are quite simple, with all the options on a scroll wheel at the top with the shutter release in the center and a power button next to it. The front of the camera has only the flash, lens and a small red/orange LED on the bottom corner by the lens that is used for red eye reduction. The back is pretty much all screen, with a few navigation and trash buttons. The bottom of the camera has a small door which houses the batteries and the SD card slot, and there is a tripod mount right beside that battery port.

The pictures themselves are quite nice, even when the flash is used. The flash has a pretty limited range, probably 10 to 12 feet at most. It works for portraits and such, but don't expect to make much use of the zoom feature if you're relying on the flash for illumination. This is pretty typical really though, even with more expensive cameras. The screen is prone to glares, so it can be hard to view on very bright days. The pictures within the range of the optical zoom of the camera and the flashes range (if it's used) all turn out quite well. The colors come out vivid and accurate, and bleeding or discoloration doesn't seem to be a problem.

One downside of the camera is its use of standard AA batteries instead of a rechargeable battery. NiMH rechargeable AA's work just fine in the camera and last a reasonable length of time, not the best longevity, but far from the worst. The batteries last significantly longer when the flash isn't being used, using the flash will drop the battery life in half; but again, this isn't unusual for cameras. Another downside is the screen, which actually works quite well, but LCD screens eat up the batteries and a viewfinder can go a long ways to maximizing battery life. Unfortunately this camera has no viewfinder, so you are reliant on the screen. Luckily it does have a sleep mode that it will go in to if the camera remains unused for a user defined period of time.

All in all it's a pretty good little camera for a digital at this tier. The picture quality is good and the battery life is reasonable, though not the greatest. It easily compares to cameras from other well known manufacturers, like Samsung, Kodak, and Sony (I've used Kodaks up until this one). It's of solid construction and feels quite durable. It doesn't have many bells and whistles and the location of the SD port could be problematic if you tend to change out your cards often. It's a great camera if you're just looking for something simple though, and comes at a great price. I definitely recommend it.

Looks like GE tried packing lots of features in this camera. I really tried to like this camera, but the one I got is a battery hog -- even after the firmware update. When I first got this camera, it didn't work with rechargeable batteries. After the update, it would work for a short time, then shortly show the battery level dropping til it the battery didn't power the camera at all despite me having the batteries freshly charged and the firmware updated.

Pros: pretty camera (like the piano black); large LCD screen; user friendly interface

Cons: eats battery like crazy, I decided that I need different camera; some pictures were blurry

This is really a nice camera, it has alot of features and works very well, had to study the book for the extras I had no idea how to use. After that I like it.

I got this camera as a gift for Christmas in 08 and by the spring of 09 it started giving me trouble. I use rechargable batteries, and it started shutting down and telling me that the batteries were exhausted. After 3 more months of use, it would barely be usable before shutting down. Here's the annoying part. The batteries it told me were exhausted, worked perfectly fine in any other camera. I just recently started trying to use it again, and it won't get past the "Batteries exhausted" screen. The websites have downloads to fix this yet the links no longer exist, and with my camera not turning on it's of no use. Save yourself a headache, some money, and do not buy this camera.

I bought this camera in because the price. I was amazed of all the features and quality of pictures. I traveled for Christmas and I took 300 pics, then I traveled in summer, 1200 more pics, last Christmas again, 600 pics and my camera died!! It was never hit, well taken care but not long life. So we can say it is a one year camera if you take a lot of pics. If not...it can last.

For three years now I have been buying my mom Digital camera's for christmas. Each year I have failed to get her a good camera so I decided to Look into General Electrics because I believe they are a good company and they are!
My mom has always wanted a good digital camera that she can just snap photo's with and this product is excellent. Though I had read some other reviews about the battery dying quickly so i bought her recharagable ones and she has no complaints and she takes it with her everywhere!

I was a little skeptical about other people's reviews that where low, but in my opinion they just had bad luck.

I love this camera!! I purchased it on Monday from Tiger Direct and received it on Tuesday with just standard shipping. It has so many features and I love that it takes 2 AA batteries and not those rechargable ones because you never have to worry about it dying, you can just take batteries with you if your running low. My mother has an Olympus camera that was over $200 and this one is better than that because it has so many more features and much more megapixels! I would highly recommend to anyone, and it comes at such a great deal!