Gateway DC-T50 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

by Gateway

Product Details

Product Manual [3.55mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 2 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: B0000ULBIK
• Item model number: DC-T50
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,857 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 20, 2003

Product Description

Sleek. Elegant. Capable. It's time to upgrade your low megapixel camera. The new 5 megapixel DC-T50 digital camera from Gateway is compact and stylish enough to carry with you everywhere, yet more than capable of capturing high-quality images with enough detail to make prints up to 11x14 inches. Weighing in at little more than six ounces, you can keep your hands free and carry it comfortably on the neck strap until your next photo opportunity arrives.The 3X optical zoom lets you take in the scene with a wide-angle view, or zoom in on the action. Punch the button for Macro mode and you can get up close and personal with bugs, flowers and other small objects. Or get ready for your own close up and take a self-portrait using the 10 second self-timer. Shoot through the optical viewfinder, or compose using the bright 1.5-inch TFT LCD display. The built-in LCD panel allows you to see the image you've taken, which will show you what portion of the scene will be captured by the camera. It will also allow you to view nine thumbnail images simultaneously so you can quickly scan for a particular image. The 32MB SD memory card (the size of a postage stamp) allows you to store your photos. It can be read from and written to repeatedly. Even when your camera is turned off, the images saved on the SD memory card are not erased. You can then view your shots and delete the ones you don't want, making room for pictures you want to keep as you take them. And when you are ready, the images can be transferred easily to your PC to share with your family and friends. Want more than still pictures? The DC-T50 also has a movie mode that lets you shoot video clips. This popular feature lets you record short bursts of video footage and sound (at 15 fps), which can be great fun with family and friends. And that's not all! The voice memo feature allows you to record 10 seconds of sound just after a photograph is taken.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than these reviews indicate!, June 22, 2004

By 

S. Gould "gouldpjaks" (Woodmere, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gateway DC-T50 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I ordered this camera from Gateway, directly, at a relatively modest price for a 5.25MP digital camera. The camera was fabulous outdoors but faces and backgrounds had a green cast when using the flash. I tried various flash settings and finally decided that my camera had a flaw. I emailed Gateway and received an immediate response asking me to call an agent. After a brief explanation of my problem I was told that a new camera would be sent immediately. The new camera takes perfect pictures! The detail is incredible and the color is accurate.

There are some exceptional features on this little camera such as a sturdy and attractive metal casing, easy to use controls, a multitude of settings which allow you to choose aperture or shutter speed preferences, portrait mode which blurs the background and includes a red eye reduction flash feature, a choice of focal distances including a macro lens feature, movie clips with sound, 3x optical zoom (I reccommend using only optical zoom with a digital camera)and many more. The battery is rechargeable directly in the camera and it stays charged for a long time. There is also a battery life meter as well as an indicator of space available on the sd card.

There are some problems as well. The red eye reduction though helpful is not perfect. This is a problem that exists with all small digital cameras and can be fixed on your computer. The time between pressing the shutter release button and getting an image is long especially with a 512MB card. This may account for the blurred pictures that some people have commented about. You MUST hold still until the picture appears on your monitor or your motion will blur the image. (Try keeping your elbows in at your side for more stability.) Another reason for blurred images might be choosing the wrong focus. If you are set in macro mode and snapping a distant object it will appear blurred and vice versa for close objects and long distance settings. The flash is not extremely powerful but works as well as any other small digital I've used, and I've used many. This is not a strong suit of compact digital cameras.

Overall this is a great value for the price and the photos you get will be as good as or better than any point and shoot film camera you now own. The advantage will be that you can view them immediately, email to friends, and print photos yourself using a photo printer and your computer. No more waiting for the photomat to do its job. Be aware that you should bring along an extra card and an extra battery if you want to be assured of uninterrupted use of any digital camera. Since these items are reuseable indefinitely they are worth the investment.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stick with computers Gateway, January 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Gateway DC-T50 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I picked this camera because it's small, has 5mp, 3x optical zoom and everything else for such a low price. BAD MISTAKE. All pictures taken outside turned out great...but inside pictures were a different story. If I used the flash, then anything in the picture would be washed out and faces were left almost completely white. If I didn't use the flash, then the camera had to be sitting on a table for the picture to not turn out horribly blurry. When trying all the settings, looking for one that would work well for inside, I took 67 pictures of our Christmas tree. Literally 4 of them turned out acceptable.

It turns out bad indoor pictures were the least of my problems. After 20 days of use, the camera refused to turn on seconds after a picture had been taken. I tried a new battery and then plugged it in with the adapter, but it had no response. I didn't hit it against anything or drop it in the 45 seconds between the time of the last picture and it not turning on...so who knows what happened. Unfortunately, gateway only offered a 15 day money back guarantee...so since I was five days past the guarantee date, my father had to call and hassle them into refunding our money. As far as a long-term warranty, this camera is only warranted for 1 year. Kind of scary when it is a $350 investment.

With all the bad things that happened, it is possible I just got a lemon...but for $350 I recommend spending your money on a camera from a company known for CAMERAS, not computers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If Size and Price Matter in Your Digital Camera...., February 16, 2004

By 

Chrissy1018 (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gateway DC-T50 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my first digital camera, though I have borrowed a Kodak digital camera before, and when purchasing for myself chose the Gateway over the latest Kodak model primarily because it offered the same features, but is much more compact--a little larger than a deck of cards--a key feature when trying to fit it in a small purse that's already overflowing.

The camera comes with a 32MB card, which means when you have it set to the full 5-megapixels you can take about 12 pictures. But unless you're planning to enlarge photos a great deal or want to zoom in on things in detail after taking the photo, 3-megapixels is sufficient, and for that the card holds about 36 photos. Of course, the whole point of a digital camera is be able to take as many pictures as you like without the worry of wasting film, so I bought a 256 MB card: 200 photos at 3mp ought to keep me happy.

The lay-out is pretty standard: Zoom lens that closes up behind a shutter when the camera is off, digital display window on the back to see what you're taking and what you've taken, a four-direction set of buttons to navigate the menus (good thing I practiced those controls playing Sega and Nintendo growing up) little wheel around the picture-taking button on the top right to select the mode, a zoom button and a separate power button. I found that when using the viewer to line up the shot the image was often very grainy and difficult to see, particularly in extreme lighting, but once you take the photo, the display quality is much better. Like with most cameras, the photo you've just taken is shown in the display for a few seconds, and you can turn the dial and look back at all the photos you've taken. You can also delete that one that makes you look like you have an extra chin right away, before anyone else sees it. All this viewing used to drain the battery of early digital camera models, but I've yet to run out of battery life, so no complaints on that, and the battery is rechargable.

The dial on the top has separate modes for regular, night, action and portrait (which blurs the background) shots. The display window shows battery life, flash/no flash, number of pictures you can still take, zoom level, picture quality setting and auto focus on/off. You can also take a brief movie (we're talking a few minutes max, depending the size of your memory card, but still a nice feature).

I actually received this camera the day of a friend's wedding, so it got a test immediately. Having charged it over night, I couldn't wait to start snapping. Overall I got some nice shots once I got the hang of it. My only complaints are that it often took too long to auto focus. So, the bride is coming down the aisle, I line up the perfect shot, push the button, whirr, focus adjust and click--another lovely shot of the back of someone's head. There's also an auto off feature, which is great to save battery power, but when you want your camera at the ready for longer than a minute, it's annoying to have to keep turning it back on.

My second test-run was a day at the Bronx Zoo. Now I had the hang of it, and I got some really impressive shots. I could zoom right in for a close-up of a gorilla's hand when it was sitting on the other side of the Plexiglas window so you could see every detail of her fingernails. Or get a nice shot of those flamingos on the little island far away, or right up-close and personal with a Siberian tiger's face.

Accessories include PhotoSuite software to view and alter your photos on your computer, a USB cable to connect the camera to the computer, an AV cable to recharge the battery, LI Li-ion rechargeable battery and a 32MP card (as mentioned).

This is a very good price for a 5-megapixel camera, and as one of the first that Gateway has produced, I think they've got a very competitive product. I'm certainly satisfied.