Customer Reviews

Kyocera SL300R 3.17MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, my wife rarely buys me gifts, but she could hardly contain her enthusiasm when she presented me with this gorgeous little camera for no reason. I've had 3 digitals- an original Sony Mavica, a Toshiba, and currently a Fuji Finepix 6800Z. I was really taken by the small size and function of this little beauty, but I was a little worried when there was no mention anywhere - on line, in the owners manual - of battery life. Well, for good reason. The lithium ion battery, fully charged, only gave me 35 minutes of life. I used it as I would if I were on a trip - snapping away, about 30 pictures, a few rapid sequence pictures, and a short movie. I kept the LCD display on dim, and didn't pre or post view the images, to keep battery use down. I was incredibly disappointed when the battery dipped into the low range after 35 mintes - bear in mind, this isn't 35 minutes of constant use, but 35 minutes of being on. it is on its way back to Amazon, and I'll stick with my Fuji. What a stupid and idiotic product; what in God's name does someone like Kyocera think when they market this? Don't they use it? Don't they test it? And the 16mb card it comes with - 9 pictures? Plus, there's no lens cap, so about every 4th time you reach into your pocket to get it out your fingers hit the lens. This ia huge marketing gaffe and is pretty amazing for a japanese company, so revered for their "human" engineering.
PIctures, functionality, size, etc. were all excellent, so this camera is a really sad indictment of how fundamental functions of a camera can completely destroy its value.

They Kyocera SL300R is not trying to be all things to all photographers. Rather, it's a carry-anywhere snapshot-taker with good quality and some outstanding features. I own one, and after a busy Christmas I can attest to its excellent performance. Its brief "warm-up" time and ability to take shots in rapid succession are revolutionary for a small digital camera. Its form factor is superb, and its design is worthy of display at MOMA. To compensate for the dinky 16MB supplied card and short battery life, I've ordered a 256MB memory card ($80) and an additional battery. Problem solved!

It's fast, small and cool-looking. My husband has a high end digital camera that I like but this one is much faster and also takes good pictures. Digital cameras are improving!

Yeah, it does eat battery power, but only if you keep it turned on. I've only had it for a few weeks but have taken it to four gatherings and on a ski trip with no problems except for one time when I let my nephew play with it for a half hour without turning it off. I've already got in the habit of recharging it the evening after I use it so it's ready for next time.

I'm only so-so when it comes to understanding how to use high tech stuff, but I was able to figure out the features of this camera pretty easily. Except for the red-eye reduction. It took me a bit of manual study to figure out how to turn it on. (Push the arrow up.)

I love the design, too, and so far I love the pictures. And it's just incredibly nice to carry around and pull out and snap pictures with. Makes me giddy.

This is the 5th digital camera I have experience with... 2 Canon PowerShots, the Archos AVCam attachment for an AV3x0 and some piece of junk I borrowed. The only significant fault I can find with this camera is that the glass lens cover is exposed and for the first few times I used it I kept getting my fingerprints on it - get over it... Sure it comes with a small SD card and you need to get a bigger one (I got a 256MB one to replace the obviously inadequate 16MB one it comes with). So what? Look at other digital cameras - same thing. Battery life seems GREAT to me. Sure if you are a moron and just turn it on and leave it on allowing it to auto-focus on everything you will run the battery down quickly - duh. The most fabulous feature of this camera is that it boots amazingly quickly. Turn it off after you take a picture and turn it back on when you want to take another - common sense... Perfect size, very intuitive controls, great picture and movie quality, ultra fast boot and the rapid shot feature is great. I am a picky early adopter gadget freak and this device is awesome! I have a Kyocera Palm phone device (my 3rd Palm/cell phone combo after a Samsung and a TREO) and both of these Kyocera devices are great!

Love this camera! Wonderful size. Great pictures. Movie mode was really impressive. Awefully short on battery life when using the LCD Backlight so consider a second battery. I've been wanting to get a digital camera for some time but was completely unable to deal with the lag between pushing the shutter button and getting the picture. I originally bought this camera because it was billed as having no material lag. I can tell you it has lived up to its billing.

I took it with me on a business trip and it fit in my suit pocket with less bulk than my Palm. When I took it out to use it everyone wanted to check it out (an added bonus). In fact someone else on the trip liked it so much they bought one as soon as they got back.

I am a gadget lover, a shutter bug, and a mobile kind of guy who doesn't have a lot of pockets for carrying stuff. This camera pushes all of my buttons.

I bought this camera because I dont like carrying a bag, and other cameras are very clunky and over sized, this camera fits easily in a back pocket and is soooo easy to use.

I took this camera with me to San Diego this summer and took over 200 pictures, from the surf to the nightlife the camera held up great. I've also taken video of friends and concerts and it produces great quality and sound. When ever i use it people are always saying "what agreat camera, how neat or is that a camera?"

It is a great peice and has a great rechargable-in camera battery. My Dad bought a more expensive Nikon digital camera and is constantly searching for batteries because his have run out or asking someone to carry it in their bag--those 2 problems are non issues with this camera. I would give it 10 stars by far the best item I have purchased on Amazon-- if your looking for something that produces good film quality pictures, is slim lightweight and has a good battery life--- LOOK NO FURTHER-- this is your camera (or look at the new verision which has 4 .0 mega pixels) Love it love it love!!! Hope you will too!

Great for point and shoot purposes- awesome size, plenty of pixels and good optics. The lens is a little small, though, so it suffers in lower light conditions. and the flash is kinda underpowered, so it's hard to get good groups shots in darkish conditions. although when compared to competitors (nikon SQ, sony DSCU50, etc... similar size and features) the lens size and flash are no better or worse.

One of the features that made me buy this camera was the advertised "speed." While it is extremely fast to start up, the time between hitting the shutter button and the image being captured is no faster than competitors. kind of a let down.

BIGGEST LET DOWN is the fragility of the camera. There is a DESIGN FLAW in the case that makes it so that if the camera is inserted a certain way, the snap closure to the (cool looking) case puts pressure on the LCD screen. This mistake is easy to make, so be careful. Mine was broken by the second day. Kyocera does not care that this is a design flaw and will make you pay to repair it!!! I'll bet the case gets changed next year. The camera also gets REALLY HOT if left on for a while.

BEST FEATURE is the swivel design. I got used to this feature with my old CoolPix 950 and this was a major selling point. And the camera looks really damn cool. I wish we could get the Japanese one with the designer colors....

Really great size, cool looking and takes decent pix. Above average. Hard to find until now- I just saw it at RADIO SHACK ($349)

I've been waiting around for a couple of years, trying to convince myself that I really needed a digital camera. I'm glad I finally jumped in with this little gem. This camera makes vacation photography fun again! I was looking for a small camera, but one that would hold up and do some video. I read all the reviews and will admit that I was hesitant, particularly about the memory and battery life. But what I liked out-weighed the negatives, and I am thrilled with my decision. The first thing I did was go out and purchase a larger memory card, which is really necessary. The camera comes with 16 mgs, not nearly enough for photos, let alone video. But with more memory, the thing is perfect for me! I should add that if you really want to enjoy digital photography and don't really want to climb the learning curve, buy a Mac, sit back and have fun!

I bought this camera a few days ago and this was a great camera. I have been looking for a small, compact camera with a nice looking design, and still take great pictures. What I love about this camera the most is the very slim design and the swivel idea which separates the lens from the LCD viewfinder.
Pros: Very sleek design, very fast startup time, fast picture taking, burst mode, great pictures, video recording with sound, price is hard to resist for a 3.2 megapixel camera.
Cons: Poor battery life, very small buttons, LCD screen has no protection.
Overall, this camera is very good and has a great price tag. If you do buy this camera, you would want to look into buying a second battery and another case because the case that comes in the box is not very sturdy.

The size of this piece of technology is what really sold me, but then you get to use it, you appreciate the great list of features, ease of use, quality of display, zoom, rechargable, USB plug in, huge memory chips available.
The only downer is the strength of the flash, but you cannot have everything.
It stays in your pocket/purse and is there whenever you need it, just remember keep it charged and stay relatively close for flash pics..