Customer Reviews

RCA EZ205 Small Wonder Digital Camcorder with 2 Hour Recording and 1GB Included Memory

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Length:: 1:26 Mins

RCA EZ205 Small Wonder Digital Camcorder with 2 Hour Recording and 1GB Included Memory

This is my basic review of the EZ205. I hope it's helpful in determining whether or not to purchase it. One thing I did not mention in the video clip was the digital zoom, which is pretty much a non feature and tends towards big time blurry. Not a big deal if you're not planning on using it.

Some websites are using my review of this product to sell merchandise, no doubt earning sales commissions by using my writing. Therefore I revoke this review.

The RCA Small Wonder is not as great as I thought it was going to be.

I was excited when I read the reviews, but I should have looked around the www a bit more to see how it works with Mac before placing my order.
The reason why I opted for this cam instead of the Flip was because of the removable card...turns out its a major pain to take the card out, not just a pop-out-the-side one like I thought it would be...my fault for not doing more research though.

Actually, it works ok with Mac, you simply plug it in and you can easily get the files and drag them onto the desktop. You can even open up the video in any number of programs that play AVI files, but I don't seem to get any audio in any app besides VLC...I open the RCA video files in Quicktime Pro, Final Cut Pro, whatever, there's no audio, this means I can't edit! Pretty much why I bought this!
If I could edit the video files, it would get 5 stars... can anyone help?

Also, the still pictures that it takes aren't great...think of a 1 MP cam-phone.

Should've gotten Ultra Flip instead.
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Follow-up comment...

I found a great way to convert any file into any format!
VisualHub (forgot I even had this), will do just that. Now I'm able to take the AVI files that the Small Wonder utilizes, and convert them into DV for use in Final Cut Pro or iMovie.

Very pleased with my RCA Small Wonder now!

Only wish I could bump my rating of this cam up 1 star...

I bought this camera to take video of a new puppy.

PROS:

- Small. Not any bigger than a pack of cards.
- Cheap. I don't worry too much about damaging it.
- Takes two AA batteries. Easy to change. No battery pack, etc.
- Memory can be upgraded and cards are cheap now.
- Audio sensitivity is OK
- Auto power off after a few minutes.
- No moving parts; no worries about maintenance or things getting knocked out of alignment.
- Easily concealed for candid shots. In a pinch, and at the internet quality setting (longer recording time), it could probably even be used for el cheapo surveillance.


CONS:

- Limited zoom. Only 2x.
- Image looses focus and is fuzzy at extreme zoom. Better to move closer to whatever you're shooting rather than use the zoom, which is pretty much worthless anyway.
- Batteries don't last long, but they're cheap.
- I wish I could turn off the audio alert the camera makes when powering up; it has wrecked a few candid shots I wanted to get of my German Shep pup, who reacted to the tone when it sounded...
- Lack of an optical viewfinder means its hard to view things in the viewfinder in bright sunlight, but thats pretty much a fault for all LCD screens.
- Poor quality when recording at the extended time (think of the older tape-based units).

All in all, I LIKE it. The software is easy to install and use. Has a little carrying case and an offer to purchase custom skins if you're into that sort of thing. Is it a camera I would buy to take video of new babies or the trip to England and meeting with Queen Elizabeth? No, but for the price, it serves it's purpose well...

My wife and I bought this for my son's 12th birthday and he loves it. The quality of the video is quite good with a large amount of storage that can be upgraded, but for his needs 30min of video is fine. The screen is good quality, and the price for this was much cheaper than similar products especially considering it comes with a USB cable, carrying case, and batteries.
HERE'S AN UPDATE, THIS STARTED TO MALFUNCTION 2 WEEKS INTO USING IT. IT WAS NOT DROPPED OR HANDLED ROUGHLY, IT JUST STOPPED WORKING. IT WOULD FREEZE UP FOR NO REASON WHILE LOOKING AT VIDEO OR PICS AND THE ONLY WAY TO "THAW" IT WAS REMOVING THE BATTERIES. THAT'S TOO BAD BECAUSE IT TOOK GREAT VIDEO.

I got this camcorder wearily because I wasn't sure how good it would be. It's a LOT better than I expected. I love the video quality and am not finding much difference between the high and web qualities. It's so light, small and portable! I am a counseling student and I am going to use this to tape my practice and it's perfect! It's also easy to write to DVDs and upload online. I'll post a video review shortly.

The two bad things about it are: I am worried about the USB dongle breaking... hopefully it'll stay put! And the still photos are pretty bad but I did not get it for that purpose.

Update: December 09
The same day I got it, I noticed a crack on the plastic casing over the flip screen hinge. I did not mention it in the review because Amazon sent a replacement almost instantaneously. However the one they sent has a crack on the same spot. I'm not sure if everyone received it with the same crack- please comment and let me know! The crack doesn't have any effect on the camcorder right now, but if it widens I'm worries it could break!

Update: December 09
Ok after spending further time with it, I found out that you cannot record more than upto an hour at a time, even if you have high capacity memory in it. After an hour, the unit gives you a warning about maximum capacity and shuts down. There is still room in the memory card, and you can turn the unit back on and start recording again. However, when it automatically shut down, it didn't even save what I was recording for that past hour! Seems like a bad software design... hopefully they'll have a firmware update or something. It's annoyingly limiting and does not serve my purpose anymore because I need to record more than an hour sometimes without getting up to restart it.

However the video quality is very good- and if you record short clips and don't get a cracked unit- it's a great option!

This is a nice little camera for a doting gramma like me to take movies of the grandkids.

My old camcorder is not supported by Vista and I still haven't figured out a way to download my old videos to my new laptop. As most of my videos are of short duration of something incredibly cute being done by a toddler, I thought this would be very handy and inexpensive. Plus, it is compatible with Vista.

It is very easy to use and takes both video and stills, a nice feature.

It uses AA batteries, which is good and bad. If you know you are going to be away from your charger, such as camping or picnicing, you can just carry a few extra batteries, but replacing batteries can add costs and can be a real pain if you need to do it often. I have rechargeable AA's I intend to use. I've filmed only about 20-30 minutes so far, played them back on my TV several times, plus taken several stills and haven't changed the batteries.

It has removeable memory, which I like. These micro SD's are so cheap now, you really don't need to erase and film over if you don't want to. I have extra cards in case I am away from my laptop and can't download the pics. This might be a good feature, too, when Windows replaces Vista and doesn't support this camera any more.

I load the pics to my laptop from the card rather than using the USB connection. I like not having to find the dongle when I want to download pics. However, the card is not easy to access. You pull the front of the camera off and the card is between the batteries.

It includes a cable to feed directly to your TV, which the grandkids love, a nice little carrying case, a wrist strap, and the USB connection.

It is very small, a little bigger than a deck of cards, so it's easy to take everywhere. The down side of this, for me, is that it is hard to keep the camera steady while I am filming. I guess that will take some practice.

The film quality is considerably better than my cell phone, but marginally worse than my old camcorder. Considering that I am turning out shaky gramma pictures of hyperactive children, that is not a consideration at all. This camera does well adapting to changes in light, such as the kids running from a dark room into full sunlight or standing in front of a brightly lighted window.

The stills are not as good as my digital camera, but better than no picture at all.

I am glad I bought this and I use it quite often, much more than I would my digital camera or my old camcorder. I make little DVD's for my grandkids and they love them. It was worth what I paid just for that.

To put this in perspective, I recently found several reels of Super 8 movie film from the early '70's and had them converted to DVD. We watched spellbound at images of a sweet little toddler who is now in her 30's. There were surprising glimpses of people long dead or lost with us again. It didn't matter to us that the film was grainy and the color quality was horrible. Nor did it matter that there were pictures of the ceiling or great gramma's behind. It was a momentary trip to a time long past and that is, after all, what home movies are about.

Easy to use and also takes still pictures. But, be SURE to buy micro SD memory cards (thumb nail size) not the regular (thumb size) memory card.

I tried this camcorder. I like it because 1) the resolution is relatively good 2)well assembled 3)long last hours 4) good for travel 5) last but not least, good price.

One pity, the video voice is not loud enough.

We bought this camera because we have a new baby and wanted to make little movies...however, given that we have limited time to edit the movies, etc we knew we didn't need to invest in anything expensive with more features. Its like a point and shoot camera - we make little movies, and send them off to the grandparents! I'm amazed at the quality. The only drawback is that you can't use it on a Mac.