Customer Reviews

SiPix Stylecam Blink II Digital Camera

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I bought myself this tiny little digital camera... And I do mean tiny. It's about three inches by two inches, less than an ounce without its battery, and it cost about $35.00 (at discount price). It came in a horrible, terrible, ugly box that made it look like complete trash. But it's a nice little thing. It's brushed titanium and light blue brushed aluminum. Gives it a posh/stylish/modern look. It can take 300 pictures at 320x240 or 70 pictures at 640x480. No flash, no focus, no nothing. Just good for LiveJournal snaps and scrapbooking, and silly spontaneous email pics. Gotta have good light, too, if you want crisp pictures. Luckily, it has a clever little light sensor that triple-beeps and refuses to take the shot if it's too dark. If it's too dark, you can take grainy pictures, but they're good enough as mementos and Kodak moments. Useless as prints, great for online stuff. Gotta use this camera for what it's good for... don't try to treat it like an inexpensive "real" camera, because it ain't that!

The so-called "big downside" is that it runs on a single AAA battery and a RAM memory chip, which constantly drains the battery, even when the camera's powered off. It will only run about 5-7 hours on the battery and then, if you haven't downloaded them already, you lose all your pictures. Poof. It has a snazzy little USB interface that zips the pictures onto your hard drive automagically once you plug it in. Then you can start over. But I can imagine one day I'll forget to promptly offload, and be completely upset at it for eating the snapshots. I chose this camera because it was steeply discounted due to its unpopularity. The critics said, "Great camera, but I have to be around a computer ALL DAY or I lose my pictures!" And I thought myself, "Self - you ARE around a computer all day." And so I think it'll be a fun little toy.

This camera is amazing for its size and price. The pictures arent the best quality when taken inside a building with bad lights but once you go outside the pictures are pretty good. Also if you ever have any problems if you go to the main homepage of the company they will tell you exactly what to do and what they say works. This camera fits in your pocket and can take a beating and still works perfectly. File transfer to the computer is quick and it comes with lots of programs to hepl edit your photos. The video feature works well too. The bad thing is that the camera doesnt have flash but ifs there isnt enough light the camera wont let you take the picture. Great investment for fun pictures!

Low resolution, slow shutter sppeds, slow downloads, and if the single AAA battery dies while you're shooting, you lose all your photos. Yes, it can be used as a webcam- but there are better webcams for that purpose.

The problem with this puppy is that while it looks promising on paper, it just doesn't do anything very well. For not much more you can get a better camera with flash memory that won't vanish when the battery dies, or a web cam with much better resolution.

I didn't pay anything for mine- I received it as a corporate thank-you gift- so I won't mind giving it away to a child who can play with it.

This camera will be a satisfying purchase to its buyers if their expectations aren't too great. Basically, it's small and neato-looking, and it takes fairly good pictures. But most of all it's small. I would give it a 5 if it were able to retain its memory (of taken photos) when the battery dies out. But because of this one major problem, 3 is all it's getting from me. I have one and it has a very limited, but very specific use for me. It does that just fine. My worry is people will buy this thing expecting just a bit more than with the SiPix can deliver.

I bought the sipix blink2 to try out the cheapest and smallest digital camera i could find.
Image quality: the image is not too bad. Of course does not compare with cameras that cost 100's like the Sony cybershots. Reasonable photos can be taken under sunlight. But there are often problems of dynamic range and haze. Under clouds photos will sometimes be blurry even more so in darker scenes like indoors. The front lens is a bit undersized (2mm) so longer exposure is needed.The camera must be held steadily to avoid blurr, or a street sign can easily look like a dollar sign.
Video mode: the video mode, advertised a lot on the box and web, eats battery and memory a lot, so I never use it.
About battery the camera needs only ONE small battery and it is great that this is not a polluting mercury but a common AAA type. However soon after a few sessions I noticed that the battery is going fast. It needs to be a fresh one (>1.4V upfront) or the camera will decide not to work (beep 6 times, not take the picture, and turnoff). My advice is to take a couple of fresh extra batteries in your car or backpack. The camera has a powersave feature so will turnoff after 15sec
Another thing I discovererd is that even off it still needs current to feed the memory (try to remove the battery more than 45sec and all your nice photos will be gone). The current is very low (1 to 10mA) but can still eat a battery over weeks. This is in fact mentionned on the sipix web but deep in the support webpages.
Packaging: The plastic is strong. The size is about 2x2x0.5 inches only. I'm sure in the future technology will propose 1inch but 2inches starts to be interesting as it can be keychained with your garage keys, always with me.
Under harsch conditions (poket, pressure, chocs ...) the camera often turns on because the start button sticks out. My advice is to shave the button off with a cutter (at your own risk) Also the battery/cover often pops off. Simply tape it with packaging tape
Software: the download rarely worked so I had to reinstall the driver (5Mb, takes 20min of modem time) and USBdoctor and 'picture alive' ameliorations. It now works but was not immediate

Conclusion: attractive tiny and [inexpensive] camera with acceptable image quality. Be very steady when taking the pictures and download them sameday to avoid accidental loss.

I've had the Blink II for some time now. The quality is surprisingly good for a camera in this price range. Since it doesn't have a flash, optimal conditions would be outdoors or lots of lighting. Don't expect crystal-clear photos or even to be able to print your photos (I think the resolution is too low), but this camera provides a quick way to snap photos for posting on the internet or for email. This is a beginner's camera; if you want high quality, invest in a CCD megapixel camera. And it does go through batteries rather quickly; use an NIMH battery and download your pictures often to prevent data loss. If you're really paranoid about losing your pictures, I'd suggest looking at the Sipix Snap, which I hear has the ability to save picture information. On the plus side, it really is small and lightweight and will fit right in your pocket or purse.

I bought this so I'd always have a camera in my car, without worrying about the effect of heat and cold on conventional film.

The SiPix Stylecam Blink II costs somewhat more than a disposable camera, but there are no processing costs, and it can be re-used. Plus, it is amazingly small.

If you have one of the new cellphones that includes a camera, you likely won't need this too. But the Blink II also makes a fine good resolution Web cam.

The Blink II is definitely worth its cost if you need either a Web cam or an extra camera for the car. On the other hand, its 640 X 480 resolution, fixed focus, and lack of either a flash or a lens cover are obvious limitations in serious photography.

For what it is and what it costs, the Blink II delivers a lot of value. You do need decent lighting for clear pictures, since it has no flash - indoor pictures tend to look grainy or blurry in insufficient light. But I've taken pictures outdoors, or in good lighting, that are fine. The included software bundle is pretty good too, and the camera has worked flawlessly for me.

The one thing I would warn you about - this is mentioned on the SiPix web site but not in the manual - unlike more expensive cameras, the Blink II does not use "flash memory". The battery powers the memory and if the battery dies or is removed, you lose any pictures stored in the camera. What's more, having pictures stored in memory consumes more battery power than having no pictures, so be sure to download and then erase the pictures as soon as you can.

I love the "web cam" feature of this camera - it works well, and they even include a handy stand which will sit on top of a laptop screen or regular monitor.

Yea.. its a pretty good camera... for outdoors... for indoors and poor lighting... its not all that great... its more like a webcam quality picture... dimmed... faded... blotchy... but its good enough to tell who's who.. in the picture... sort of.. heheh.. the software.. was a little weird.. i managed to get the program to load properlly after a couple of tries.. i think some people who arent familiar with their pc will have problems.. make sure you install all drivers into your computer before you hook up your camera or things just gets weird on you or freeze up your computer... for a few secs... then.. restart your computer.. log back on.. and plug in your camera... then.. windows will detect your camera... make sure the installation cd is in your cd-drive and windows will install another or install the drivers again... everything works fine and dandy... the thing id like for them to improve is a little lense cover that i can either twist to open and close a shutter or something... i keep the camera in my pocket and pocket lint is all over the lense... i can see it... so i have to blow on it to get some of the lint off... i don't think it effects the picture but it bugs me to see lint on my lense... another thing id like them to improve is the ability to store the camera with out taking the battery out.. cause the camera drains the battery to retain the memory for the picture.. maybe i can have a switch.. or something.. so i don't have to always take the battery out... or have memory that doesn't erase when i take the battery out for more than 30 seconds... i like it so far... o yea.. if its too dark outside or to dim indoors... when u try to take the picture it will beep twice telling you that it won't take a good picture so it won't take it... if it can take a picture with good lighting it'll beep once... that way i don't waste my time on deleting bad pictures... Hope this helps

I have a good 35mm (delegated now to occasional slides use) and a Sony MVC-FD90 digital, which I use regularly and love. I purchased the Blink 2 a few months ago as a secondary, take-everywhere snap shooter -- for daytime situations not reqiring the quality or options of my Sony and where I, otherwise, wouldn't be inclined to carry an expensive / bulky camera.

The Blink 2 is inconspicuously with me most times and always ready for use. It is very simple to operate and performs well (better than expected). The camera includes good photo enhancement software, worth the price alone. I usually shoot at 640x480 resolution and am pleased with results (good as should be expected at that level). The camera averages 60 images in capacity -- presumably double at 320x240. I personally like the fact that this camera will shoot to within a 2 ft. range. Haven't tried the video feature yet, but assume that performance will be as stated. The biggest drawback is battery consumption (the camera will eat a AAA battery with use) and the possibility of losing pictures if a dying battery is neglected (left unchanged). Why I rated the camera at 4 instead of 5. The camera will let you know when it's time to change though, and this can easily be done without losing pictures (thus an acceptable drawback at this price range). I always download ASAP after shooting, remove the battery -- and carry a spare. The camera comes with a handy cord and small video stand but no case. Any little 2.5 x 2.5 container fills that void. It doesn't feature flash and isn't intended for low light use.

All in all, this is a great little second camera for anyone on the go and I wouldn't be without it. Well worth its cost. Anyone not happy with it had unrealistic expectations.