Customer Reviews

Toshiba PDR-M70 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This camera should satisfy all but high demand users. It can be used out of the box (after a battery charge) but I recommend you read the manual to get full use of the camera.

I spent about a month checking out many reviews on digital cameras and came to the conclusion that the Toshiba M70 was the best for the money. The only other camera that seemed as or perhaps a bit better was the Olympus 3000/3030, but they were $100/$300 more when the rebate is included. Everything you need is in the box, assuming you have a USB port and run WIN98 or higher. This camera can be used as a point and shoot or in AE or Shutter Priority. Even manual is avbl, but not explained in the well written manual, you must read from the toshiba page of FAQ for how to set this up.

I checked out Technical Support ahead of time and they answered their phone in a reasonable amount of time, with only 1 voice mail option. The people on the other end were very helpful even though I had not yet purchased. I called back after the purchase and got the same response.

I/ve only had the camera a couple days but have tested it quite a bit and pictures are high quality. Printing on a Canon 620, the print quality of 5 x 7 was excellent (supposedly I should be able to print up to 8 x 10 but have not yet tried.) TIFF is not available but the best quality JPG on the camera gave the high quality pictures I wanted.

If you are looking for professional reviews and opinions go to megapixel.net They are one of the best digital camera review sites I have found.

This is a nice camera with good photo quality. Easy to use - even my "non-photographer and not interested" husband is snapping dozens of fantastic shots every day. I take mostly outdoor scenery and this compares in quality to my 35mm Pentax K1000 manual photos. The choice of an uncompressed mode would have been great, but for most photos I can't see the need. In fact, the difference between the full(2048x1536pixel) and half(1024x768)is not noticeable for most photos printed at 8x10 on Epson stylus color 600. In photos with lots of flat blue sky some slight effects of JPEG compression can be seen - even at 5x7(sky looks sl grainy rather than perfectly smooth). Also, shooting indoors under incandescent light, my grey cats were brown - easily corrected with photo software, and maybe I need to try different settings on the camera. Also, for some reason the photos print horribly with Adobe Photo Deluxe 3.0, which probably is more an Adobe problem than a camera problem. The Image Expert software that was shipped with the camera is easy to use and gives great prints. (An upgrade allowing more neat stuff like "cloning" & a panorama feature would be nice.) Outdoor macro mode gave me some great sharp photos of Mountain Holly berries & leaves and Blue Gentian even with the wind blowing! What more could I ask? Well, maybe...It would be great if the camera came with the lens adapter so you could screw on a UV lens as protection for the main lens, AND a sturdier camera case. I have ordered both(the adapter is on backorder). A 32 or 64 MB smartmedia is also a necessity and an extra battery pack is a good idea. And last, but in my case not least, why aren't there more "splash resistant" cameras available? The only one I found was Kodak DC5000 which unfortunately seems to have some quality control problems (mine was defective out of the box as was one my son in law purchased around the same time). All things considered, the PDR-M70 is a nice, easy to use camera which gives good quality photos and has some whistles that I haven't tried yet (like video & sound).

I have had the PDR-M70 for a few months now and overall I have been impressed with both its ease of use and picture quality. I take most of my pictures on the smaller size, highest quality setting and have had excellent results, even when enlarging to an 8x10 (that is if you go to Walgreens and print at the Kodak kiosk). The camera is probably the most user-friendly of all the digital I looked at because most of the features you would want to use are set up to be accessible like those on a standard film-containing camera. I have 2 complaints, however, which have prompted me to want to send the camera back because they are significant. First, the battery has an extremely short life, even without the LCD on. Plan on 50 pictures without using the LCD and 15-20 at best if the screen is on. For such a good camera otherwise, how could they ship it with such a bad battery. Second, it cannot focus in dim light or at night. I have tried every manual setting possible to get the camera to focus in low light (i.e. in a house at night with one light on in the room) and unless you are pointing at the most well-lit subject, the camera will not focus and the image comes out blurry. If you are planning to take pictures at evening parties and you like to point and shoot, this camera probably will not work for you, even in the auto-focus mode. This is very unfortunate because the Nikon Coolpix 990 and Olympus C-3030 (comparable cameras) do this well and would be better alternatives.

My parents got me the Toshiba PDR-M70 for my college graduation. I can't say enough good things about it! I'd tried out several at university and could never find one I liked. It's compact, has a great zoom, and the picture quality is incredible! Even with shooting at half (as opposed to full) the quality does not differ much at all. It's also very easy to use, unlike some other models I've tried out.

One of the niftiest "extra" features of this camera is it's capability to record .avi movies with sound. I've caught a lot of my friends off-guard with that!

The only real complaint I have about it is regarding the software. It wrote over Photoshop as the default to open .jpg files, which is a pain since I use Photoshop to edit. If you have Photoshop (or any other graphics program) on your machine, you'll want to make sure you have the disk handy so you can reinstall it after installing the camera software.

A wonderful camera for any photobuff!

I've been wanting to write this review since I started using my Toshiba digital camera a month ago now. Having ordered it online, it arrived in no time. I had it out of the box and clicking pics quicker than you can load film into a 35mm camera. Easy setup and simple operation are some key factors to consider when buying a digital camera, and this one fits the bill. I had spent numerous hours researching products online and it came down to two; one a Sony, and the other the Toshiba.

I've had it for a month now and am still stoked at the performance of the camera. The ease of operation and simpleness makes the camera a pleasure to use. Picture quality is outstanding. The software bundled with the camera is just as easy to use. Connection is through a USB cable, and once connected the computer is 1,2,3... to view and edit pics accordingly. The software does some nice fixes, making up for the camera itself. In some photos the camera tends on the "blue" side of the spectrum.... which can be easily adjusted in no time (with the computer); as you'd expect from your film developing company anyway.

Secondly, crucial to any electronic device is the power source. The lithium battery of the Toshiba is ok; longer life would be nice, yet it is much better than most. (A second battery would be a wise investment.) The battery charges in the camera in about 5 hours. There is an external charger I plan on getting when I do buy the second battery. Charging time is much shorter according to the literature.

A third consideration is the shutter speed, the time it takes when you depress the shutter button to the time it takes for the camera to actually take the picture. For the Toshiba it is no longer than it would for a 35mm camera (A BIG plus when subjects are not always standing still).

Overall, I am quite pleased with the Toshiba PDRM70 and would recommend it to any shutterbugs without hesitation. Happy clicking.....

I've had one of these cameras for several months and I really like it. It takes very high-quality photos. It's packed with features. It does take some time to learn them all. It also means that until you get all the features down you'll sometimes take photos at the wrong settings if you venture out of the full automatic mode for the aperture-priority or shutter-speed priority modes. Photographic features like burst mode, automatic bracketing, and exposure compensation work as advertised. It also takes low resolution movies and has a sound recorder that doesn't pick up voices well. I took it to Europe without the charger and had it set to minimize use of the battery and got well over 100 photos on a single charge. But the reason I actually chose this camera was that it seemed faster than the others I tried. It starts up very quickly, adjusts itself quickly when you press the shutter half way down, and takes the photo instantly when you press the rest of the way. The few weaknesses it has are an inability to deal with very bright light (highest f-stop is f8), problems focusing in very low light, and the battery indicator doesn't really tell you much - you'll only get one or two photos between full and empty, but people tell me that's a problem with all batteries of this type. For those who are having problems with the quality of the photos, I can only say recheck your settings. This little camera can capture amazing photos and packs a photographic wallop.

Nice camera at first. If you take 3 pictures of same object 1 picture will be extremely sharp and the other 2 will be noticably fuzzy when you zoom in. I don't know if this is an autofocus problem or hand jitter problem. Taking videos with this camera is fun and more convienent then carrying around a second video camera. The video quality is poor, but it beats having nothing. Everything else worked well with the camera. I didn't have a problem with the battery. I was able to take 100+ pictures with my battery. After about 6 months with the camera we were on vacation in California. The battery went out and the lens wouldn't retract. After charging at home the zoom lens wouldn't move. No doubt it broke in the handling.

Good camera, bad news for those with Windows 95B (USB support). Even though the technical data says "USB interface" and "minimum system requirements Win95/98/2000", you have to have Win98 to use the USB interface. Which leaves us Win95B users stuck buying another expensive piece of equipment to download the pictures into our PC. I'm not even confident that it will work if I upgrade to Win98 because the instruction booklet says "Pre-loaded Win98". I don't know exactly what that means.

I do like the camera, though I had to return the first one because of a slight discoloration on the left side of the screen during movie mode.

The best thing I can say about the M70 is quick. Very fast shutter and picture taking. The prints on Epson 870 are excellent. Most people believe that the M70 has a Canon lense and it's a dandy. I have used the Canon S20 and the M70 really has much more to offer. The color rendition on M70 is much, much better than S20. An excellent camera with lots of features. I suspect that people might be skeptical of a camera with the Toshiba imprint instead of Nikon, Canon, etc. This little guy is a winner. ( Why not 5 stars? I don't like some minor things about the M70: Strobe flexibility, smart media cards, but nothing that impacts the pictures.)

The PDR-M60 is a more economical choice. 2 megapixels is all you need for 8X10 prints.

The M70 is just the M60 with: a) 3.3 megapixels instead of 2.3 b) a movie movie (how useful is a 2 minute movie? it just takes up valuable space), c) an extra 32MB of memory (24 onboard and a 16MB card instead of 4mb card included),

Other than that the optics, flash, and various shooting features are identical.

...the movie mode is cute but not something I'll use more than once or twice.

All that being said, if you absolutely have to have 3+ megapixels, the PDRM70 is a good choice.

Either way, using rechargable AA batteries is the way to go. Being able to buy a couple of Alkaline batteries in a pinch beats missing out on pictures. My Sony's propriatery rechargable batteries were...unreliable.