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Summary: Kodak brought a handful of new compact digital cameras to CES 2011, and one of the tiniest of them all was the EasyShare Mini. Here’s the hands-on review.
Kodak brought a handful of new compact digital cameras to CES 2011, and one of the tiniest of them all was the EasyShare Mini. Here’s the hands-on review.
SET-UP
Setting up the EasyShare Mini is rather simple and much like any other basic point-and-shoot camera. As soon as the battery has been fully charged and you turn the device on, the menu appears for the basic settings to be configured: date, time, etc.
One inconvenience I noticed right away is that I couldn’t start taking photos immediately because there isn’t an SD card included in the box. Frustrating, but it is mentioned on the outside of the box so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
After I installed my own SDHC card, it was time to get started taking photos and playing with all the preset functions available.
Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.
These days, there are a ton of low-cost kids digital cameras on the market, most of which are cheap in build quality and won’t hold up long to the physical abuse that a preschooler will inevitably visit upon them. The Gummy Bears Digital Camera, built by Vivitar and sold by Sakar International (which acquired Vivitar in 2008), isn’t exactly high-end in build either, but the rubbery gummy bear-ish material that encases the camera seems like it can take more of a licking (no pun intended) than the typical cheapy cameras. It sells at Kmart for just $25, so you shouldn’t expect much more than a bare-bones camera, but given its low cost, I was happy to see both an optical viewfinder and a color LCD (albeit a tiny 1.1-inch one) as well as video-recording capabilities. The 1.3 megapixel sensor won’t deliver much more than a low-end cameraphone terms of image quality, but preschoolers will still be delighted. As an added bonus, the camera can double as a webcam (on both Windows PCs and Macs) and the included Snap n’ Share software makes uploading photos and videos to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube a snap (not that your toddler is going to be doing that, but the feature may come in handy if you want to share some of their classic shots with your FB crew). The camera comes with 8MB of built-in memory (no options for expansion) which should hold between 15 to 276 shots, depending on the resolution and compression rate you choose. It takes two AAA batteries, but be forewarned, if you don’t download your photos and videos (with the included USB cable) before you remove the batteries, you’ll lose them all.
Though it costs a bit more than your average kids camera, my favorite option for grade schoolers is actually the LeapPad Explorer, a new kids tablet device from the folks that brought us the popular Leapster Explorer educational gaming device. The LeapPad includes a built-in, rear-facing camera that lets you snap both stills and videos and takes advantage of the tablet’s 5-inch touchscreen to frame and view photos. Though the actual camera viewing area is closer to 3.5-inches (after you take into account the onscreen shutter, self-timer, and back buttons, and memory usage gauge), that still blows away viewfinders on any other kids camera selling for under $100.
Middle schoolers will like the gee-whiz factor of this little gizmo. Taking a page from the Flip camcorder school of minimalism, the (unfortunately named) Superheadz Clap is simplicity itself: a super tiny camera that’s not much bigger than a USB thumb drive (1.4× 2.75×0.6 inches) and less than an ounce in weight. There are hardly any buttons on it (just power and shutter) and a cap pops off to reveal a built-in USB connector, which allows you to plug the camera into your USB port for easy downloading. Note that you’ll also need to purchase a MicroSD memory card to use the camera, which shoots not only 2-megapixel stills, but also 720×480/30fps video. The camera is strictly about fun, though–there isn’t even a viewfinder to frame your shots–but like any toy camera, if you shoot enough photos, you’ll surely come up with some winners. The Clap comes in six great colors and is available on Amazon.com for $49.
camera actually includes two lenses and two sensors. Of course for $70, don’t expect something on the level of the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3. Each 0.3-megapixel CMOS sensor in the DXG camera is just 1/9 of an inch (tinier than your average budget point-and-shoot), so image quality isn’t going to be anything to write home about. And the LCD is similarly tiny at just 1.44 inches. As with the Clap, you’ll have to add a memory card yourself (SD this time). There aren’t many settings that you can adjust, so the camera is super-simple to operate, though obviously limited in functionality.
Unless your student is studying photography (in which case, you’ll want to get a digital SLR, or some other interchangeable lens camera), a compact point-and-shoot is a great option for the social beings that incoming freshmen inevitably become. If your coffers are drained after signing the tuition check, though, you can still send your college-bound student off with a decent camera. The Canon PowerShot A1200 is a solid budget offering that will only set you back $109, but delivers surprisingly good image quality and as well as an impressive range of features for such a low price (e.g., as 720p HD video recording and in-camera special effects filters, like fish-eye, sepia, posterize, etc). The A1200 is also easy to use, so your student can stick to poring over textbooks rather than camera manuals. And because it uses standard AA batteries, college kids can grab it and go without having to remember to charge up.
SET-UP
