Polaroid PDC3030 Review

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Polaroid PDC3030
2.5 stars
Average rating for this product is: 2.5 out of 5

From 2 ratings and 10 reviews

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Rise Lord Vader's Review of Polaroid PDC3030

31st May 2005

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
  • Value for money
    3.5 stars
  • Image Quality
    3.5 stars
  • Features
    3.5 stars
  • Time Digital Camera Owned
    6 - 12 Months
  • Battery Life
    3.5 stars
  • Ease of Use
    3 stars
Good Points

Good beginners camera, video capture with sound, web-cam mode, cheap.


Bad Points

Screen not very clear, slow start-up, slow to capture pictures.


General Comments

I bet those people who don't like this Polaroid PDC3030 camera are used to using much more advanced, expensive cameras. I also got mine from Argos, with 64Mb smartmedia memory (16Mb built-in)and a leather case for £99.99. Excellent Value!
For the cost of this camera, it's features are very good. TRUE 3.2Megapixels, 3x digital Zoom (no optical zoom though), Web cam mode, video capture mode (with sound)and sound capture mode.
The tiny 1.4 inch screen isn't brilliant, but for checking composition etc,it does it's job. When you hook it up to the PC (simple USB connection), the pictures look far better than you'd expect from such a tiny lens. It's a fixed focus camera, so you'd probably want a more advanced main camera - but this one is ideal for that stag party where you're not going to worry about damaging an expensive camera.
The in-built flash does tend to overexpose dimly lit shots, but in good light the picture quality is very good at full resolution (2048x1536). You can do a manual/auto white-balance, auto/manual exposure, pretty standard stuff, but no effects. The Driver CD includes net-meeting for video messaging, and Arcsoft's Photo-Impression v4.0 for image manipulation.
The battery life is quite good too from the 4xAAA's.
But my main gripe about this camera is the time it takes to grab the picture. There is a 3 second delay before you see your picture. This in my opinion is unnecessarily long.
Video clip quality although not brilliant is usable for mucking about with your friends etc, maybe e-mailing short clips. The in-built microphone works quite well indoors, but if you use it outdoors, then stay out of the wind.
Overall although this no-frills camera is very limited for advanced users, it is ideal for the beginner and those who aren't too serious a photographer or those who don't have a web-cam.

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