Goodmans G-Shot 3026

The Goodmans G-Shot 3026 digital camera was bought as a gift, and it was the first digital camera we owned. I am a fairly experienced photographer, and although this was a cheap camera, I have tried very hard to get good pictures from it. In bright sunlight, with careful use of the (difficult to adjust) manual exposure (Ev) control, you can take a picture you might think of e-mailing to a friend. In any other situation the CCD lacks contrast, and it is so noisy that you wouldn't waste time even mailing it. The lens means that the 3.1MP are wasted. My 1MP mobile phone gives much higher quality pictures.

Clearly, Goodmans have targeted this at people who only consider the resolution of the CCD and are impressed with 3MP. A camera also needs a good lens and good software to balance images, and a CCD with sufficient resolution. None of these are present on the Goodmans. My respect to the previous reviewer, but do you work for Goodmans?

If you spend money on this it will be WASTED. Spend an extra £30 to get a better camera, rather than going for this cheap piece of junk.

The Goodmans G-Shot 3026 is an excellent value camera that whilst not at the forefront of digital technology, is fantastic value for the price, currently £59.99 at Tescos (although I got mine used for £26.00 on eBay).

The pictures are clear and bright and the camera deals automatically with most lighting conditions (the limited flash distance being the only failing). I was impressed by the quick charge up time for the flash and the TFT viewing screen is adequate. The specifications listed on the Goodmans website state that the memory is upgradeable up to 512mb with an SD card, but I have put a 1gig card in mine and it has been accepted (over 600 high quality pictures capacity).

If you don't want to break the bank and all you want is a camera for general everyday use, then you should consider this.