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Polaroid PhotoMax Fun! 320 Digital Camera

Polaroid PhotoMax Fun! 320 Digital Camera
Overall Rating: Product Rating: 2.0
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Shutter Lag

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A Surprisingly Cool Camera Especially for the price

Written: Jun 23 '02 (Updated Jun 23 '02)

Product Rating: Product Rating: 4.0
Ease of Use:  
Durability:  
Battery Life:  
Photo Quality:  
Pros: Fast - Light - Cheap - Self Repeating

Cons: Low Resolution - Twain Driver Sucks for slower Computers

The Bottom Line: If you want it for taking pictures FORGET IT, but to tinker with gadget wise GET IT NOW.
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nerys71's Full Review: Polaroid PhotoMax Fun! 320 Digital Camera
Now before you say Wait you got a Coolpix 5000 and you think this camera is cool ?

Well that is entirely dependent on what you want to do with it. I like to fly ROCKETS and wanted a digicam to stick inside a rocket. Since rockets are prone overtime to CRASHING do you really think I want to stick my $1,000.00 camera inside a rocket ?

Got this camera for $20 and it has some very cool features.

First it is amazingly light. When I got it the first thing I did was strip it down to the circuit board.

Ripped off the switches and battery contacts. Solder on a toggle switch and a 9v battery snap.

You see this camera has 2 fascinating features that make it ideal for rocketry.

ONE is you Press and HOLD the shutter button down (hence replacing it with a toggle) it will keep on taking pictures !! over and over again all by itself it just keeps shooting till its full.

Second its fast !! it is able to take a second shot a mere 2 seconds after the first and so on and so forth!!

This is great !! this means I get 30-60 shots PER flight of my rocket with nothing more than replacing the push switch with a toggle switch.

The jam cam will take 640x480 shots BUT it will not auto repeat (another timer circuit it needed) AND it takes upwards of 8-10 seconds per shot !! AND its bigger and much much heavier.

the polaroid 640 does the same auto repeat but it also takes 8-10 seconds between shots.

AND the pictures when you consider what it cost and what you are doing (tossing a rocket over 800 feet into the air) are not really that bad !!

When it lands I download to the laptop and fly again.

For this reason I give it a 4.5 rating !!

the lack of a 5 is due to its truly horrible resolution even considering how fun it is :-) (320x240)

If they could make this exact camera do this exact same thing but at 800x600 of better they could not make enough of them to satisfy me.

So if you like to fly rockets and want something fun to do with them this camera is the best $20 you will spend in some time.

The other con. The twain driver is horrible. it is a cpu hog. I tried to make it run on a nice little color tablet I got (486 33mhz) but it simply won't do it. It will do everything except download. it says there corrupt but there not (the images). I can download on my other machines fine. I figure it is just a hair to slow (the computer). Its important because I sell these as a rocket kit :-)

Strap one to an RC car or RC boat. Flip the switch and go. it will take pictures for about 2 minutes before it runs out of memory. It takes roughly 60-63 shots at once every 2 seconds so you get 2 minutes.

if you smack it up ??? so what its tough (I crashed one at over 200 mph straight down and it still works :-) and even if it does not. another $20 and you have another one.

A definate must by for the gadget nut or tinkerer out there.

If you want to take family vacation pictures or EVEN ebay pictures ?? forget it its not worth it :-)

As for battery life. Oddly I do not think I have ever killed a single battery yet.

That last flight that crashed totalled the battery (litteraly) but not the camera.

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 20.00
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nerys71

Epinions.com ID:
nerys71
Member: Chris Taylor Jr.
Location: Edgely, PA
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
I Love Rockets, Airplanes, and off course Gadgets :-)

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