Cute, fun toy, but save your money if you're serious about a camera.
Written: May 08 '02
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Pros: Highly portable, runs on 2 AAA batteries, good for kitschy snapshots or mini-movies.
Cons: Irritating beep when camera takes a picture, no flash on camera.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend it as a toy, but in my case, I got what I paid for. All $7 of it.
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| pixelbaby's Full Review: Aiptek PenCam Trio II Digital Camera |
In the days where you can purchase at least a 1.3 megapixel camera for slightly more than $100, it might not make much sense to spend anywhere from $50 to $80 on something that doesn't present you with a lot of options.
Having heard all of the recent fuss about the Aiptek PenCam, I decided that maybe it would be worth checking out. I purchased one on eBay for next to nothing, and after it arrived, I had minimal trouble setting up the software and activating the device. The most irritating aspect of the setup was that the PenCam Manager software doesn't allow you to choose an installation directory other than C:\Program Files\AIPTEK, which can frustrate pedantic power users. Installing the batteries (not included) was painless and simple, and I was rewarded with a beep. I was afraid of shattering the thin plastic shell of the camera when I slid the battery cover back on, and since the device doesn't have much weight to it, I would recommend purchasing a hardshelled case for it before transporting it in your pocket or purse.
Though it pains me to admit, I was reduced to reading first the quick-start guide, and then the manual that accompanied my PenCam in order to figure out the cryptic LCD display symbols, and how to operate the device with only two buttons. Soon enough, I realized that "Hr" meant "High Resolution", "Lr" meant "Low Resolution", and the number that stayed on at all times indicated how many more pictures the camera's memory could hold. It took a few more minutes (and a little more manual-consultation) to determine that the lower-pitched double-beep indicated that there was not enough light in the room to take a picture. Not to be discouraged, I experimented until I was finally successful, and thereby rewarded with a tiny, high-pitched beep.
The camera will store 26 pictures at high resolution, or 107 at low resolution (though the LCD display only shows "99"). The camera utilizes volatile memory to store your images, so in other words, if you take the batteries out, or the batteries run out, your pictures are gone for good.
To transfer the pictures to your computer, it requires two things: a USB cable (included), and a software component. You can use the Aiptek PenCam Manager software to fulfill the second requirement (and you'll need to if you want to make movie files from your snapshots, unless you have a third-party application that you're familiar with), or you can use the TWAIN plugin that the software installs, allowing you to transfer the picture from an image processing application such as Adobe Photoshop. I transferred my images both ways, and didn't note much of a difference in image quality between the two methods. I will probably continue to use the TWAIN plugin by way of Photoshop, simply because I'm more familiar with it, and, frankly, the PenCam Manager doesn't have a very intuitive interface. Not only that, but if you transfer your pictures over through that included software, it makes double copies of the images (one in your "Album" folder, named "DemoAlbum" by default, and the copy of the same images goes into C:\Program Files\AIPTEK\AIPTEK PenCam Manager\CamMem). Since it stores those images with a .BMP extension, they can rapidly eat up harddrive space (again frustrating to pedantic power users). If you use the PenCam manager utility, you can use the camera as a live video camera, but again, the interface is not very intuitive, and it took equal parts manual-reading and judicious experimenting to figure out how to set it up properly. The .AVI files that you can create from your still photos aren't terribly smooth or polished, but the kitsch-factor makes it a handy feature.
All in all, the Aiptek PenCam makes a decent little toy, but I don't think it's intended to be a primary digital camera. If you serious about getting into digital photography, save your money and invest in a solidly built camera from an industry standard such as Nikon or Kodak. These little "spy cameras" are the digital equivalent of the Polariod i-Zone.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 7.00
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Epinions.com ID:
pixelbaby
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Member: Erin McBroom
Location: Clive, Iowa
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 70 members
About Me:
A sweetly opinionated and delightfully clever webmistress.
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