Aiptek Pocket DV4500 Camcorder

Aiptek offers a Video camera/ still camera/ mp3 player at an extremely affordable cost here. So, let's get to the break down.

Video:
Obviously this is the main selling point on the camera, so I will cover it first. In scenes were not a-lot of action is occurring/ not a-lot of movement, the video quality is surprisingly clear and crisp. The pixelation is actually minimal, and the sound quality is superb. You can clearly see peoples faces, and make out their features, etc. without a-lot of blur. However, when me and a friend made a cooking video for class, that required us to move around, and particularly move our arms. This is where it fell a-bit short. For the money, and for the other videos I've seen out there, this still was a superb performer. However, I found the camera had terrible difficulty focusing when we were both shifting around the counter, and when we moved our arms quickly they became blurred. The sound quality also becomes slightly difficult to hear when more than one person is talking at the same time. It is still clear, but some sentences get blurred in a little bit. At one point for a brief moment the video quality completely died. The zoom is digital, not optical. This basically makes it useless. Because instead of actually zooming in on the object, it enlarges the pixel's, meaning the quality of the image will rapidly degrade. It's ok for small adjustments.

Still image:
The still image quality is average. Once again, its digital zoom, so it's basically useless. I found it particularly tricky to get the right light. Sometimes the natural lighting won't be enough, but when the flash will be too much light and the image will look screwed up either way. It also had difficulty getting a good, clear, focus on some images. Particularly if you're attempting to get a sudden shot of say, a child or pet doing something funny. By the time its focused (which takes just a second or two), you may be too late. There's also a couple seconds of delay between hitting the shutter button, and when it actually takes the picture, so you may shift the camera a bit in that time period. The quality is good, but realize that the manufacturer says it "interpolates" pictures to a certain resolution. I wont claim to be totally sure of what that means, but from my own observations and general understanding of what interpolating anything is, I believe that means that when it takes the picture and records it it records it a certain pixelation that is somewhat blurry. However, using some digital enhancement "tricks" it optimizes the image quality making it sharper and clearer. Like I said, in the end when I view the pictures they are pretty clear, and only a very well trained eye could tell that they were digital.

Sound recorder:
This unit can also make sound only recordings. I personally found the quality to be pretty good. It certainly isn't great, and it's noticeably different than doing it with professional equipment, however for simple applications like say, recording a speech it works fine. Speech comes out very clear and is at a good fidelity. I know with my 256mb memory card (that best buy never sent me a rebate for... Anybody know what I should do?), I can store more hours of sound than I know what to do with.

MP3 Player:
This unit can also function as an MP3 player. I'm not sure how practacle of a usage it is as one, but I guess if you just want a song or two to listen to while at say, the family reunion (than again that may require a drink or two as well), it's good. Playback is simple to use, and I found that with the 3d enhancement and a good set of headphones the sound quality was more than adequate. Although, the built in speaker stinks. Loading songs is easy. Your computer will recognize the camera as a harddrive and you just go to the "MP3" folder in windows explorer and drop songs there like you would on a regular harddrive.

Battery Life:
Take my word. Buy Rechargeables. Otherwise you will spend more on batteries than you will on the camera. I found my batteries go within 1-2 hours depended on how I've used the camera. This seems to happen on other cameras I've tried, but because it doesnt have a Li-ON rechargeable, you need to buy rechargeable batteries. It's also good to keep spares on you. Plus, when the batteries "die" on the camera, I wouldnt throw them out. The camera seems to need a very high charge on the batteries, so they often still have enough juice in them to last quite a bit longer in something like a remote. The battery meter is also a bit unreliable, as the readings fluctuate as I use the camera (sometimes they actually go up).

Software:
The software provided with the camera is excellent. The video software has lots of neat filters and transitition effects built in. You dont have to be a genius to use them either. If you can open a file on the computer, an work the mouse, you can work the software. You can even add soundtracks and voice-overs. It uses a timeline so you can make things happen exactly when you want them to. Like have a song come in, or fade out etc. I haven't used the other programs, though it comes with a couple of different programs.

Functionality:
Last, but very important, is functionality. This means how easy is the camera to use. I would say this is safe for even the completely inept. It has a scroll wheel that you use to select the mode you want, and then you just hit the big record button, and look through the LCD screen. Even my mom could use it, and she can barely send an e-mail. You can also view and delete files directly on the camera. Viewing them is very simple, as you just use a button to scroll through them either forwards or backwards. To delete them you just hit the menu button and select "delete." Anybody can use this camera.