Look MA! I'm on Mount Rushmore!

Once again, the impulse bug bit me. This time, the purchase was the Argus DC1500 digital camera (in neon purple, no less). My son, who is spoiled, has been asking for a digital camera. Of course, what he had in mind was my Olympus D-490 $400 camera. Right. He's 10.

I am a living example that direct marketing email works. I got an email from Office Max that this puppy was on sale for $29. Since I have my credit card number memorized, I had that sucker ordered before I even knew what hit me! Oh well, I theorized, it's Christmas and I can give it to my son as a present. It arrived the next day.

Let me start by saying that I got exactly what I expected for $29. This camera is very lightweight, and being purple, it's hard to accept it as a real camera. It feels and looks like a toy. It also comes in blue and gray, but purple was what was available so that's what I got.

Set-up and Installation
Out of the box, setup was easy. We installed the batteries -- 3 AAA (not included, of course), installed the software and hooked up the USB cable. A serial cable is also included for those who don't have USB capability. Installation instructions are included and they are pretty straight forward. Now we're ready to take pictures.

One thing they don't tell you on the printed material (although I found it buried in the trouble-shooting section of the online manual) is that you must have adequate lighting for the camera to work. "Well, duh" you might say, but here's what I mean:

Let's suppose I take a picture with my Olympus and the lighting is too dark. What do I get? A dark picture. Okay. Not so with the Argus DC 1500. If the lighting is not adequate, you get NO picture. The camera simply won't work. It took us a little while to figure that one out. It was nighttime and we were in my son's room playing with the new camera.

It does require quite a bit of light actually, we had the overhead light on (a couple of 60 Watt bulbs, I think), but we had to turn on a couple of lamps too to get enough light for the camera to work. Outdoor pictures in bright sunlight would be best, but we also found that it works pretty good in the office or school under the fluorescent lights.

Okay our pictures are taken, now what?

Included Software
The software bundle that came with this little gem is worth more than the $29 all by itself! In addition to drivers, the enclosed CD also contains four programs called Photo Studio, Photo Fantasy, and Photo Printer and AVI Creator.

Photo Studio
This is your typical basic photo editing software that gives you options to crop, rotate, annotate, etc. While it is okay software, I have Paint Shop Pro and that is much better for this kind of thing. However, this software is simple to use, simple to learn and works okay. My son uses it some, but not much.

Photo Fantasy
Now, this is the premium program of the line up. With this program, you can either import pictures that you already have on your computer from any source, or you can load them directly from the camera. This program has many predesigned screens that you can use to put yourself and your friends and family into some really fun scenes. My son has a gallery of Mt. Rushmore pictures with himself and his friends replacing the faces of the presidents. The program allows you to tilt, rotate, zoom, colorize, and otherwise alter the photo so that it fits and blends well on the scenes. My son has has more fun with this software than any thing else he's gotten in a LONG time.

Photo Printer
This simple little program just gives you a down and dirty way to quickly print your pictures. You can resize them and alter placement on the page, but that's about it for this program.

AVI Creator
The camera is capable of taking up to 8 seconds of video, and this is the program you use to view and save your "videos". We actually haven't had any use for this software an I can't tell you if it is any good or not.

Features
• The camera has no built in flash, making it's usability rather limited.

• There are two resolution levels available. The "high" resolution is 352 x 288 and the camera hold about 20 of these pictures. Low resolution is 176 x 144 and the camera will hold 80 pictures.

• Up to 8 seconds of AVI video (176 x 144 resolution).

• Camera operates as a streaming video camera for webcam use. I have an Intel PC Camera and the software for that also works with this, but the resolution is very low.

• Built-in self-timer to include yourself in the photo

• Auto-off feature saves on batteries. If the camera is not in use for 30 seconds, it will shut itself off. Having given this to a 10 year old, that's a NICE feature.

Summary
Overall, this is a cheap camera that takes mediocre pictures. It is perfect for what I bought it for, though, and my son insists that it is the best present he ever got. It is a great introduction to digital photography and the associated electronic manipulation of the pictures on the PC.

I wouldn't by any means plan to use this as my primary camera or to record important events, but it is a great way to get the kids involved in taking vacation pictures, pictures of their friends and all those silly things kids always want to take pictures of (like the cat cleaning his privates, etc.)