| Product: |
Aiptek Pocket DV T300 LE |
| Date: |
27.12.07 (645 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Small, compact and very easy to use
Disadvantages: Terrible battery life
I was given this mini camcorder as a christmas present this year after I had been searching for months for a decent little camera that records not only still shots but also good quality video footage. The Aiptek Pocket DV T300LE seemed to be the perfect model for me boasting many features that i had been looking for.
On opening the box I was impressed with the size of the camcorder. It is small enough to fit snugly into my hand and even into the smallest of pockets. The buttons seemed to be well placed to achieve optimum ease of use. It was supplied with 2 AA batteries and an SD card so it was ready to go immediately.
One of the best features of this camera I found to be that there is no fiddling around with various 'on/off' or 'mode' buttons. When you see something that you'd like to record you simply unfold the viewfinder and the camera bursts into life, press the 'video' button and you are recording, press it again and you stop recording. It is as simple as that.
The camera does, of course, have more in-depth functions which do require slightly more fiddling such as setting the photo quality and turning the various optional functions on and off (although these are still relatively straightforward with a quick glance at the manual).
I started recording straight away but found that the batteries supplied only lasted about 15 minutes of average use. I presumed the cheap batteries were to blame so I replaced them with high quality Duracell and setted out on a long walk to fully test my new camera.
As I mentioned earlier the camera sat very conveniently in my pocket and I was able to get recording very quickly and easily.
The large 2.4" TFT LCD screen displays a lovely crisp image with no lag and made it easy to imagine what the footage would look like when it is played back on a television. It is clearly displayed on the screen when it is recording so there is no confusion as I have had with other camcorders!
I took several short video clips using both macro and landscape mode and also some still images in the standard 5 megapixel quality. However this was cut very short when the camera shut itself down right in the middle of filming and after about 10 seconds turned itself back on again. From then on it could only muster around 30 seconds of recording time before switching itself off again. After a few more failed attempts the camera eventually died completely and refused to work at all. I was shocked at how quickly the brand new high quality Duracell batteries had run out of power.
On returning from my walk I eagerly uploaded my new footage onto my laptop to see what I had captured. Again, this process was very quick and hassle free but i was very disappointed with what i saw. The clips that were cut short because of battery failure were completely spoiled and the whole files were corrupted.
Thankfully the picture quality on the few successful clips was very good for such a small camcorder and the video stabilizer worked very well at stopping the blur caused by movement. The 4x digital zoom was better than I expected, providing a decent zoom without the picture breaking up. It is slightly jerky, but beyond expectations of this little camera.
Surprisingly, the camera was able to pick up sound quite clearly from a fair distance away. The only nuisance I found was that the wrist strap attaches at the top of the camera and has a tendancy to fall over the microphone and muffle the sound. Also any movement of your fingers against the plastic or coughing tends to be captured much louder than what you are actually trying to capture, however this is something i have found with many camcorders and for such an inexpensive gadget it coped suprisingly well.
As well as having lots of technical adjustments this camera is also brimming with fun functions such as video effects which allows you to capture black and white footage of shoot in sepia mode. It also has a photo-frame setting with 10 different designs to choose from.
I found the voice recording mode to be very good indeed and again, very simple to use. It picked up my voice very clearly and although you could hear background noise, it was considerably quieter and did not interfere with the clip at all.
Overall I found this camera's capabilities very impressive, especially when you consider how small and inexpensive it is. However, all of this is irrelevant if the camera can not hold it's battery charge for more than 20 minutes!
Summary: Good camera, but ridiculously low battery life!
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Last comment:
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MJT1983 - 27.12.07 Great review thanks for all the info |
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