| Product: |
Agfa ePhoto CL20 |
| Date: |
09.05.02 (494 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Compact and comes with it's own case, Fun and easy to use and install, Good daytime quality pictures and results
Disadvantages: Poor flash so not so good at night-time photos, Limited deletion of images options
What an excellent little digital camera the CL20 from AGFA is! I was in the market for a simple USB PC camera capable of at least 1 megapixel quality images, and this little beauty fitted the bill perfectly - and at a price that was a bargain.
First of all, you'll find that this camera is extremely compact and therefore easy to carry around. But don't worry - it's certainly not one of those novelty digital cameras which are the size of a matchbox but take duff photographs.
The general picture quality I have experienced with the CL20 is excellent, although note that as with many lower-end digital cameras, this one does struggle to take quality pictures after dark. The built-in flash is perfectly adequate, but it's range is not great and furthermore, it can be a serious drain on the battery power guage, so be careful.
Quality-wise, you have three options when taking pictures, each with it's own resolution. With the top setting (over 1000 pixels wide) (and no additional memory installed) you can store 6 pictures at a time, whereas at the lowest setting (approx. 500x350 pixels) you can store up to 36. For this reason I would advise that you invest in a "Smart Media" memory card to go with the camera, which will allow MANY more photos to be stored. More on that later.
For daytime photography however, I think you'll find the CL20 hard to beat for simple, fun "point and click" style photos. Installation of the included software is a doddle and the USB port connection ensures that the photos are up on your desktop in a matter of no time.
Problems? Other than the weak flash, the main problem with this camera is the lack of flexibility with DELETING photos from the memory. The only options you have are "Delete last photo taken" and "Delete ALL photos". In most cases this is not a problem, but it can be frustrating at times, and note that these options apply to both the
on-camera controls AND the on-screen software. With the software you can SEE all of the thumbnails at once (there is no LCD "screen" on the camera itself, hence the low price), but you still cannot pick and choose which images you'd like to delete. Fortunately, you can however download any photo you like without having to download the whole lot each time.
The single biggest advantage between the CL20 and it's predecessor the CL18 is the inclusion of a Smartmedia slot, which allows for an additional memory card to be installed. I opted for this option and invested in a very cheap 32mb card, so I can store a remarkable 500+ HIGH quality photos at any one time !! More than I'll ever need for sure, but great capacity to have for long holidays etc. just in case :)
Controls are kept to a sensible minimum. There is the usual "self timer" option, flash on/off/auto toggle, USB port and a tripod connection point on the base. Oh, and the camera comes with it's own simple leather case, which is a good bonus.
Overall, the CL20 is absolutely ideal for daytime digital photography and can even be used as an effective web cam when connected to the USB port and used with the bundled Netmeeting Software!
Unless you're looking for a camera with a higher resolution than 1 megapixel, you won't go far wrong with the CL20.
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