Digital camera and webcam for less than £100 (Digital Dream 2800)

Member Name: janeculross

Product:	Digital Dream 2800
Date:	13/11/00 (942 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap - can be used as camera and webcam

Disadvantages: No facility for memory cards - 32 pictures maximum

We needed a digital camera which could be used to take pictures for our web sites. Fortunately, given the low 72 dpi resolution of pictures displayed in web pages, we had a fair idea that one of the lower priced models currently avaiable would meet our needs.

We came across the Digital Dream 2800 dual mode vga camera during a visit to our local Tesco store. At £99.95, the price tag was instantly attractive as was the camera itself. It's a small, lightweight unit similar in size and appearance to a 35mm compact camera. The camera has a built in flash, and comes complete with case and batteries, as well as all connecting leads.

These include serial, usb and video (scart) leads - this camera can do more that just store pictures. You can connect it to your video/tv to display its contents on the tv, or use it to capture images to video! Similarly, when connected to your PC via the usb port, it can be used as a webcam. MGI Photosuite SE software is included, allowing easy transfer of images from the camera to computer via serial or usb connections (Photosuite also allows you have a lot of fun applying various effects to your pictures).

All camera functions are controlled via a couple of buttons and a small lcd panel at the back. Once you realise it's all controlled by menu driven system similar to your mobile phone, using the camera falls into place (there is a concise instruction manual which will help to get you started).

Picture quality is good - the VGA resolution of 640 x 480 is perfectly adequate for our purpose of inclusion in web sites - like us, you'll probably want to adjust size, brightness and contrast using the included photo editing software. The camera offers 2 levels of picture quality - at highest quality only 16 images can be stored, and in normal mode you can store 32. In practice, it's hard to see any significant difference here, so we use the standard mode all the time.

That's just as
well, since at this price, it would be unfair to expect the camera to offer a removable memory card facility (there is however a more expensive version at around £180 which does). So the Digital 2800 is not a camera for anyone taking large numbers of shots. Its relatively low resolution would probably also make it less than ideal if your purpose in getting a digital camera is to produce quality printed shots (many would argue conventional cameras still have the edge in this respect!).

But if you're looking for a value for money entry level digital camera which can be used in a variety of ways, the Digital 2800 might just fit the bill.

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