Small but ugly - the danny devito of the camera world (Digital Dream l'espion mini)

Member Name: Plymyphil

Product:	Digital Dream l'espion mini
Date:	13/11/05 (161 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small - light - exceptional battery life

Disadvantages: Ugly - cheap - poor quality - unreliable connectivity

Espion cameras have a huge following. This is a fact. If you search on the Internet you can find all sorts of characters who have a site dedicated to the images they have taken with their miniature digital camera. Look closely. Most of these characters are delighted when they have got the light correct enough to take a reasonable image.

Let's look at the selling points of the camera

IMAGE QUALITY
Image quality on this camera is decidedly average. This Internet link takes you to an example of the best possible pictures taken in the most acceptable light.

http://www.gilest.org/gallery/lespion2

This however is the exception to the rule - brown tints, poor focus and appalling colours are more usual.

I hope these images help in a purchasing decision because I think that to judge the Espion on its looks, some people are probably sucked in whereas with an idea of the quality of images taken by the camera, the same people may well choose to leave well alone.

SIZE
This is the baby of the digital camera world. Imagine something that is the size of your credit card but slightly thicker and you have the Espion. Some mobile phone cameras are smaller, but not much. This really is the most light weight portable toy you will have that will bring back pictures.

PRICE
I paid 39.99ukp but they're cheaper now. (If you want to get a good buy on any product just wait 'till I but it ... a week later the price halves!) At this price they aer exceptional value for money.

BATTERY LIFE
No flash, no LCD screen and one AAA battery. The battery in the Espion lasts longer than any other digital camera I have ever used and I've used a few. You will expect to take quite literally hundreds of photos with this camera.

INTERNAL MEMORY
A selling point and a quibble for some, but for a snaps camera its great. No cards to break, no problems having to buy cards.

SOFTWARE
All the software you'll ever need is included in the bag. You can even play around with digital video editing with a superb little user friendly piece of software.

WEB CAM
Amazingly for the price and the size this can also act as a web cam. Connected to your PC you can record messages for family and friends.

THE PROBLEMS
These are just so small but they do matter, especially if you have a more recent PC. My camera was fine when I had Windows 98. When I went to XP, the camera just wouldn't talk to the computer. Jessops admitted it was a common complaint but refused to change the camera on account of the fact it didn't claim compatibility with XP on the box. (It didn't say 'not compatible' either!) So, when upgrading to XP unless you are one of the lucky few expect to gift this to a friend with Windows 98.
The image quality. Right, unless you are in daylight with the sun behind you expect a whole lot of shades of brown in your pictures. Inside ... move lights that you can and again, expect shades of grainy brown.

OVERALL
Don't expect to take publish quality photos. Have fun. Take the camera everywhere. At the price don't cry too many tears if you drop it or loose it. Share 'snaps' and even video clips with family and friends. All for less than forty notes ... can't be bad. Just check whether your camera is XP compatible ... mine wasn't.

Summary: Fun for about five minutes - appalling images really makes for a bad camera.

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