Don't buy (But only because there is a better alternative). (Digital Dream l'espion)

Member Name: Meshek

Product:	Digital Dream l'espion
Date:	26/06/02 (1253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small

Disadvantages: Better Alternative

Introduction
------------

When I saw this camera a few months ago in the gadget shop I was overwelmed by its rediculacly small size and I felt I had to buy it especially since it was only £40. At the time it was the only camera of the type but due to its own success competetors got interested and now there are a few alternatives on the market the most noteworthy being the Blink which in my opinion is far superior to the L'espion and can do everything it can do just better.


Points Where the L'espion is Inferior to the Blink
---------------------------------------------- ---

For a start the L'espion has only a quarter of the resolution at 352 x 288 compared to 640 x 480 of the Blink and the difference between these can easily been seen in the sample pictures people have submitted to www.firebox.com. Another point where the L'espion is worse is the actual quality of these pictures the L'espion requires near perfect lighting conditions to take good photoes and normally the photoes are very grainy. (An example of this is when I took a picture of grass in bright sunshine and the grass turned out grey without a hint of green). The Blink on the other hand produces crisp sharp pictures. The next point where the L'espion is worse is the memory storage space. The L'espion has only a quarter of the memory of the Blink at only 2mb as opposed to 8mb. This would not matter so much except that the l'espion does not compress the photoes. Therfore even with the quality difference the Blink can take 100 photoes but the L'espion can only take 20. On final point where it is inferior is the viewfinder. On The L'espion depending on how one situates ones head one can get completely the wrong image through the view finder since it is top monted. I have hardly ever got an accurate picture with the L'espion wheras with the Blink which has the vieewfinder internally the pictures are much much more accurate. Anot
her point is the Blink is slightly cheaper at only £35 from ebuyer.com compared to £40 of the L'espion.


Points Where the L'espion is Superior to the Blink
---------------------------------------------- ----

One slight point where one could argue the L'espion is better is that the L'espion is 58mm x 48mm x 15mm wheras the Blink is 50 x 50 x15 but the difference is marginal.


Conclusion
-----------

My main point is the L'espion was fun but it has had its day and now it must hand over its crown of the best small digital camera to the Blink which can do everything it can do just better. The bottom line is do not buy 'this' camera.

Summary: