SO YOU WANT TO BE JAMES BOND..... (Digital Dream l'espion)

Member Name: cortex101

Product:	Digital Dream l'espion
Date:	12/10/02 (391 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, cheap, reliable

Disadvantages: no flash, short battery

I had been looking around for quite some time for a digital camera and I kept saying that I would have to save up what little cash I had to buy one. Well I was wrong, and how wrong I was, while glancing through one of those magazines with more adverts than words, I noticed out of the corner of my eye “Digital Camera for £35”. You can imagine what, went through my simple mind at that point, yes you guessed it a big gasp and a pause to check if my heart was still beating. Well I am happy to say the tests came back positive and I am alive now to tell you this fantastic story.

I turned a few more pages and then realised exactly what I had seen, my saving was over and it had barely just begun, I was ecstatic and the best part of it all was it actually looked quite good. So I looked around the Internet to try and find some more facts about it and to see some of the pictures that had been taken with it. Hopefully this opinion will save you all the bother of having to trawl through endless pages of the net to find some little facts about it.

Ok now onto the serious stuff.

Looks:

Well I have to admit with it sitting next to me now it looks pretty damn good and really is as small as they say it is. The dimensions are:
58mm x 40mm x 15mm

It is really small and therefore is pretty easy to lose. I save myself any trouble by connecting it to my computer when I’m not using it to take pictures and that way its pretty easy to find, even if you could see the state of my study. If you have not seen the picture, the camera is silver and that is the only colour that it comes in but don’t let that worry you because the colour does really suit it. The camera also has a telescopic viewfinder. I mean by that, that there is a little catch on the side of the camera which you slide up and down accordingly to pull out the viewfinder. Surprisingly the camera in my opinion does not look in the slightest bit tacky, but this
is from someone who doesn’t think “Ground Force” is tacky so I guess you will have to make your own mind up on that one.

On either side of the camera are grips for your fingers, which make it even easier to use and do not take anything away from the looks of this attractive little number. Although having said that it is pretty hard to fit your fingers around this thing because frankly it may be seen as too small. I have found on more than a few occasions my finger has just planted itself right across the lens, thus spoiling what would have been a great picture. It has to be said the looks are one of the best features of this camera so I am completely happy with it in that respect.

Technical Facts:

Well this is (what some would say the boring part of the op) so if you don’t want to know the score please look away now. I know its boring but it does need to be included so I apologise to you in advance. Here we go:

This tiny little thing is able to take two different types of photos, which you’ve guessed it are high quality and low quality. On the high quality setting it is able to take 20 photos of all your favourite moments at 352 x 288 resolution and it can take 80 photos on the lower quality setting at 176 x 144 resolution. This resolution may not sound like much but having taken a few myself the pictures are actually quite decent, I mean they are nowhere near actual photo quality but come on this is a tiny digital camera for under £40. I always use the high quality setting though because the low quality are as they say pretty low quality although you are able to see what is going on (always a good thing with a camera). The camera also has a fixed focus and automatic exposure, I don’t know much about cameras but I would say this is quite essential to taking photos and this little thing has it, which can’t be a bad thing.

The working range for you to take photos is from 0.8 metres
onwards but I’ve taken pictures closer than that and they’ve come out fine. The camera has a tiny simple screen on the front of it and also a “mode” button enabling you to switch from one mode to another (funnily enough). One of the modes of this camera is a ten second timer, I was actually surprised it had one of these and they do come in very handy. Furthermore it has a continuous shoot setting which allows you to make a short movie. The trouble is it is quite a short movie and the picture is not great, as one would probably expect. Another good feature of the L’espion is you are able to clear all the photos you’ve taken if a better moment arises and one is able to do this with a few touches of a button. There is however a problem, and I was quite disappointed. You cannot clear each individual shot separately so if you want to clear a few pictures you have to clear them all, and twenty pictures does run out reasonably quickly. On the screen you are able to see how many pictures are left which is a nice little feature. Best of all the camera only weighs forty grams which is incredibly light and it actually feels like the battery weighs more than the camera itself. I haven’t weighed a battery so don’t take my word on that.

What Comes Included:

When I opened the box for this digital dream I was pleasantly surprised, the box had more than just a camera included and usually you open these boxes up to find that you need to buy countless extras which cost the same as the product itself. Anyway, the camera comes with a nice looking leather case which you are able to feed through your belt making it possible to carry it around with you wherever you go. After a few moments you’ve forgotten the thing is even there. The box includes a CD-ROM with which you are able to edit and play around and actually put the photos onto your computer. With this CD comes a vast array of beautiful pictures ranging from lan
dscapes and animals to sunsets and waterfalls. The camera is also attached to a key ring, this may sound silly but because it is so small you are able to attach it to your keys. But if like me you can never find your damned keys I don’t recommend it.

I’m sure all of us have seen those adverts on the box showing us all what it so great about their product when all the time there is a little notice at the bottom of the screen saying “batteries are NOT included”. Well these little notices always get me riled up. I think its from the days of being a little kid opening up my Christmas presents and wanting to play with them, finding out there’s no bloomin batteries and for a day or two I have stared at this now useless product imagining the good times I could have with it. Well I was not in the slightest bit angry when I opened up this box because “batteries ARE included” oh yes, I said to myself I can play with it straight away.

Although I don’t think the creators pushed the boat out two much seeing as you only need one triple A battery to run the thing. I do, however think this is one of the camera’s strengths. It is incredibly cheap to run, although the battery does not last too long it is only one battery and that’s good enough for me.

How To Use:

It really could not be simpler using this camera, there is only one button on the thing so how hard can it be. There are five different settings to choose. High resolution, which is indicated by Hr on the camera. Low resolution indicated by Lr. Clear mode, which is indicated by Cl. Timer mode shown by St on the LCD panel and finally the movie clip mode shown by Ct. You attach the camera to your computer by means of a USB port, if you don’t know what a USB port is then don’t worry instructions come with the camera showing you where to locate it. Most computers will have them, in fact I have not come across one without
yet, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Again another great thing about this package is that you don’t need to go out and buy a length of cable to connect the two. The USB cable comes with it and it is simply a matter of putting one end in the camera and one end in your computer.

Once you have taken your photos and have them stored on your new toy then connect the camera up and once you have installed the CD-ROM it is dead simple. The CD-ROM will load up automatically when you put it in your drive and from then it is the standard install procedure, which is step by step. After installing there will be Ulead Photo Express on your start menu so just click on that and your away. Once it is loaded up click “Get” which is situated on the left hand side of the screen. Then click “camera”, which is found at the top of the screen and then finally click “acquire”. Once this is done you can then choose which pictures you want saved on your hard drive so you can play around with then or print them off.


Another great feature is that you can use the camera as a webcam so you can communicate with people over the internet. This again came as a surprising shock, from what I thought was a normal digital camera I now had so much more.

What Do You Need:

You do not need the latest and greatest computer to run this product and there are only a few small system requirements.

For A PC:
166MHz Pentium Processor or above
32MB RAM
10MB Minimum Hard disk Space
SVGA monitor
USB port
CD-ROM drive
Windows 98/ME/2000

For A Mac
Apple Imac/G3/G4 with USB Port
32MB RAM
CD Drive
10MB Minimum Hard Disk Space
Mac OS8.6 to 9.4 Image application supporting Adobe Photoshop plug-ins Apple Quick time for viewing video clips

What Are The Pictures Actually Like:

Well I think the high quality pictures are great and it really did surprise me
how good they actually were. If you don’t take my word for it (how could you not trust me) the there are plenty of places where you can view pictures taken with the L’espion. I have not seen many pictures around showing low resolution pictures and I think there is a reason for this. To be frank they are pretty bad and I would definitely recommend you taking the high resolution pictures.

Price:

Like any other product I would advise you looking around. A lot of places sell this camera for £39.99, however I was able to find mine for £34.99 and recently I have seen it in a few places for cheaper. You can buy the camera in “Tescos” of all places and as you would expect it is cheap there. Only this morning did I open my dabs catalogue and it is in there for £31 excluding VAT so if you can wing it saying its for business then I heavily recommend it.

I think you do definitely get what you pay for, if you are hard up for money on things like this like me then I would give this a lot of thought. Although having said that there are a huge amount of cameras around now and prices are falling constantly. Compared to other cameras the picture quality is not fantastic but then you have to say to yourself “ I could have the smallest digital camera in the world”.

Editing The Pictures And Printing:

One of the great parts of the software that comes with this camera is the amount that you are able to play around with your pictures having taken them. There are eight different editing tools which are all extremely useful.

1.Auto-enhance – One is able to crop, straighten, change the brightness and contrast, the hue and saturation and the focus of your picture.
2.Transform – One can rotate or flip the object in this option.
3.Trim – There are a huge number of shapes which you can put into the picture in this option, one can also soften the edges.
4.Resize – This opti
on is pretty self-explanatory.
5.Focus – Here one can change the sharpness of the picture and there are ten different levels to choose from.
6.Lighting – One can change the lighting of your picture and there are eight different levels to choose from. I found this option extremely useful and it really can make your pictures stand out.
7.Balance Colour – In this option you can give your picture different colour tints, from blue, green and red.
8.Touch-up – One can remove red-eye, dust and scratches from your picture, again this is very useful to improve the quality of your image and make it stand out that little bit more.

Printing your pictures cannot be simpler, obviously the standard of your printer affects the quality of the image, I have a pretty bog standard printer and the images seem to come out fine. On top of that the package in which the camera is include offers you free development on some of your pictures and they give you a couple of examples of how they can look. I have to say the examples look a bit special. I am waiting for my prints to return at the moment.

Problems:

Unfortunately there are problems with this camera although what can you expect for something of this price.

1.As I have already mentioned the camera does have a clear function but you do have to clear all of the pictures at once which I can tell you can get quite annoying. Especially as you can get extremely trigger-happy because you never have to think of processing costs again.
2.Perhaps the biggest problem with this camera is it cannot perform in dark conditions, for the very simple reason that it doesn’t have a flash. This was one thing that made me think that maybe I had made the wrong decision. I was hoping to take pictures of my nights out and so on but this is simply not possible. You cannot even take the picture and hope it comes out alright the camera will not let you take it and just makes a s
omewhat annoying tone. It is also extremely surprising on what the camera actually thinks is too dark and this can get extremely frustrating as you have to bend your body in ways you never though you could to take a picture. I can tell you from experience that hitting the camera against the wall does not improve its light intake and it still makes that extremely annoying sound as if you’ve just fired a dud. I would suggest the best place for taking photos is outside in a well-lit environment.

3.The size of the camera can actually be a problem, I know it sound stupid and you all will be saying “but that’s why you bought the thing – You fool”. Well a fool I might be but it is reasonably easy to lose the thing. You can go for days without seeing it but it always turns up just at the right moments. So I would say if you do get this camera be sure to take good care of it (which goes without saying).

4.The battery life, I find is a problem. It does only demand one battery but it is amazing how quickly the battery runs out. The designers have cleverly made the camera so it turns of after a few seconds of idleness and this must help but the battery does seem to have a short life.

5.There is no zoom to this camera, I wouldn’t really call this a problem as I didn’t expect it to have one but maybe this is something they could have done to improve the product.

To Sum Up:

In my opinion the camera is a great buy and is completely worth the money, it is however up to you and I think it really depends on what you what to get out of your camera. If you want something affordable which will impress your mates then I think this is definitely worth a good think. This camera is perfect if you own a website or are interested in web design because the pictures are small enough in size to put straight onto your website. If however, you are looking for something with a flash, zoom and something that can ta
ke amazingly good quality images then this camera may not be for you.
One thing you have to remember is this camera is essentially fun, being the smallest camera in the world and hey you can always pretend your James Bond.

Thanks for reading and as always I love the feedback.
Cortex101

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