Over exposure ... leaves me cold (Sipix SP-1300 Shoot & Share)

Member Name: Plymyphil

Product:	Sipix SP-1300 Shoot & Share
Date:	23/05/05 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Durability, Reliability

Disadvantages: Image quality

Digital cameras have come a long way in the last few years. I remember not long ago being pursuaded to buy a brick ... well, more of a breezeblock really ... that was meant to be the best ever because it took a normal floppy disk. The camera was huge and heavy and the floppy disc slotted in at the side. When you took a photograph there was a clunking and whirring as the disk drive bounced into action and your image was recorded. The astute reader will be noticing already the obvious limitation of recording to diskette. Holding just 1.4Mb, on most of the cameras I use today I would not have been able to save a single photograph. (I did hear more recently that the same piece of kit is now available with a CD-Burner built in - that must eat batteries and still weigh a tonne.) And so we see the differences between the early market makers of the digital imaging industry and the devices available today.

Firstly, take a look at the budget end of the market - shave a few pounds off and you have something approaching the Sc1300. This camera came bundled free with some software and but I think it retails for around eighty pounds at the moment.

SiPix have been operating at the budget end of the digital camera market for a little while now and some of their earlier cameras were more gimick than useful. This camera is one of their more recent offerings that show the company is beginning to react to consumer demand and produce affordable cameras that are capable of producing reasonable quality images.

Let's take a look at the positives and negatives.

POSITIVES
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Battery life - Battery life is such a bug bear in digital cameras. My main camera at the moment is a Canon that will not take more than half a dozen photographs without a duracell battery and when you flick the LCD screen on you can almost hear it slurping at the juice. This camera is a refreshing change then. Battery life is great and a testament to the fact that most battery life on some of the more higher specified cameras is being chewed up by the functions we rarely use. This is a basic camera. No long list of different exposure settings. If you want underwater or nighttime images then go elsewhere. If you want a snappers camera to grab quick reasonable images then this could be yours and the batteries will last ... and last ... and last.

Compact Flash card - Early SiPix cameras relied on internal memory to store images. Now, that's OK but it is somewhat limiting. Once the memory is full, you have to download or delete to be able to take any more images. Now, this has changed. This camera takes compact flash cards and even comes bundled with an 8Mb compact flash card to get you started. At maximum resolution that is enough for just over eighty images - not bad really and for most people more than enough. If not enough though, as it does take these cards you can simply purchase more and the price of replacement memory cards is tumbling all the time.

Flash - Budget cameras by necessity have to lop off certain functions. Sometimes they go too far and strip away functions that should never be considered and option or luxury. Some of the first SiPix cameras had no flash. Disaster! Happily this camera does have a built in flash and the intelligence to make a guess as to when it might be appropriate to use the flash.

Design - I include design in the positive list as this camera looks and feels like a standard camera. For those making their first foray into digital imaging this is a positive. Their is no array of clever buttons with obscure icons. This camera in every way behaves like a standard camera up until the point when you connect by wire to your PC for download.

Software and installation - This camera is clearly aimed at a beginners market and the software and driver sintallation process supports this market aim. The CD-ROM auto runs and thedn with limited support from the user installs the correct drivers to the correct places to make sure the camera functions correctly. The software for image manipulation and printing is basic and appears to be a cut down version of already budget software. If you want to do clever things with images you may need additional software but if you did just want to view and print your images then this software is fine. It is simple to use and does the job well.

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Negatives
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And so to the downside - there has to be one - there always is.

Image quality - I'm being harsh here but the image quality is as budget as the camera. Now, I think this can be seen as an advantage also as the SiPix image quality has improved dramatically. However, if you expect perfection beware for a little disappointment. The key issues are over exposure in daylight - this leads to colours looking either garish or washed out dependant on the position of your light source. Inside shots that involve the flash appear in shades of brown. Now, this isn't as bad as it used to be - the images are better colour matches than I have seen before from SiPix but it would appear as though we still have some way to go before the images are as you would expect.

1.3Mega pixel - Again, for a budget camera this is not too dreadful but it will impact the quality of your shots. I find on screen they look fine but they will look pixellated when they start printing, especially if you try to print much larger than a standard six inch by four inch print. In real terms, this resolution is 640X480 and is therefore reasonable on most screens as said but not quite up to standard when printed.

Bulky - In general, the more featrues you pack into a digital camera the larger the camera. (And the heavier.) This camera has no clever features and yet still is a fair size, comparing almost exactly to a standard camera. I guess this is deliberate and therefore I have included it as a positive too but for me if it has such a limited range of functions I would expect it to be a little smaller and therefore take less space in my pocket - at the moment, put this in your pocket and you will get peculiar looks from the ladies as you walk by.

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OVERALL
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This is aimed at a particular market. It is a budget camera that will suit people new to digital imaging who do not have high demands. Family snapshots are fine and the included memory card is reasonable.
If you are expecting similar standard images to a 1.3MegaPixel camera from a more renowned manufacturer then you may be disappointed. The image quality won't be as good but then you didn't pay as much so be fair.

So, in conclusion - if you fit the target market, buy. If you have a child/teenager keen to own a digital camera, this could again be a good purchase. If your demands are higher and you expect similar quality to film cameras I would recommend you keep saving.

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Thanks for reading this opinion and I hope it helps your purchasing decision. All feedback is gratefully received. - Phil

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