Trusty digicam for amateur photographers (Trust 950 Powerc@m Zoom)

Member Name: missy0303

Product:	Trust 950 Powerc@m Zoom
Date:	24/10/05 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality photos, also a webcam, and a video camera too!

Disadvantages: No sound with video.

***Preview***
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I bought this digital camera from Ebay about 6 months ago for only £85!(+£8 p&p) You may think this is pretty expensive but when you consider what i got for my money I'm sure you will agree I got a bargain!

This is my second digital camera, the first one i had was a Polaroid PDC3035, but the photo's i took with that weren't very clear, and the flash tended to work when it felt like it.

So in June of this year i decided to get a new one, and being a bit short of cash i had limited myself to £100 to spend. So off i went to my favourite online store.....EBAY! I browsed through hundreds of cameras, a lot of them out of my price range and a lot very cheap (so cheap i questioned there ability) And finally settled upon the Trust 950 Powerc@m zoom.

***The Packaging***
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This comes in a box 8.5" x 6.5" with a depth of 4" mainly charcoal grey in colour with a black and red band across the top with the logo TRUST and 950 POWERC@M ZOOM. Just below that it says in white writing on grey background..."CAPTURE LIFE'S BEST MOMENTS"

On the left side of the top of the box it gives you some of the cameras specifics:-

- Compact digital camera with 3.1Megapixel sensor and 6.6 Megapixel camera resolution.

- 4cm colour TFT LCD display for live viewfinder, zoom preview, review pictures and menu functions.

- 10 step, 4 x digital zoom and built-in automatic flash light.

- 16MB memory built-in and expandable by optional SD/MMC memory card. (up to 80 photos - 1280 x 960 or 78 seconds of video footage)

- Video output to review pictures on TV.

on the bottom of the box it gives a detailed list of technical specifications too in 3 languages (English, French and German)

***Minimum System Requirements***
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- Intel Pentium 266 MMX (or PowerMac G3 or later)
- USB Port,
- 32MB of system memory.( 64mb if using Mackintosh)
- 110MB of free hard disk space
- Internet connection.
- CD-ROM Drive
- WIndows 98SE, ME, 2000, or XP
(or Mac OS 9.0 or above)


***What you Get***
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- 950 powerc@m zoom digital camera.
- USB cable.
- Video cable.
- 2 X Duracell Ultra Batteries.
- Protective black carry case.
- Hand strap.
- Mini Tripod stand (comes in handy for usig webcam)
- CD-ROM with drivers, software and user's manual.
- Multi language user's manual.
- Quick installation guide.

I also got a 256MB memory card (included in price) which allows me to take countless photos (not quite sure how many as i have over 200 photos on camera at the moment at 1280 x 960 setting and still able to take more. I can also take longer movie clips which is great if you have kids.

Also included in the £85 i paid for this was a battery charger with 4 re-chargeable ni-mh batteries....saves an absolute fortune as this camera eats normal batteries like sweeties!

You also get included in the pack, A FREE homepage to share photos with friends, including easy to use software to place photos on homepage, This is a password protected site... www.trustphotosite.com

***The Camera***
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Ok so this may not be the best camera in the world but at the price is paid for it, I reckon it's pretty much great value for money and an ideal first camera,

- It's easy to install - simply put CD-ROM into your disc drive and it runs you through the installation process.
- It's easy to use once installed too, Theres a sliding shutter at front which turns the camera on and then you turn the knob on the back to determine which use you would like

1st on dial is PC mass storage or pc camera,
2nd is take a picture,
3rd is view the pictures,
4th is record a clip,
and 5th is Image settings - in this mode you can set screen resolution, the quality of photos, white balance and exposure value,
press the arrow keys to the right and you get System settings where you can change the language, date/time, tv standard and frequency.
Press arrow key again and you can choose to format cam or use default settings.

There is a button on back of cam with a squiggly arrow, this is the flash button, You can set the flash to Auto flash, auto flash with red eye reduction, and no flash.

There is also a button with DISP beside it, pressing this brings up all the display of the specifics you have chosen, pressing again turns them all off again, pressing again puts camera in standby mode, pressing once more brings it back to default mode.

I have only just today (20/10/05) discovered that this camera DOES in fact have a 10 second timer on it, Found this whilst playing about with buttons....

To get the timer mode on - Whilst in picture taking mode click the menu button (the button in the centre of the four direction arrows, press the right arrow key until you get the little clock with the line through centre, press the up key to remove the line and hey presto you've got a 10 second timer on your camera! (Now i can get in all the photos hehe....i'm such a poser!)

Also whilst still in picture taking mode you can press the menu button click on the pic resolution (1280 x 960 or 2976 x 2232 or 2048 x 1536 or 1600 x 1200) press the up arrow to determine which you want to use! I mostly always use 1260 x 960....mainly because i really don't know the difference between them (any techies willing to explain feel free!)

***My views on camera***
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I use this camera a lot and only problem i have found is that there is no sound which can be very annoying when using the video camera part of the cam,

This camera is easy enough for my 7 yr old son to use, and even my almost 5 yr old can take photos with this....one little tip though is to keep the camera positioned whilst taking a photo because if you move the camera whilst the flash is going it doesn't give best photo, You really need to hold it in position for a second after the flash has gone.

Another downside is the speed of the camera, If you are outside or using camera in good lighting then theres no problem you can snap away happily, but if you need to use the flash then it can take a good few seconds before it is ready to go again....I have missed good photos a few times because of this.

I have given this camera 4**** because it is good value for money, takes good photos, and is a small camera and not heavy so fits in my bag easily.
I have taken 1* away only because it has no sound and for the speed of taking pics.

I will happily pass this camera on for my children to use when i buy a more suitable camera with sound and timer.

Thanks for reading, I hope this has been of some help to you!
(missy0303)

visit www.trust.com for more information.

Summary: A perfect first digital camera, easy once you get used to it!

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