1 Small, durable, inexpensive -- great to stuff in a pocket
I've owned a Pocket Digital 130 for several months now and paid less than $60. For that price you can't beat it. The unit has a rugged steel case and I've yet to run into a problem with the internal battery running low. The camera holds about 45 photos at 1.3 MP.
For outside photos it works great. Under good fluorescent lighting it is adequate. On the negative side, the flash isn't powerful enough to compensate for poor or incandescent lighting and the viewfinder could use some markings to help frame shots.
It's not comparable to a $300 camera, but then it isn't meant to be. It's small, rugged and dependable, and for the going price it's a steal.
Addendum: Since leaving the above review, I've used Picasa 2 to salvage a number of pictures taken in poor light that I thought were hopeless. I highly recommend using it in place of Logitech's bundled software. Picasa is available at no charge from Google.
2 Great for quick shots
I just received this today, and have been wandering all over my campus shooting things to try it out. I'm running Mac OS X (10.3) and the great thing is that this camera just shows up as an external drive. iPhoto also pops up, if you like using that.
Image quality is better than I expected, but nothing like a decent film or digital camera. Colors are good, a little washed out in bright sunlight, a little dark indoors, but definitely recognizable. Resolution isn't fantastic, but if you use the higher resolution and then manipulate in photoshop to a lower, it works well.
I only paid 65 for it, which I consider a good buy. Over a hundred dollars is definitely out of my price range, which is why I chose this camera over something with a higher number of megapixels.
Design is spectacular, the camera feels very well put together and sturdy, made from stainless steel. Feels sort of like the iPod mini, if you've ever had the pleasure of using one. I am not worried in the least about breaking it in half, and I'm someone who is tough on electronics. It is also much smaller than I anticipated, about the heft of my Nokia 3595, and a little shorter and thinner, but a bit wider. The sliding door feels sturdy, and gently clicks shut, so it won't open without being pulled. Even when open, the door is securely attached to the camera, and feels impossible to break off.
The absence of a preview LCD is actually a plus for me, as I wanted a camera that could live in my pocket, not in a case. I keep keys in my pocket. Keys + expensive LCD = bad.
The two main complaints of people, lack of LCD and lack of resolution, don't bother me in the slightest, as that was not what this camera was for. I needed something cheap that could live in a pocket. Lack of additional memory slots isn't an issue, as I tote my powerbook around all the time anyway, and can whip it out and transfer the photos (the powerbook alone gets me lots of envious looks, so I can imagine the two together).
I highly recommend this camera, if you need something small and easy to tote about that has great battery life and is easy to deal with on the computer.
3 Great pocket size digital!
I needed a pocket size digital camera that I could easily take with me anywhere. I have a 5 year old Sony Mavica that is my workhorse, and it's a great camera, but way to big and bulky for carefree snapshots. After lots of searching and procrastinating I bought this one based on the price, portability, rechargeble internal lithium ion battery, and good reviews. I am greatly pleased with my choice.
It is easy to use, takes very nice photos, is very portable (about the size of a business card and less than an inch thick) and looks and feels nice too, with its brushed stainless, slide open case. It fires up almost instantly, no waiting like with my Mavica. It is compatible with both PC and Mac, and on my Mac I didn't need to use the software that came with it. I just plugged it in (the USB cable also comes with it) and my computer asked if I would like IPhoto to download the pics. 10 seconds later I was done, and the camera was busily recharging the battery through the USB cable. The lithium ion battery does not exhibit the memory affect, i.e. you can recharge it before it is fully discharged without it affecting battery life. SLICK!
This camera does not do it all, there aren't any bells and whistles, just the important basics like a timer function, flash, and choice of 2 format sizes. It also can take up to 188 small format shots without needing a download. For me it's the perfect little portable camera for web and smaller format print photos. What it does, it does very well.
4 Does not live up to the hype
I bought this camera after reading positive reviews on amazon and the web. Don't believe the reviews. The camera is on its way back to amazon as I type this. It is not worth the money.
The pictures come out good if you can hold the camera still long enough for the camera to take the picture. You push the shutter release and have to wait 2-3 seconds before you can move.
Also, the lens is not "true." You have to be pointing the camera perfectly at what you want to get what you think you are getting. No room for error.
5 great camera
This is by far the best 1.3 megapixel camera I have owned and extremely convenient too.It's small and strong enough to carry in any pocket all the time ready for quick use.The power and shoot time
is about 2 seconds with 1 second between subsequent shots.As long as you have reasonably steady hands the picture quality outdoors or under fluorescent lights is excellent.Indoors in poor lighting its a little harder to judge flash distance for good results.
6 Good Little Camera
This is a good little camera. Very easy to use, and the shots I took were pretty good. Indoor and close up shots are a little tricky, but overall a great prurchase.
7 Great Little Camera
Win an award with this camera I think not, however for what it represents itself to be it delivers. The camera is about as simple as it can get, just point and shoot, the included software is very user friendly and helpful. If your looking for a secondary camera to carry with you for those unplanned, photo opportunities this one is definitely worth considering. The cost is well worth the camera, which is in its on very well made metal cover, and is not only very compact, but nice looking as well
8 Great for what it is
Don't expect this to be a great quality camera, it's not, and it's not meant to be. It's meant to be small, which it is, and fun, which it is. It's also durable feeling, and the photo quality is plenty good enough for email and the internet. It's cheap, too.
9 Good for frat parties
If you're looking for a durable small camera to take to parties or just carry around for simple pictures, this is the camera for you. I took it to a Sigma Kappa party last night (yeah, Sigma Kappas) and shot about 30 pictures with it. Almost all of them came out perfectly. The ones that didn't were shot from too far away (the camera's flash isn't very powerful) or were shot by drunks and kind of off-center. I kept it in the back pocket of my jeans and probably sat on it about 50 times with no damage. If you want to be taking pictures that can be blown up to 12'x18' to cover a wall of your house, this isn't the camera for you. That said, if you want an inexpensive camera to take simple pictures of friends laughing, drinking, passing out on the stairs, dancing like idiots, or making out with random people (or for the more mature, pictures of friends looking depressed) the Pocket Digital 130 is perfect.
10 Blurry off-center pictures
The pictures are blurry and off-center. I tried many tests to see if it was my unsteady hand causing the problems, but determined it was the camera. I took both indoor and outdoor pictures - both came out terrible.
11 Excellent
This is an excellent easy to use, go anywhere work of art. And Amazon's price (my favorite store) cannot be beat. It is beautifully crafted and takes very good 1 mp pictures that are easy to transfer to computer and charge at the same time with the included USB cable. No sofware to install in Windows XP. So easy, a manual is not even needed to begin shooting. The litium ion battery shoots the full 45 pictures at highest resolution without showing much use, and then downloading them to the computer, recharges the battery... simplicity and beauty all in one. It is the same overall size as my Canon S400 (Elf) but less than half the thickness. It weighs next to nothing (half my Nokia 6560 wireless phone). I have used or owned several 1 mp cameras and this takes the best pictures I have seen... none of that blurry edge as on others... nice sharp shots edge to edge without any pixelation whatsoever. Cautions: do not leave the camera attached to the computer when it is turned off or goes into standby as it will drain the battery. Also be SURE to hold the camera against something to prevent motion blur. The flash is very nice, although quite weak (shots 3-6' are fine). I love it and that is from someone who has several other high-end digitals.
UPDATE: I have now taken over 200 pictures with this little gem and my rating is unchanged. I even took several dozen during a snowstorm from inside the house and dozens outside after it was over with trees and ground deep in white. Only two pictures needed to be deleted since they were blurry and overexposed. I must have shaken the camera since the wind was strong. The others, even with all the white and with a high potential for over-exposure, were perfect. I printed several 4x6s and 1 8x10 and even the 8x10 from a few feet away looked like a photolab print... just beautiful. I use only the large picture size, so I cannot comment on the 640x480 pictures... why bother... with 45 shots at the largest size setting and nearly a full battery at the end of shooting, it is the only way to go. Colors are uniformly natural with only a slight fare on highly saturated and bright colors (a shot of a pointsettia showed some flaring due to the intense red). For the money, this camera cannot be beat! One other tip is to use a small clamp from the garage to sit it on a table or shelf for pictures since it does not have a tripod thread. Just clamp at the bottom horizontally and the clamp acts as a stand. And amazingly the camera carries a two year warranty.
You can view a few of my pictures taken with this camera at www.wholarts.com/logi.html
