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Here
is my sort of review of the BenQ DC 1500 digital camera. I'll
just basically talk about my likes and dislikes about this camera
from my point of view.
The DC 1500 is a 1.3 Megapixel camera with a CMOS sensor. It features
up to 1600x1200 image resolution (interpolated - rather pointless,
maximum true resolution is 1280x1024), 0.9" STN LCD, 8MB
flash memory on-board, SD card slot, flash, built in Lithium-ion
battery which is charged via the USB cable - also takes AAA batteries,
optical viewfinder, ability to record AVI movies with no sound
until you run out of memory, self timer and burst shot mode.
When connected to a PC, the camera just becomes a USB mass storage
device, which is very handy. It can also do webcam functions.
I was looking to get a new camera because my Umax AstraPix 430
was really getting on my nerves - but that's another thing (also
it's falling to bits). This page does not render correctly
in Internet Explorer.
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Presentation
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bought the camera, along with a PQI 32MB SD Card, from ebuyer.
It arrived from ebuyer in a boring cardboard box, and the SD card
in an absolutely massive CityLink pack. The SD card pack is about
the size of the van picture. (If anyone's interested, this picture
was taken with the basic BenQ DC 1300) |
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The
PQI Secure Digital Card works right out the box, you just stick
it in the camera, and that's it. Nothing else is required, the camera
will automatically save to the card. There was a cheaper card on
ebuyer, but it didn't have write protection.
This photo was taken by the DC 1500. |
On opening the boring cardboard box, I was greeted by this
small purple shoe box with a blue and white sleeve.
I'll apologise for the low quality of some of the pictures, they
were taken with a modified Umax AstraPix 430 (modified so it could
be manually focused).
The purple presentation box was a sturdy cardboard box, and had
a plastic display thing, with a soft effect, inside.
You might say BenQ go a little over the top with the presentation,
but it's a nice touch.
Under this, you find another layer with the carry pouch, neck strap
(which attaches to both the pouch and camera separatly), USB cable,
and composite video cable.
Below this, there's the quick-start guide, warranty, and CD. |
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The camera
Although small, the camera, in my opinion, is of quite a good build
quality for the price.
It's easy to hold when taking pictures, although sometimes hard
to keep still when using the LCD - it's easier to keep still when
you use the viewfinder.
Most of the controls are located on the back panel next to the LCD
screen. On one side there is a switch for setting the focus for
the macro feature. For those of you who have used the DC 1300 before,
the DC 1500 is slightly thicker, apart from that, it's basically
the same but of better build quality.
One thing I've noticed with this camera is that you have to watch
where you put your hand when using the flash, if you position your
hand so the flash light will bounce off it, it will reflect off
the edge of the lens and cause a white glow on the left side of
the picture.
The viewfinder isn't brilliant, but it's adequate. It could do with
frame markings.
I had to open the camera up and clean the lens inside, as whoever
assembled it, left a nice fingerprint on the lens. The camera is
well constructed inside, the focus switch on the side simply rotates
the focus control on the CMOS sensor. If you have to open your camera
for some reason, watch out as the shutter button likes to fly out
and the battery door falls off. |
The front of the camera
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Side of camera
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Side of camera with cover open showing the USB connector, composite
video connector and the SD card slot
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Rear of camera, where the LCD and most of the controls are
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Another view of the camera
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The
LCD Screen & TV Out
The DC 1500 comes with a backlit 0.9" STN LCD screen.
Due to the size, and the fact that it's an STN panel and not a TFT,
the image quality is fairly low, but perfectly adequate. It's very
useful for checking exposure and viewing images etc although a little
difficult to use to check the macro setting.
One little thing about this, and the lens, is that it's very prone
to getting fingerprints all over it!
This camera features TV out, which outputs exactly what you would
see on the LCD screen to a PAL or NTSC TV. |
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Important:
If anyone is experiencing problems with the TV out displaying
corrupt images, you'll be glad to know this is a known problem
and there's a firmware update. The English in the instructions
for this update is absolutely terrible so I've re-written it and
left the original instructions in also. You can download the update
here.
As the TV out shows exactly what's on the LCD, here are some shots
of the TV output. (click for large)
Main capture mode
Image res menu
Exposure adjust menu Playback mode
Erase menu
Video recording
Settings menu - date Settings menu - version |
Pictures & Video
The picture quality from this camera is very good for a camera
so cheap and packed full of features.
The range of the flash is limiting, but ok for most situations
so pictures generally are better in lighter situations. The typical
CMOS noise you get with low light pictures isn't so noticeable
in the DC 1500, the CMOS sensor is high quality. Getting used
to the macro setting can be a little hard at first, but once you've
tried it out a few times you'll soon learn when to use what setting.
I've noticed this camera can easily get lens flare from a light
source to the side of it, as you can see in one of the picture
below. Also, if you try to use the flash on things light and too
close, it tends
to flashbang itself and you get an over exposed image. Generally
if you use the flash when in macro mode, it's going to screw up
- something to consider if you plan to be using flash on things
in macro mode a lot.
You just have to get used to using the camera.
Here are some pictures I've taken with the DC 1500:
1024x768 - SD Card
1024x768 Neck strap
1280x1024 Water cup
1280x1024 Desk
1280x1024 Emit
1280x1024 Hub (no flash)
1280x1024 Hub (flash)
1024x768 Bad picture of me!
1024x768 Outside pic
1024x768 Oven clock
1024x768 Brush
1024x768 Clock
1024x768 Light
768x1024 Window 1024x768 Flashbanged cat
1024x768 Blurry cat
1024x768 Outside evening
1024x768 Outside evening 2
768x1024 Evening 768x1024 Sunny Garden 768x1024 Jetstream
1024x768 Mirror
1024x768 Plant by window
768x1024 Trees and jet 1024x768 Barometer
768x1024 Road 1024x768 House
1024x768 Not quite focused flowers 1024x768 Flowers
768x1024 Cat 1024x768 Flowers
in sun
1024x768 Stone close 768x1024 Newspaper close 1024x768
Evening photo
The DC 1500 can also take video clips with no sound. It's ok at
this, they're not quite as high quality as some cameras but it's
not bad. You can download a short clip I took here.
(tip: right click and save target as)
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The DC 1500 can also take images with the date stamped on. In my
opinion, the date is a little large, and would be better in DMY
and not YMD. This feature can be turned on from the setup menu. |
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Specifications
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Image
Sensor
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Image Resolution
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Lens
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Focus Range
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Shutter Speed
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White Balance
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LCD
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Flash
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Viewfinder
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Burst Mode
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Movie Mode
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Self-Timer
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File Format
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Quality Mode
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Storage
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Interface
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Power Source
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Dimensions (W x H x D)
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Weight
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1.3 Megapixel CMOS
Total pixels: ~1.36M; Effective pixels: ~1.31M
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1600 x 1200 (by interpolation), 1280 x 1024, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480
pixels
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Free focus; f= 2.8 (50 mm equivalent)
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Standard: 1.5m to infinity; Macro 1: 30 - 50 cm; Macro 2: 14.5 -
16.5 cm
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Programmed (1/20 - 1/1000 sec.)
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Auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten light, fluorecent
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0.9" STN LCD
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Built-in (auto/fill-in/strobe off)
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Optical viewfinder
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3 frames
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AVI format
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10 sec.
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Compressed JPEG
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Fine / Normal
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8MB internal flash memory; SD/MMC card
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USB (for digital output); NTSC/PAL (for video output)
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Built-in Lithium-ion battery (recharge by USB); AAA alkaline battery
x 2
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87mm x 57mm x 28mm (3.42in x 2.24in x 1.10in)
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100g (3.52 oz)
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Conclusion
This is as much as I can be bothered reviewing, if you have any
more questions feel free to contact
me.
The DC 1500 is a nice little camera for the price. I enjoy using
it and once you've got used to its ways, it gives you no problems.
The camera is not perfect, there's a few little things that could
be changed - audio support would be nice too.
Resources
The user manual for this camera can be downloaded from here,
I find reading over the manual for a product before buying it can
be useful to see what it's like.
You can download the firmware upgrade to fix TV out problem (with
better English instructions) here.
If you're going to buy the DC 1500, I highly recommend ebuyer.
Ebuyer have an absolutly massive range of products, great customer
support and very low prices. |
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