Adventures with Cheap Cameras (continued)
Remember last September when I purchased a very, very cheap brandless digital camera as an attempt to get a cheap and not very high quality secondary camera?
Well the camera didn’t turn out to perform as well as I had expected, despite having very low expectations for the camera.
Still having a need for a secondary camera, I spotted the Samsung Digimax 202 at Future Shop. This camera doesn’t even come in a box; it’s one of those that ships in that hard form-fitting plastic cages. So I decided to pick it up and give it a try.
I brought it down to Oregon with me, and the photos turned out quite well. I did a small variety of outdoor shots before I left, and I was quite impressed. Indoor shots didn’t turn out as well, but that’s just a product of a cheap lens and bad light metering — something I was expecting. I’ll probably write something else about photo quality later, and perhaps do a side-by-side comparison.
As for physiccal specs, it’s very small and compact, and weighs just about right. For the price, it came with a set of disposable double A alkaline batteries and a small carrying case. Not too bad for $130. It uses MMC/SD, so I had to purchase a Secure Digital card in order to store more than 6 MB of worth of photos. It being only a 2 megapixel camera, only a small media card is necessary, especially considering it’s meant to be a secondary camera.
It has a fixed focal length, which is fine, and the lens has a built in automatic cover. The lens is also fitted with a permanent plastic flat cover that fits over and above the lens and cover. This means that the only thing I have to worry about getting dirty is this plastic cover. However, if this is scratched, it’s as bad as the lens itself. Interesting design choice. At least I got a free case.
