DXG USA DXG-305V 5-in-1 Digital Companion Digital Camera (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, I've only had the DXG-305v for a couple of weeks now, but have learned quite a bit about it in that time. It was a gift for my 11-year-old, although I of course had to thoroughly check it out myself first. I like the product a lot, but I do have a few complaints and some important "secrets" to reveal in this review, so read on...

Specifications: The real specifications for many of the camera's features are almost impossible to determine from DXG's published information. In many cases, completely different specifications appear on the downloadable data sheet, the downloadable user manual, the printed user manual, and the product box! Which (if any) of these actually apply to the camera? Fortunately it is possible to determine what the camera can do through experimentation, and to analyze the digital files it produces to get some reliable specifications. The specifications on the product box seem to be the most accurate.

Memory capacity: There is a total of 32MB of built-in memory and about 30MB of that is available for your use (some of the older specification sheets say it's only 14MB out of 16MB total), but that won't get you very far. You'll need to buy at least one SD memory card. The specifications say that the camera supports up to 512MB cards, although DXG technical support says it will probably also recognize 1GB cards. Since I have serious doubts that the support people really understand this product, I stuck with 512MB, which is plenty. This will hold up to 90 minutes of video, or 500+ high quality photos, or about 8 hours of typical MP3 files.

Battery life: New users will complain that the camera goes through AAA batteries way too fast. The fact is that you MUST get rechargeable batteries for this camera. A set of rechargeables will run the camera for more than an hour of continuous video recording, or about 3 hours of audio recording (with the LCD turned off), which is really very good. These batteries are inexpensive and they can be recharged hundreds of times. There are also chargers available that can recharge all four batteries in as little as 15 minutes. Repeat: Forget about regular AAAs - get some rechargeables and a fast charger!

Still camera: I'm an experienced photographer, and have used many different film and digital cameras. The results from the DXG-305v are nothing to get excited about, but they're better than I expected, at least for outdoor use in good light. Indoor shots are poor unless the room is well lit. The white balance setting is adjustable, but I got the best results leaving it on auto. Again, I'm referring to outdoor shots - changing the white balance for indoor shots has virtually no effect on the image.

Flash: The flash works as described. It's really only effective up to maybe six feet away, but it does the job. You can turn the flash off if you want to, but unfortunately, you can't set it to fire with every shot. It only works in auto mode, meaning that it will fire only if the camera decides that the light level is too low. Also, the flash will refuse to fire at all if the batteries are not freshly charged. Once the charge drops a little, the flash does not respond even though the rest of the camera operations are fine. Disappointing! Also, the flash is positioned in a place where it's very easy to cover with your fingers when shooting.

Video: Video image quality, like still image quality, is much better outdoors than indoors. The low resolution (320x240) video mode works as advertised and delivers 30fps. In high resolution (640x480) mode, however, the camera does not deliver the 15fps rate claimed in most of the product literature. Actual results in high resolution mode are about 10fps, as described on the product box. In my opinion this slow frame rate is much too choppy and makes the high resolution video mode unusable. The speed of the memory card is not a factor in this. I tried two different types of memory cards - the relatively slow standard SanDisk 512MB card and the much faster SanDisk Ultra II 512MB card - and got exactly the same results. An output jack and special cables are included for connecting the device to other audio/video components for playback.

PC camera: I conducted some PC camera tests using Windows Movie Maker 2. When connected to a computer with the USB cable, the DXG-305v at first appears to deliver 30fps in high resolution mode, but this is only half true. In this scenario the sensor is actually working at only 320x240 and this low resolution image is simply scaled up in size to 640x480. Changing the resolution to true 640x480 via software settings drops the frame rate down to about 20fps maximum. On the plus side, the software settings do allow a great deal of control over how the camera behaves in PC mode. Adjustments are included for brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, and hue. The internal microphone does not function in PC camera mode - you'll have to use your computer's microphone instead.

Audio recording: The audio recorder function generates 4-bit 8kHz mono files, which are good enough for voice recording but not exactly pleasant to listen to. For some strange reason the audio is stored in WAV format instead of the far more efficient MP3 format. With these settings a 512MB memory card can hold about 12 hours of audio. But how often will you want to record half a day's worth of low quality sound? I would much rather have higher quality audio options with reduced recording times. Audio recording can run for about 3 hours on a full battery charge if you keep the LCD display closed.

MP3 playback: This is a feature that currently sets the DXG-305v apart from most other combo cameras. The device recognizes and plays stereo MP3 files transferred from your computer, and music playback quality is fine when using a good pair of headphones. Playback through the tiny built-in speaker is pretty awful, but that's to be expected. Music playback can run for about 2½ hours on a full battery charge if you keep the LCD display closed.

Software: I have briefly experimented with the included video editing software, and it looks very good. In addition to editing your videos, you can apparently also use the program to burn VCDs (but not DVDs - to get that ability you'll need to pay for an upgrade). If you prefer, the camera's ASF video files can be edited in Windows Movie Maker 2, or presumably just about any editing program. I haven't yet experimented much with the included photo editing software.

Miscellaneous: The internal clock/calendar does not keep accurate time, and it resets itself whenever you change batteries. And although the camera has a self-timer, there is no tripod socket! This is just bizarre and inexcusable.

Conclusion: Although I thought it was important to point out issues in this review, let me assure you that I really like the camera. It's certainly not perfect, but it does more than anyone should reasonably expect for the price. People who plan to use it as their only camera are likely to be disappointed. It's much more appropriate as an extra camera for fun and experimentation. I think it will appeal mostly to gadget-heads and pre-teen kids.

Anyone interested in the DXG-305v is invited to join the new DXG-Digital user group at Yahoo! to discuss all DXG products:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxg-digital

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Product Description:
DXG DXG-305VS 3.0 MegaPixel Camera with 1.5"" TFT LCD and MPEG4 Technology

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