Camcorder Reviews

I bought this bag the day I bought my Panasonic camcorder. The camcorder fits nicely inside without a lot of room for it to jiggle around, which is good. There are enough pockets to hold practically all of the accessories I have as well.

In the main compartment, where you will store your camcorder, there is a little zippered pouch under the top flap that can be used to store extra batteries or a light. On the inside of the main compartment you will find two padded dividers with velcro. One has a deep U shape which easily accomodates the viewfinder's eyepiece. The other is a square shape. You use these to pad both ends of your camcorder. If your camcorder is small enough, you will get extra storage space between the dividers and the inside of the end pockets. I store my camcorder's remote in one of these areas.

There are five zippered pockets on the outside of this bag. A flat on on the back with one gussetted end, one on either end of the bag and a large one in front with a small zippered pocket. The end pockets are large enough to hold the ac adapter/battery charger for my camcorder, the A/V cable and the cord and cable for the charger. The pocket I like the most is the front one. When you open it, you will see a small mesh zippered pocket and four elastic holders. You can store extra tapes, a pen/pencil, a small notebook, etc. in there. When I know I'm going out with the camcoder, I don't need to take a purse with me. This bag has enough space to hold my camcorder, the accessories, extra tapes and batteries and my wallet and keys.

My only complaint and the reason for scoring only three stars is the zippers. The top zipper has a tendancy to split and catch on the inside fabric which can be a pain.

I have a digital camera that has a large zoom lens. This bag accomodates it and other accessories, memory and gadgets quite well. The outboard zippered pockets allow for other personal effects to be stowed away and safe. Perfect for travel or a photo shoot. Not to big or small. The leather like surface can receive rough handling without falling apart. At approx [price] it is was very good deal.

It fits my Panasonic Camcorder, it has lots of pockets, it has a shoulder-strap (which is inside the bag when it's shipped), and it has 2 sections of padding going across the the main compartment (which are velcro so you can take them off and use them for extra padding). The borders between the outside pockets and the main compartment are flexible incase you have a large camcorder (only when the outer pockets are empty, though.) Best of all, it has a life-time warrenty!
The only problem with it was that the indentity tag where you can put your adress, etc (shown in picture hanging from handle) fell off and was lost because the leather got worn and ripped after only 8 months. Anyhow, overall I would recommend buying it this bag.

The refresh feature is a good one to keep the battery charge high after every recharge

The batteries go dead before you can find out how to run the camera. 4 sets of brand new Duracell batteries and I got I only got a 50a second film and the next set I got 30 pictures. I went to the local target store and the manager could not help me in any way at all. He just said he was sorry that he could do nothing for me. That I should go home and go on-line to see if they could help me. Only when you get the box do you find out that it is a web only return. Target is Target - on-line or not they should not sell items and then not stand behind them and help the customer to be satisfied.

Yes, this is a cheesy cheap little camcorder, digital camera, and voice recorder. But I've been having a lot of fun with it. The image quality is low, but fine for my purposes. It doesn't do well in low light, so don't expect to use it for recitals, graduations, or weddings. Save it for those casual times when you want to toss it in your pocket or purse and use it at a family picnic, zoo or a playground. It's very easy to carry around and use just for a few minutes at a time, no bulky bags or set-up hassles. I'm going to take a lot of short videos of the kids, put them on CDs and send them to the grandparents.
It is very easy to download the photos & videos. I purchased a Sandisk 256mb compact flash card and battery charger from Compuplus (online) to go along with the Aiptek.

I have a much better digital camera that I use for serious occasions or artwork. When I start enjoying watching family videos, I'll go out and buy one of those serious expensive digital camcorders.

Great features/functions for the price. So easy to use! File xfer to PC is simple...camera looks like a removable hard drive to the PC. Copy or cut and paste your pics, videos and audio. USB transfer is FAST!!!

Only downsides:

1.) LCD uses up batteries. Get 1800mAh (or higher) rechargeables. You can save battery power by keeping LCD screen off. When camera is on, you can still kind of see the outline of what you are shooting, and menu is visible via backlight.
2.) Power on/off not instant.
3.) Camera powers down too fast after inactivity.
4.) Power-on always uses default settings, hence, resolution set to "normal". Can get annoying.

5.) Can only shoot with full light.

6.) Don't buy at Target (boycott French). Aiptek offers this camera direct on theie web site for $60 (refurbed), go check it out!

Overall, this is a great little camera. The menu is so simple to use!

I am trading mine in for a higher-end 4 Megapixel model...but for the price, I don't think you can even come close to matching this one!

I'm a sucker for cost-effective gadgets, and by those standards, this nifty little 4-in-1 camera is up there with the best of them. First and foremost, you get a 3.1 megapixel digital still camera for a third of the cost of most other products in that category. If it stopped right there, this would still be an amazing deal. However, you also get a palm-sized digital video camera, a digital voice recorder, a USB webcam, and a removable USB storage device. All for $$$ . Now that's a deal I just couldn't pass up.

However, approach this product with eyes wide open, and don't expect it to be the greatest performer in each of its distinct capabilities. For example, as a digital still camera it isn't very tolerant of low light situations. Adequately-lit photos come out fine, but indoor lighting or overcast outdoor shots tend to produce muddy, red-tinged tones. A built-in flash would have overcome this problem, but alas, there is none. So take your shots in well-lit areas and situations, and you'll be fine. Also, the fact that its native image format is lossy JPEG rather than a lossless format such as TIFF is of concern, but probably only to gearheads like me. Most casual digital auteurs won't really care. You can shoot and store roughly 60 digital photos at full quality (2048x1536, Fine Quality) on a 64Mb CompactFlash card (not included, purchased separately. On-board storage is 16Mb.)

Next, as a digital video camera: don't expect it to fulfill all of your home movie needs. At 10 frames-per-second and 320x240 video resolution, it's hardly broadcast quality. However, I find this limited quality just right for shooting, editing, and posting quickie, low-bandwidth web movies. The camera saves movies natively in .AVI format, so usually no conversion or extra steps are required to get your movies out of camera and on the web. As a Mac user, I prefer QuickTime to .AVI, but I found that conversion to .MOV format was quick and easy. You can shoot about 20 minutes of compressed video on a 64Mb CompactFlash card (not included, purchased separately -- internal storage is 16Mb only). The length of your videos is limited only by your available storage space and supply of batteries.

As a digital voice recorder, it features no Cue or Review buttons, so going back and forth over the day's notes can be a pain. The workaround is to keep your notes short; the camera creates a new audio file for each new note you record.

As a webcam, it works quite as most low-end USB webcams do. No real complaints in that department.

The 1.5-inch LCD screen does its job well enough. The fact that it's present at all in a product this low-end is a pleasant surprise. However, it does drain the two AA batteries rather quickly. You can sidestep this issue by using rechargeables, as I do.

PROS: Small, light, handy, packs an amazing amount of features and value for an unbelievably low price.

CONS: Picture quality suffers in low-light situations, no flash, digital video is web-quality only, digital voice recorder has no Cue/Review buttons.

BOTTOM LINE: This nifty litttle gadget is a jack-of-all-digital trades, but master of none. However, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- having one device that does all these things makes it a great little toy for the big boys in your family. It won't replace your main digital still camera or digital camcorder, but it makes a great backup unit to either, in situations that don't warrant lugging around the first team. Buy it -- you know you want it.

This camera is by far the best camera I've ever spent around $100 on. I use it as a webcam (which can have very high quality -- 30fps at 640x480 [but it hurts harddrive space], a microphone which picks up every sound in my room very well, and an all around camcorder. The quality when it's not hooked up to your computer isn't very good, but what can you expect for something that fits in your hand and costs $100? There is nothing on the market quite like this, and I would recommend it for anyone that wants to make movies, but not professionally. I would reccomend buying a bigger compact flash card, because you don't get very many still photos (for still photos, get good lighting or a nice editing program to make it brigter... no flash) or movie with the internal memory.
Pros:
Price
Size
Overall handyness
Cons:
Little internal memory
No flash

My verdict -- if you're an amateur movie maker, buy this camera.

This camera is perhaps one of the best investments I've ever made. Born to a society of instant gratification, it gives me just that and more, showing me what pictures I took, and allowing me to easily delete bad shots and keep only the ones i want. I never really was much of a shutter bug, but when I bought this (along with a 256mb CF memory card), I've suddenly found myself just that, bringing it with me everywhere from boating on the Hudson River, to trips to fairs and those god awful family occations where it's handy to have the excuse of being "camera guy" to keep from socializing with inebriated relations.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a technological miracle in itself, but like others have said, if you're in good lighting and have a semi-steady arm it can work wonders. The pictures it takes are phenominal, and though the initial memory it comes with isn't that much, for a mere fifty dollars more you can boost it up dramatically (and the same goes for its speed). The only real drawbacks are the light levels required and the battery life, which while it isn't long, can be readily rectified with either a good set of energizer rechargables or a nifty 12 pack of AA's from the dollar store.

As far as the service from Target goes, I went with the standard free shipping package, and not only did they deliver on time, UPS managed to get it to me a day early. The US Post office that handled my CF Card on the other hand...Well, let's just say my post man will not be getting a fruit basket this holiday season, but that's really beside the point eh? I really loved that to order it you didn't even need to give out your credit card number, but could merely pick up a nifty little gift card from one of their stores. (Good for those of us who fear identity theft, or perhaps even our own credit rating.)