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SiPix StyleCam Blink Digital Camera

SiPix StyleCam Blink Digital Camera

List Price: $49.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Neat idea, poor execution.....
Review: I thought this would be perfect stocking stuffer and handy pocket cam to take along when my Nikon CoolPix was too bulky. I'll preface this by saying they two machines that the SiPix software crashed were both running Windows 98SE - life might be better with XP. Unlike the FlatFoto from RadioShack, the Blink does not include a simple "get the images off the camera" application. They ship a TWAIN driver that you use with ArcSoft of some other application. The driver itself was the primary source of my problems. I shot two camera-fulls of images that were both lost (camera went into ERR mode requiring removal of battery and that purges the internal memory) because of USB communications problems with the camera. I have many other USB devices that work just fine. The one time I was able to get it to work, the images taken outdoors were OK VGA resolution. I found it very hard to take indoor pictures and not have them be blurry. The shutter is in the middle on the top of the camera making it difficult to take a picture w/out shaking the camera. The TWAIN driver itself looks like it was written by a teenage game developer and tries to be way too "cute" for my taste.

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cool but Sketchy
Review: Awesome little camera--just don't depend on it for capturing great 4 megapixel shots you can print out in poster size color. It's a small camera and so is the resolution. What it's perfect for is capturing moments that would otherwise go unrecorded because you didn't want to lug a mid-sized (or even compact) camera around. This thing is TINY.

The downside is that it's easy to lose pics if the battery drains and it's even easier to get a blurry shot if you've got a shaky hand. Patience when shooting in good light and a careful eye on the battery meter are needed. Though I only got about 50 shots with the included battery, I have taken well over a hundred with the Energizer I popped in and it's still going.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Things Do Come In Small Packages!!
Review: I think this camera is excellent. The best part I think is its size. I'm an adult, but my hands are very small. This camera not even being 2 inches square fits nicely in my hand. When I first got it I took a few pictures and set up the program on my computer. I was so surprised at how great my pictures came out. I'm really looking forward to the holiday season. I have a nephew who is almost a year old and I am excited about taking his picture and sending it to our extended family that lives several states away. If you are thinking about buying this camera, but you think that the low price means that it's just junk think again. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a good deal!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Definately only for fun...
Review: Having only started looking at digital camera's quite recently, I was estatic with this little baby when it arrived. Having had hours of fun snapping everything I could see, there was a few home truths about this SiPix which hit home.

1. No flash - The shutter frame is SO slow in a dark environment, any photo's taken indoors or indeed in the pub are useless (Unless everyone holds perfectly still for about 10 seconds.
2. In this photos taken outside there is barrel vision. Everything in the center of the picture is clear, but begins getting blurry as you proceed outwards from that point.
3. No flash memory. When the battery dies, so do all of your photo's.
4. At times, and depending in which order you attach it to your PC, there can be small glitches with the USB connection.

HOWEVER, when you balance these facts with the cost of the camera, you can't really complain too much. It's small and compact and ideal for those who just want to get good photo's quickly and easily onto their PC. Personally, it has opened up the door for me with Digital Camera's and although I rarely use it now, it is the introduction I needed to commit to buying a really good one (P.S. You need look no further than Amazon.com for this)!
Overall, for performance V's cost - 3 stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Substandard at any price
Review: People who rave about this thing either work for the company or are vision impaired. I bought one on a whim so I could take it with me on vacation. I can honestly say that of the 100s of pictures I took with it, not one was a keeper. The shutter stays open for so long that unless you are completely motionless, your pictures are blurred. I found that subjects centered in the view finder do not end up centered in the pictures. The camera "crashed" often, and I needed to take out the battery to "reboot" it. This happened a lot. The camera worked in sunlight, but pics taken indoors were way too dark. This thing is not ready for prime time. not even at these prices.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Quite the perfect Take along
Review: This is a fascinating little product - carry it in your pocket without any weight. I love carrying it along to kids games, and the kids want ones of their own.

It has a few drawbacks, however. Some expected, some that need fixing in the next generation.

The expected (but still a little disappointing)
- limited focal length lens means that elements outside the very center of the picture are blurred (barrel distortion)
- No flash for low light situtions

The real problem:
- it loses your pictures when the battery drains down, i.e. its memory is volatile. Flash memory is so cheap, why did the designers make this choice?
- There is no early warning, actually no warning at all when the battery is too low. In fact if the battery gets low it will still take pictures as normal, then it freezes up, and all your pictures are gone.

Caveat emptor here - a great product in so many ways, but make sure you replace the batteries early i.e. Every 50 shots or so. Its not a cost issue, but you will lose your pictures beyond hope for recovery, even though the camera seems to continue to act normally.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: very good tradeoff between cost and quality
Review: I bougth this camera 2 weeks ago. I was looking for a cheap digital camera that would allow me to create web quality images, would be portable and easy to use.
The SiPix StyleCam has all of it. The size of it is very small, which allows me to wear it even in my keychain (the clip is also provided in the package), and it's 640x480 quality is enought for my actual needs. Also to point out that, thanks to it's USB connection to the computer, the download of the pictures taken is really quick.
It has though a couple of inconvinients, which are that whenever you push to take a picture, the camera takes a variable amount of time to actually take it, so you cannot take movement pictures or move much during it or the pictures will end up all messy. The second inconvinient is that inside houses, when the light is not perfect, the camera shows an error and is unable to take the picture (presumably because of the lack of light, as it doesn't have a flash incorporated).
With the package it also comes a stand to use it as a webcam.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: tiny fun
Review: Even though this review is mentions many of the camera's negative qualities, I really like this camera. For the 4 stars, about 1 star is the camera and 3 stars for the price, size, and fun.

The images of the product do not do it's tiny size justice. It's like getting a piece of spy gear. For the price it is a no-brainer if no other reason than just to play with it. I have no qualms at all letting my 4 year old daughter have fun with this camera. The camera beeps when the photo is captured so you can know when to let the button go. I don't think you can turn the beep off, so no pictures in church!

I have had it a couple of days and have taken about 100 pictures with it. The camera claims to hold about 100 640x480 images and I have had 70 on it at once. It took a little fiddling with the software to get it to work but I am now downloading images with no trouble. When the software gives you a choice for "normal" or "larger" images, large apparantly means blown up in software. So don't use that as you can probably get better results enlarging the photos in another application. After those 100 pictures plus the PC transfer, I am still on the first AAA battery that came in the package. Photos seem to be stored quickly and the camera can take 1 shot every 2 to 3 seconds (in other words don't buy for the movie feature). I have not tested the web cam functions and do not plan to.

The blurry edges described in other reviews are definitely present on my camera. Make sure to get your subject in the center of the frame or you will miss the shot. I'm also pretty sure that there is a fair amount of barrel distortion because if you get just a face in the frame the nose area looks a little too big. No zoom on this camera so between that and the resolution you realistically have to be within about 10 or 15 feet of your subject or you will probably be disappointed in the photo.

It also needs a fair amount of light to take a picture. I took it into an Outback Steakhouse and it was too dim to take a picture. When that is the case the camera tells you by a "err" message on the little LCD readout. No Mac drivers which is a bummer. I would love to not have to fire up my PC just to get the photos off.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Oh so disappointed
Review: I was skeptical about this camera, but it got enough good reviews that I thought it might be a fun thing to have. I wasn't expecting to use it to take artistic shots to keep and treasure forever and ever, but I did think I'd get something other than shapeless blurs. Unfortuntately, I think this camera will get little to no use, because it just isn't worth the trouble of checking to see if the battery is dead (usually yes), taking the pictures, and uploading them onto the computer (if they haven't inexplicably disappeared) using the awkward, poorly designed software (with no documentation whatsoever). I have gotten a total of zero useful photos with this item. If you want a digital camera, don't buy this one: you still won't really have anything more than you started with.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great little camera for the price
Review: If you are looking for a cheap little camera at a decent price with good resolution for sending emails and the like - this is the camera for you. Sure you can't expect the same quality as developed film, but the 640x480 resolution is plenty good for attaching to email or a quick small print on paper. Finally, the quality of picure is the same as the...Sony my father-in-law got when the 640x480 resolution first came out. If you read the directions on it's operation, you will have lots of fun and good digital pictures to share with family and friends. Additional information:
PLUSES:
+ Very compact.
+ Really great price.
+ Quality resolution for still shots.
+ Free software for downloading the pictures from camera to PC.
+ Software allows you to email the picture right from the program via Outlook Express.
MINUSES:
- Memory is volatile so make sure you have a fresh battery after two full uses if away from computer, you could lose all your shots.
- The viewfinder is not "what you see is what you get", nor does it have a target, at least in my camera.
- Action shots are somewhat blurry even at low resolution, and I've found it is not quite quick enough to catch the subject when it is moving quickly.


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