Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes it actually works.
Review: After 100 attempts I made excellent photos of some old snapshots of my girlfriend that seemed to show greater detail than the originals. This highlights the PDR-M70's abilities and shortcomings. It makes great photos, but it's extreemly complicated to use. My 20 year old film camera takes excellent shots on full automatic so I've never learned anything beyond "point and shoot." The PDR-M70 has an automatic setting, but it works poorly and even on automatic you should choose the proper mode for conditions. As you experiment with this camera you get so deeply involved in the settings it's like learning a new programming language. But you have to do it to get good photos, expecially with anything involving the flash. And even worse, when the camera goes off after three minutes of inactivity (I think you can change the setting so it stays on longer) it wipes out some of the settings, but not others. Grab it up and shoot a quick picture? Only if conditions are perfect for the settings in the camera at the time. Worse yet, the PDR-M70 won't re-charge from a universal adapter. I arrived in Russia with only my camera and the Radio Shack adapter that runs my computer, and had to have a Toshiba part shipped from the states so I could re-charge the camera. If I had been stopping in England or elsewhere I would have needed a special adapter for each region. I heeded another customer's review and ordered a high-capacity SmartMedia card and a Viking Flash Memory reader, so now I have a huge tangle of cords... but when I arrived back in the states the camera refused to re-charge using the original cord. I'm not sure what happened... perhaps I need to study the manual some more and perhaps adjust the settings...
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Digital Camera
Review: An easy-to-navigate graphic user interface enables everyone from professional photographers to "digicam" rookies to be pointing, clicking and downloading images in minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Great 36 view in one frame
Review: Beside printing perfect pictures, it is the only digicam that I know of that takes 36 continuous shots at high resolution in one frame. Great for analyzing golf swing or other sports!
Rating: 
Summary: USB no-go if you have Win95!
Review: Good camera, bad news for those with Windows 95B (USB support). Even though the technical data says "USB interface" and "minimum system requirements Win95/98/2000", you have to have Win98 to use the USB interface. Which leaves us Win95B users stuck buying another expensive piece of equipment to download the pictures into our PC. I'm not even confident that it will work if I upgrade to Win98 because the instruction booklet says "Pre-loaded Win98". I don't know exactly what that means.I do like the camera, though I had to return the first one because of a slight discoloration on the left side of the screen during movie mode.
Rating:
Summary: Comment on the service and battery
Review: I can only comment on the service from Toshiba and the battery. I've used the PDR-M5 for more than half year. It uses the same battery as PDR-M70. Here was my experience with PDR-M5 and Toshiba service. I bought this camera for more than half year. The battery went bad last month and can not be charged anymore. I took it to one of the service shop appointed on Toshiba's web site. They called me and said the battery was bad. However, they said the battery was only covered for 90 days, although the warrenty card did not mention anything else besides standard one year warrenty. I called the Toshiba customer support line and was very disappointed with their attitude. The lady named Stacey told me to take whatever the service shop said as granted. In short, she did not want to go into any discussion about the warrenty coverage. In the mean time, she couldn't provide me any Toshiba's contact to discuss it. The service shop that I brought the camera to called IMTEK (located in LA). They claimed that Toshiba told them the battery was not covered as the camera. When I called another service center, they told me that the battery was covered as one year, same as the camera. I am disappointed with Toshiba for their irresponsible on making warrenty clear to consumer. There was nothing I saw showing me the 90 day coverage on Battery and they refused to clearify with customer. This battery was Toshiba's special item. Cost is high .... You can probably get it cheaper from a search on CNET. But, if it is true that Toshiba only covers it for 90 days, that might explain why mine went dead after 180 days. I'll try to get this problem resolved. If you encountered the same problem, please let me know. BTW, the battery performance was not impressive. If you want to take the camera outside for somthing like more than 32 pictures, you might want to consider getting extra battery (extra cost!). If you are interested in what I feel of the PDR-M5, here is the summary: 1. It was relatively a good deal when I purchased it. Not now, especially if you are paying more than $400. It does include everything I want to start with. 2. The functionality was nice. USB was great. Interface was good. 3. The auto-focus was not very good. When it works well, the picture quality was very nice. However, I get probably a 50~70% chance for good focusing pictures. The problem was worse when the lighting was poor. 4. The shutter is a bit slow. When I try to catch my 2 year old's move. It is not satisfactory. But the standby time between two shots was short which makes this problem less painful.
Rating:
Summary: Discontinued?? WHY?
Review: I got this camera because I needed something with a flash-sync terminal (for pro studio flash equipment) and the ability to attach filters. Filters cannot be attached without an adapter though. This definitely seems to be the age of the aftermarket-accessory sell. Why can't anyone just thread the lens instead of the "outer ring?" Strangely, this is one of a handful of cameras (as of late 2001) with the ability to use an external flash (The Olympus C-line only has a proprietary 5-pin terminal, as well as some of the Nikon line.) There must also be an anti-AA-battery conspiracy throughout the industry, because god-forbid I can find a decent camera using them anymore. Once your Lithium runs out, (and they do, very quickly, even though the meter says otherwise,) you are flat out stuck. I read another review where someone complained they picked up a Radio Shack adapter on the road, having left their charger at home, and they claimed it didn't work. That was because the amperage rating of the RS adapter was too low. If you are going to pick up a spare, make sure it can supply at LEAST one amp, because the Toshiba requires two amps. (the rating is on the label of the Toshiba charger.) There is a simple and inexpensive way around this, if you need more batttery power: Use a 6-volt lantern battery ... and make an adapter cable to connect them ... The camera takes extremely high quality and sharp images, except in dim light. BUT I discovered (like an idiot, after a YEAR of owning it,) the hidden secret of this camera that makes it worth the money: You can set it to COMPLETE MANUAL OPERATION! Hold down the Menu button as you turn it on, and you have complete control over the focus, aperature and shutter! No more out-of-focus shots in the dark! I've never had any trouble with the SmartMedia, as someone else mentioned. If you do, you can always go to Toshiba's website and download the latest BIOS for the camera. "Histogram?" A feature no one ever asked for. It's a bar-graph in the lower right of the LCD (a pretty fair amount of LCD real-estate, by the way,) that shows the color intensity across the color spectrum, except there's no reference numbers or symbols to even explain what values you're looking at.
Why didn't they give an option to turn it off? The camera saves all images once taken, and you must 'go into' trash mode to delete them, rather than having them linger until you decide. At least the USB interface is fast between your computer and the camera. Subsequent models still don't have the all-useful flash-sync or filter-attaching capability, which is something all 35mm cameras, even the cheapest models, have had since the invention of photography. It's like the 'touchpad' on laptops: No one asked for them, if anything people have revolted en-masse against it, and yet they persist. But still all the other issues are worth it for the control and flexibility and classic styling this camera offers!
Rating:
Summary: Great camera if the light is right
Review: I have had the PDR-M70 for a few months now and overall I have been impressed with both its ease of use and picture quality. I take most of my pictures on the smaller size, highest quality setting and have had excellent results, even when enlarging to an 8x10 (that is if you go to Walgreens and print at the Kodak kiosk). The camera is probably the most user-friendly of all the digital I looked at because most of the features you would want to use are set up to be accessible like those on a standard film-containing camera. I have 2 complaints, however, which have prompted me to want to send the camera back because they are significant. First, the battery has an extremely short life, even without the LCD on. Plan on 50 pictures without using the LCD and 15-20 at best if the screen is on. For such a good camera otherwise, how could they ship it with such a bad battery. Second, it cannot focus in dim light or at night. I have tried every manual setting possible to get the camera to focus in low light (i.e. in a house at night with one light on in the room) and unless you are pointing at the most well-lit subject, the camera will not focus and the image comes out blurry. If you are planning to take pictures at evening parties and you like to point and shoot, this camera probably will not work for you, even in the auto-focus mode. This is very unfortunate because the Nikon Coolpix 990 and Olympus C-3030 (comparable cameras) do this well and would be better alternatives.
Rating:
Summary: First Timer...Simple and Easy To Use
Review: I've been wanting to write this review since I started using my Toshiba digital camera a month ago now. Having ordered it online, it arrived in no time. I had it out of the box and clicking pics quicker than you can load film into a 35mm camera. Easy setup and simple operation are some key factors to consider when buying a digital camera, and this one fits the bill. I had spent numerous hours researching products online and it came down to two; one a Sony, and the other the Toshiba. I've had it for a month now and am still stoked at the performance of the camera. The ease of operation and simpleness makes the camera a pleasure to use. Picture quality is outstanding. The software bundled with the camera is just as easy to use. Connection is through a USB cable, and once connected the computer is 1,2,3... to view and edit pics accordingly. The software does some nice fixes, making up for the camera itself. In some photos the camera tends on the "blue" side of the spectrum.... which can be easily adjusted in no time (with the computer); as you'd expect from your film developing company anyway. Secondly, crucial to any electronic device is the power source. The lithium battery of the Toshiba is ok; longer life would be nice, yet it is much better than most. (A second battery would be a wise investment.) The battery charges in the camera in about 5 hours. There is an external charger I plan on getting when I do buy the second battery. Charging time is much shorter according to the literature. A third consideration is the shutter speed, the time it takes when you depress the shutter button to the time it takes for the camera to actually take the picture. For the Toshiba it is no longer than it would for a 35mm camera (A BIG plus when subjects are not always standing still). Overall, I am quite pleased with the Toshiba PDRM70 and would recommend it to any shutterbugs without hesitation. Happy clicking.....
Rating:
Summary: Fast, small, controllable
Review: I've had one of these cameras for several months and I really like it. It takes very high-quality photos. It's packed with features. It does take some time to learn them all. It also means that until you get all the features down you'll sometimes take photos at the wrong settings if you venture out of the full automatic mode for the aperture-priority or shutter-speed priority modes. Photographic features like burst mode, automatic bracketing, and exposure compensation work as advertised. It also takes low resolution movies and has a sound recorder that doesn't pick up voices well. I took it to Europe without the charger and had it set to minimize use of the battery and got well over 100 photos on a single charge. But the reason I actually chose this camera was that it seemed faster than the others I tried. It starts up very quickly, adjusts itself quickly when you press the shutter half way down, and takes the photo instantly when you press the rest of the way. The few weaknesses it has are an inability to deal with very bright light (highest f-stop is f8), problems focusing in very low light, and the battery indicator doesn't really tell you much - you'll only get one or two photos between full and empty, but people tell me that's a problem with all batteries of this type. For those who are having problems with the quality of the photos, I can only say recheck your settings. This little camera can capture amazing photos and packs a photographic wallop.
Rating:
Summary: Nice camera
Review: I've had this camera for a few weeks now. I really like it. It is easy to use for a novice, but has a lot of features for those interested in more than just pointing and shooting. I had no problem hooking it up to my PC and downloading pictures. The software installed and operates smoothly. I download the pictures using the included software, but I like the robust features of my picture editing software (MS Picture It!) so I just reopen the files in that software. The quality of the photos is unbelievable. I think this camera is worth the price.
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