Agfa ePhoto 1680

Opinion: I had this camera from 1998 when it hit the market and passed it on to my brother a few years later.

At the time this was one of the best DC's available, much better build than the Nikon CP900. The Agfa was build like a tank.

Image wise it was a typical 1.3 megapixel camera, very similar to the mentioned Nikon.

This camera made me see the digital would take over in a few years and it did.

Opinion: Given that this review is made more than 6 years after purchasing
the camera, and that cameras have improved vastly in the
intervening time, I'm speaking from my own experience and not
from a current knowledge of presently available cameras (which
would tend to make this Agfa fall short in comparison).
So. I have enjoyed this Agfa and have used it extensively over the
years, mostly for web-related purposes and only occasionally for
printing. I chose it from among the admittedly narrow field of the
time (Feb. 1999) for its manual overrides and flexible features. (In
fact, I had purchased the ePhoto 1280 but had to return it for a
problem with the flash; Agfa sent me the 1680 as a replacement.) I
have found it durable (I am still using it after 6 years) and it has
reasonably good image quality. The swivel body design has come
in handy more than once; though it's pretty hard on batteries, the
fact that it uses AA size (NiMH or better) is convenient (and a 4-
battery NiCD/NiMH charger was included in the package); the 2"
screen is handy, though not easily viewable in bright sunlight.
I even had occasion to disassemble the camera down to board
level and did some soldering work --- to extract the tip of the
original serial cable that had broken off inside the camera body ---
and when I got it back together again it still worked (I don't know if
that says more about the quality of construction or my skills as a
repairman!). Though it's high time for something new, I have
enjoyed using this camera.

Opinion: It's more than 2 years since I got my AGFA1680. Previous
one was a Casio QV100. It has plenty of options that make
you feel like using a *real* camera: speed, aperture, exposition ... no "sports/home/evening" presets.
It shots fast when taking action sports photos, does not
need a lot of light to take good shots without a flash.
Image quality is great, comparable to cheap 2.2Mpx or
even these cheap automatic blurry 3Mpx cameras.
Colours are quite close to reality, a little dark to my oppinion. Great that it works with NiMH / Alkaline
Batteries: battery packs are expensive and difficult to
find as model gets obsolete. A cheap 16Mb smartmedia
will hold 48-52 photos.

Opinion: Considering the age of the camera, the shots are great. I often use a
monopod to reduce blurring in action shots. There are lots of manual
controls which allows good results at school plays without the flash!
There is a flash sync built in so you can add an external flash! You'll pay
less than $350 (perhaps much less) on a used unit on ebay. I love the
swivel lens. If you like playing with special effects consider one!

Opinion: AGFA warning: Will not repair 1680. I have had this camera for about 2 years. The selector wheel has quit working most of the time. Camera still works fine, just can't change settings! AGFA will not repair it for any amount of money. I am left with a $900.00 throw away camera by them. The camera has been very good, but when they abandon service for a camera that has been discontinued just a few months, is not excuseable. AGFA is obviously not a company to be taken seriously in the camera business!

Opinion: I have had the camera for about two years. In that time I have taken several thousand pictures. Overall, I have been very pleased. I like the swivel feature of the lens; very good for taking pictures over crowds. Lens takes pretty good pictures, red-eye good. Downside, low ISO; pictures tend to be a bit dark unless very sunny day.

Opinion: For the money (or even for more money) this is a very good camera. The color is good, the photos print up very well, and it has enough resolution settings to all for different photography needs. If you can find a used unit in good shape, it's very worthwhile to have this camera around. The software is very good and very easy to use. I have to admit, in many cases, it's superior to my 4 megapixel camera.

Opinion: I have been using a 1680 since they first came out and still rate it about anything AGFA have produced since. They did make a $7,000 digital pro camera but I have only had a chance to see it once. The 1680 is a little heavy on battery use, but if you keep a few handy they can be changed. These are a few pictures I have taken with the camera http://www.educate.co.uk/agfagallery1680.htm
There are also some 1280 pictures around on the site and many of the images used on it were taken with the 1680.
If you can get hold of one it's well worth buying

Opinion: For those of you that bought an AGFA ephoto 1680 used or reconditioned, you got what you paid for, a little over two years by now I paid $ 960.00 and I'm still getting my moneys worth (This was a replacement from the ephoto 1280)
Excellent picture quality (thanks to the "artificial" 2.1 mpixel)when you know how to operate it, I've even compared the pictures to a couple of 3.31 Mpixel cameras and mine still looks sharper and less grainy.
In my opinion it is a shame Agfa has not made anymore high end cameras like this one.