Epson PhotoPC 500

Opinion: My first digital, bought in 1997 at a heavy discount. Used it heavily, it actually rekindled my interest in photography (digital AND analog). Very, very obsolete now of course, but images looked pretty ok on my 14" monitor back then.

Opinion: This was my first all-electronic camera. People couldn't believe it could be re-used and the photos downloaded to a computer. They thought it would wear down...It was a .3 Megapix. I have a 10 Megapixels now.

Opinion: This was my first digital camera. It was a hand-me-down. It was lousy even then. Not only was the res too low to be of any serious use the picture quality was not much good either.

It had no LCD on the back so you could not check your photos until you got home.

It felt nothing more than a toy. I still have a few of the photos that I took with it all that time ago. Every time I see them, I curse the fact they are so low res.

It was a gimmick really and never a substitute for film.

Opinion: I purchased this model back in early 1996. I can't remember if the number 500 was in the product name, but it is the closest I could find here on DPR. I chose it over the Casio QV10 that had an LCD screen because the Epson had higher resolution. The images were 640 x 480 and it had a low resolution mode of 320 x 240. Pictures were a bit soft and had color fringing in the corners. In those days, it was just a toy, a $500 one!

I could fit only 20 high res images in its built in memory that could be expanded. To get the images off the camera, you needed a serial cable and transfer was very slow. It needed 4 AA cells and it would run them down in no time. You'd be lucky to get 40 shots!