Kyocera Finecam SL400R

Opinion: Unfortunately, Kyocera has apparently gotten out of the camera business, but this is a very nice camera if you get it at a bargain price. We've done both still photos and videos and been pleased with the results. The size is what attracted my wife to this, it'll fit easily in her purse (unlike my DSLR :-)

Opinion: This is a review of an old camera that I am looking to replace. I love the size and the Wow Factor. You can't beat the look on people's faces the first time they see me bring it out of my pocket. I have been very happy with it except for a couple of issues; one of which requires me to replace it now. If I could find a new or barely used one I would purchase it in a heartbeat.

Pictures may not be perfect and it takes a little work to take pictures in low light. I could'nt be happier with pictures in daylight.

I will be replacing this camera with a pocketable point and shoot that has optical stabilization and hopefully uses AA batteries. This is a big request.

Opinion: I purchased this camera to take photos of custom new jewelry designs that are being shipped to customers. I needed a very small camera to fit in my brief case.
The pictures are very sharp and the camera is a beauty for fast shooting of photos. For the price $199 I love this camera! The video quality is sharp and very clear. A high speed SD card is essential to take advantage of this cameras features.

Opinion: I bough this camera as a carry-everywhere digicam. It is a lot of fun to use: ultra compact, great swivel body, instant wake-up, quick zoom, pretty fast & accurate AF, very short cycle time, excellent video (not that I really care)...

The image quality is good although it doesn't match my much bulkier Minolta S414. Corners can get a bit soft and there is a hint of color aberrations, but nothing really worrying me (my former coolpix 995 was much worse). The 800 ISO setting is very noisy, but it is there, and with some post processing and downsizing, you can get amazing low light shots too.

Unfortunately, after a year or so of use, I have realised how short lived the battery was: the LCD seems to drain the battery very fast. There is no way it would last a day. Maximum 10-20 shots (without flash!) over a couple of hours, that's it...

And since batteries are charged inside the camera, it is inconvenient to charge several spare batteries, unless you buy an separate charger as well. And if you need several spare batteries and a charge at hand, what is the point in such a compact camera?

Opinion: This camera has gone above and beyond my expectations. I was originally looking at the Minolta Dimage ultra-compact line for a camera, when a cnet comparios directed me to this camera.

After research and testing, I determined that this one was the best of all the current ultra-compacts at low light levels. This still isn't as good as a D-SLR, but that's because it's not a D-SLR.

Overall, as far as features and image quality, this camera beats a lot of the competition in 4-5mp at twice or 3x the body size. The rotating lens is a great feature, even though at first I was weary.

I purchased mine at Willoughbys after looking at their website. Their in store price, and theire store is top notch, was 232.00 just like the web site. After taxes it was 250ish, just the same as after shipping. The price was good as well, I even picked up one for a friend

What it's missing: shutter priority mode.
Pleasant Features: Built in filters, AE mode, The flash is more than adequate, the three types of focusing, including a manual option, the amazing start up time and continuous shooting mode, and even though i think they're stupid, a good movie mode.

Great Camera

Opinion: I've been researching for some time for an ultra-compact digital camera to take with me while on vacation or whenever I might need to "capture the moment". I already have a decent all-around digital camera but wanted an inexpensive compact to carry with me most of the time. I really wanted to get the Casio Exilim Z40 but the picture quality just wasn't up to par after viewing the samples on some of the digital cameral review sites. So after checking out the SL400R's sample images, I decided to give it a shot (especially with Amazon's overall lowest price and the $50 gift certificate to seal the deal).

My wife and I went to Vegas last week and I had the opportunity to put the camera through the test. I can honestly say this cameral rivals my Nikon for outdoor shots. The colors were much more vibrant and the images were sharper. And when I print the images on my Epson RX500, you would think I had a photo lab print the shots. The only downfall is the quality of indoor pics with low lighting. The prints appear grainy and not well illuminated. But I didn't purchase this for indoor shooting. The only other downside to this camera is that it doesn't include a lens cover. You do get a compact camera case but that does add to the bulk a bit. I just made sure I carried around the included lens cleaner stick that's included for those times I chose not to put the camera in its case.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this camera. Every time I bring it out, it draws oohs and ahhs from the people around me - it's so small, very stylish and best of all has the rotating body to shoot those hard to reach shots. This cameral was well worth my small investment!

Opinion: Great lens for the size. I had purchased this camera to take on vacation and to keep with me for that moment that you need a picture. Who wants to drag a big camera around especially when you're traveling. I wanted a camera that would fit in your pocket and wouldnt even notice that you are carrying it around, so when those once in a lifetime situations come up for a great picture, you'll have a camera to capture the moment. It's great to have a camera with a fast quality lens, but that involves size in most cases. My major concern was size and this is the smallest and absolutley easiest to hold of all the mini cameras. I liked this one better than the Sony because of the ability to swivel, which allows you to hold the camera at any angle to see the viewer, and that same feature makes a smaller camera more ergonomic. The quality of the images really suprised me, color rendition and clarity is very good. Most of my pictures were taken at the 2 megapixel level which were more than adequate for 4x6's. I had some processed by Ofoto.com and the sharpness, color and clarity really blew me away. I shot some pictures at the 4 megapixel size, for those scenes I thought I might want to make larger prints of. I also like to shoot multiple shots to stitch together to make larger panoramas. Those pictures came out absolutley great too!I bought some extra batteries to take along as the life of the battery is limited to it's size and these batteries are really tiny, but several extras don't take up much room in your pocket either. I shot about 100 pictures each day and 3 batteries was adequate for outdoor shots along with a few flash pictures. The camera uses SD memory an can hold up to 512MB. The starter of 16MB is really limited. The flash is a minature to go along with the camera, so don't expect to light up a building with it. With the lens and sensor sensitivity, its adequate for group shots, otherwise go to the 'flash off' setting and hold the camera steady for a 'short time exposure'. The camera has a lot of features to adjust the picture size, quality and function of the camera. When you power the camera ON, it comes up instantly, no great time delay. Another great features is multiple shots, several per second. All in all, this is a great little camera. If your not interested in making very large prints, the SL300R is a good choice, identical except for a max resolution of 3 megapixels instead of 4

Opinion: I purchased this camera as well as the Sony Cybercam DSC-T1
Comparatively speaking they are close is size and similar in operation. This camera is a little more interesting as it does swivel, but I had concern that it is built a little more flimsey, and is definatly lighter in weight giving the impression it is of lesserr quality. I had similar lighting situations and developed film and found the print quality to be a little better in this camera than the Sony, but the pictures I developed on the Sony were shot in VGA so it wasn't a fair comparison (I realized later) I am keeping the Sony, as I feel it is the better camera in that it feels much more solid and I feel it will go the long run. The picture quality on the Kyocera was pretty good but not that great for a 4MP camera.

Opinion: I've had this camera for about a week now. It is not my first or only digital camera - I also have a Pentax *ist digital SLR and a Sony 717 (for infrared photos). The Kyocera is the camera that stays in my pocket all the time, and for that purpose it is an excellent choice. This camera fits nicely into a jeans pocket, and you hardly know it's there. The images are more than adequate for prints up to 8x10 inches, and the lens is sharp from edge to edge. The only way I can fault this camera is for its dim light focusing - which is not very good. I can, however, use manual preset focus in situations where the camera cannot auto focus. The Kyocera is very fast in operation - ready for the first picture quickly after powering up, and very fast to shoot after pushing the button. I really enjoy the swivel body, and find that I take many pictures at waist level without holding the camera up to my eyel. This is a very capable snap-shot camera, and is just what I hoped it would be when I ordered it from Amazon.com.