Owners Opinion:
Toshiba PDR-5300 (charon79m, 1 Oct 04)
 4.9 million effective pixels 35 mm - 105 mm (3x) zoom | charon79m's Rating
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OpinionI have the Gateway DC-T50 version of this camera. I purchased it for $200 at Best Buy. One week later I saw the camera for $150. The reason for the price dropping on this camera is that Gateway has decited to stop selling this product. I have contacted Gateway, and they are not offering ANY direct support for this product. They will NOT provide any firmware updates. For all issues you are requested to take the camera back to the retail location from which you purchased the camera.That being said, it has been a great camera. Pictures are crisp and the colors are rich. For most circumstances the auto function works great. Manual functions are good with shutter speeds as long at 8 seconds. ISO settings are limited: 100/200/400. Automatic white balance and spot metering work well. Video mode has a variety of settings, and with my new baby I have taken advantage of this feature a lot. You are not able to use the zoom feature when in video mode. You MUST zoom first then use the video function. You will need to upgrade the 32MB SD card that comes with the camera. In all, this camera is the best bang for the buck...if you can still find it on the market. I would definitely recommend this camera for the budget minded photographer, or if someone is looking for a second camera for situations where you do not want to take your expensive camera. | ||||
ProblemsThe main issue is that Gateway will NOT be providing any meaningful support for this product. They will replace the camera if it is broken, but don't look for any firmware updates. I have not tried using the Toshiba firmware on this camera as I am not able to get the original firmware to put back on it if the update fails.I have had an issue where the camera detects the media card as protected even though the switch is set to writeable. I must power off the camera and then back on to fix the problem. ISO 400 setting is rather noisey. I've had to use lower ISO settings and a longer shutter speed. Occationally, I've had a picture "bleed" onto the previous picture. found battery life to be quite good; however, there is no external charger for this camera. I have purchased an extra battery that I keep chagred. Other manufacturers use the same battery, so you can buy their external charger if you would like. |
