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Digital cameras are now outselling their 35mm counterparts. This is due, in part, to the proliferation of low-end pocket cameras such as this latest from Logitech.
The Pocket Digital is small and very stylish, being the same dimensions as a credit card and only 9mm thick. This compares with the Fujifilm Slimshot, which also sports a credit card design but is 3mm thinner.
The Pocket Digital looks fancier with its brushed aluminium casing, which slides open to reveal the viewfinder and lens, offering sensible protection missing from the Slimshot.
The Pocket Digital, like the Slimshot, uses Autobrite technology to improve picture quality. This technology provides the camera with a wider adaptive dynamic range to reduce strong differences in lighting - particularly useful for backlit subjects.
Results are impressive when compared to other cameras of a similar price, producing a more natural, balanced image. But the camera's lack of a flash means it struggles indoors, and shots in low light or at night are impossible.
Logitech have chosen to provide 16MB of flash memory (twice that of the Slimshot), capable of storing 53 images in either VGA format or an interpolated 1.3 megapixel resolution. For the uninitiated, interpolation is where an image is enlarged, and algorithms used to fill in the gaps.
The interpolated images are rather grainy, so the functionality will probably be ignored by most users. It might have been better to have followed Fujifilm and offered the lower-quality QVGA alternative, enabling 200 shots to be taken.
But 53 images are enough for most occasions and, with transfer via USB, downloading images is easy. Connect the Pocket Digital to a PC and you are prompted to save the camera's images in jpeg format. Cancel this and you can import them into your preferred image editor.
A copy of the user-friendly MGI Photosuite 4 SE is included should you be without a capable application. During image transfer the Lithium Polymer battery is recharged, which has an impressive life.
The camera is a doddle to operate, having only two function buttons and a shutter-release. Each button has two functions that are displayed as transfers on the casing itself and in the display panel. The casing provides ample protection against knocks and scrapes, but the labels detailing the two buttons' functions soon rubbed off our unit.
Contact:
Logitech 01753 870900
www.logitech.com
See also:
All Digital Cameras
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