Che-ez! Splash Ultra-compact Digital Camera With Flash [0.3MP] - Blue
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(5 out of 5)Wow, what a beauty
Having read some of the other reviews and technical specs for cameras under 1 megapixel, I had dismissed the Blink in favour of the L'Espion Xtra or the Che-ez Splash. For a small extra consideration the Che-ez splash has the clip on Flash gun. It sounded great but it was a new product without any reviews to consider so it was a bit of a gamble. Well it paid off, I am delighted.
My new toy just arrived this morning and first impressions were very good. Nice presentation packaging containing (almost) everything you need. The camera itself looks like a high quality product with its blue aluminium finish.
The instruction manual is fairly clear and easy to follow but for some bizarre reason the letters "fi" and "fl" have been replaced by some unusual characters. This is annoying but not a major problem.
The software on the supplied CD loaded quickly and without problems on Windows 2000 professional. The shielded USB cable is over 1M long which should be ok for most PC installations. The Nylon pouch for storing the Camera and the flash attachment is adequate but there is some room for improvement.
Only thing that was missing was the batteries. So off down to the shops before I could try out this lovely new toy! Shame about this.
I was very quickly able to take my first pictures and down load them via the USB. At first I had a few poor results due to camera shake caused by pressing and releasing the button. Not really suprising when you consider the size of the camera. I quickly discovered that the key to solving this problem is to hold the button down until after the second beep. After that no more problems.
The picture quality is outstanding considering it is only VGA (0.3Mpixels) but results will vary with the light conditions and you need to practice a bit.
Unlike some of the other miniature cameras the pictures are stored in an 8M Flash memory which means you do not lose them when the battery power dies or is disconnected.
I also tried taking 2 short movie clips which also proved to be very easy and gave good results.
Next, I tried the 10s timer. When selecting the various modes such as timer you need to read the manual very carefully. If you skip through the instructions quickly you will probably miss one of the button presses and end up in the wrong mode.
Downloading to the PC was incredibly simple and easy. Connect the USB, click on the Che-ez icon, click on "storage" and it immediately starts to download the pictures and video clips at a very impressive speed. Save the lot to a directory with another click and your done. Fantastic.
If you want to edit the pictures, There is also some picture editing software bundled with the camera which seems quite easy to use and produces good results.
When I purchased the camera I was under the impression that you could also use it as a Web Cam which seems to be confirmed as possible but there are no details on how to achieve that or any software drivers to make it happen. Slightly disappointed about this but maybe I can figure it out later.
Once you show this to your friends, tell them what it can do and how little it costs they will all want one. Several of my friend have already placed orders.
(5 out of 5)Pretty cool little camera
When it turned up it was actually a bit smaller than I had expected which worried me slightly since most reviews of other mini budget cameras I had seen were very poor.
However, I need't had worried as it really turned out to work very nicely. The picture quality is probably almost as good as you will get on 640x480, the images are clear, bright and in focus even inside or in dim light.
The flash (one of the reasons I chose this camera in the first place) works fine but is in fact rarely needed since the camera can handle normal inside light perfectly.
The styling to my mind is very nice. The compact size here is a bonus as it can be carried round very unobtrusively. The small buttons might be a bit fiddly for someone with fat fingers, but they make it perfect for children to play about with.
All in all, I would say this is a perfect budget camera, you get what you pay for here plus a little bit more.
(5 out of 5)A girly view!
After purchasing this camera pretty much on looks alone I am very pleased with how it works! It definately looks nice and is very small (my friends couldnt believe it was a camera)!
After digging out some AAA batteries I gave my camera a go.
Taking straight forward pictures is very easy and they are actually surprisingly good quality. I had a few grainy images due to not switching to macro mode (and a few I can't work out why!).
Normal mode pictures are still good quality (and for some reason I can take 223 not 219!) but I tend to use Fine as its the preset and preset modes are returned when the camera switches itself off. At least you dont lose pictures when it switches off, which is very handy.
Video clips are also easy and good quality, but read the manual as I deleted pictures when trying to get to the right mode.
The software is easy to install and saving pictures is easy and surprisingly quick. The photo edting software seems comprehensive but looks slightly scary to someone not used to things like that!
The flash works well (although takes fairly obscure batteries - not included) and lights a black room pretty well but is hardly normally needed.
As I bought this particular pretty camera as it was also a webcam, I was confused to find no webcam software/instructions. So off I went to the Che-ez website and after downloading Japanese scripts and working out how to switch it to English (top of page) I clicked on "downloads" and found "Splash!" and there was the software to download! My webcam now works perfectly!
Overall this is a lovely little camera, definate value for money!!
(5 out of 5)Happy Snapping
I have recently purchased the "Che-ez! Splash Ultra-compact Digital Camera With Flash [0.3MP] - Blue" and I must say I was well impressed. I had been looking for some time for a camera that would suit my needs and let me tell you this was the one for me.
The camera has an excellent resolution for something the size of a match box and at 640x480 I this it would suffice to say that it is more than enough for its dimensions. The camera comes in a stylish blue colour and is supplied with "Splash Camera, Flash Strobe, Carrying Case, CD-ROM, Warranty Card"
The camera weighs in at an approximate 42g, which is little more than a packet of crisps, to be precise the camera's dimensions are W60xH38xD17mm.
The camera can take a maximum of 219 pictures; can act as a video camera and a webcam.
I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for the above specification as this is perfect for what I require it to do.
(2 out of 5)Che-ez! Splash Ultra-compact Digital Camera With Flash
Pros: Very compact - barely noticable in your pocket. Can take 54 secs of footage. Comes with Good Photo Editing Software.
Cons: Image quality is poor. Auto shut-off after 30 secs can be annoying especially if it takes more than 30 secs to line up your shot. Hard to see the tiny LCD display; very easy to delete last photo taken by mistake.