Written: 11/4/99
Written by:
MidwestMike®
Price: $299
For the money, the D-340R's photo quality is outstanding! Give credit not only to the top-end resolution of 1,280 by 960 pixels, but also to the fact that the camera can capture a more dynamic range of color with less light than most bargain cameras and with 1.3M/Pixels to boot!
The D-340R is great for capturing action sequences: it can snap a series of ten burst shots at half-second intervals.(At low resolution only without flash L) It also includes a 2X digital zoom, four flash modes, automatic exposure, TV-out (for viewing pics and could be used as a camcorder in a pinch), and a cool 3X magnifier (for zooming in and reviewing shots already taken). Also has the ability to 'thumbnail' on the view-screen to quickly decide which ones you wanna keep and which ones you want to dump.
The pocket-sized D-340R's features are as impressive as its picture-taking quality. The 1.8 inch LCD is bright and responsive, and there's no time lapse when you use it as a viewfinder. (But I recommend not keeping it on all the time…sucks the batteries quick). The controls are easy to reach along the top of the case. Also, the D-340R came with one 8MB SmartMedia cards, doubling your capacity to as much as 122 frames of low quality (640x480), 36 high Quality (1280 x 960), 18 Super High Quality (1280 x 960 larger file size) and 2 uncompressed TIFF (why would you want them anyway?).
The software bundle is exceptional. You get the Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.0 editor, a tool for stitching photos into a panoramic montage, and a drag-and-drop transfer tool for pulling pictures out of the camera. Considering the size (higher resolution makes larger pictures), photos make it to the PC in good time: heck even finds the right COM port OR even PS/2. The camera comes with a PS/2 to Serial adapter. You can get the optional FlashPath adapter that the SmartMedia plugs into to allow transfer via the floppy drive!
Battery life is what I would consider normal. Personally, I installed 4 NiMH batteries and prolonged 'play-time', lasted a tad over 2 days. I imagine it would have been longer, but you know when you get a new toy, you just gotta run the crap out of it!J