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Posted: Mon, July 21, 2003
Oregon Scientific DS9300 Digital Compact Camera By Norman HarrisGetting started Saving the day Practical considerations Verdict Technical specifications Look through the electronics section of an Argos or Index catalogue, or maybe your local Gadget Shop and there's one brand name that stands out. You can't help but notice Oregon Scientific, as it seems to make everything in consumer electronics from radio controlled clocks to multi-function LCD weather stations. There is one area of electronics where it may be less well known - that of digital cameras. The serious side of digital photography is dominated by big names such as Fuji, Nikon, Canon and Sony, with Oregon Scientific concentrating its small range of cameras towards the more novelty end of the business. Its latest addition in the form of the DS9300 Digital Compact Camera, however, sports a businesslike 3.3 MegaPixel resolution, yet comes in at just under £200. Getting started I doubt it will win any awards for design as the camera is a simple box measuring some
101.3 x 55 x 36.8 mm. Yet the lens retracts fully into the body when the camera's off, giving it quite smooth lines, while its built-in cover means no more lost lens caps. Although at the lighter end of the
scales for a camera of this size, at some 180g with batteries, it has a very solid feel to it and although it gives the appearance that it would take more than a few knocks I was unable to test this
assumption.Together with the camera, the full kit includes a couple of AA batteries, a wrist strap, USB cable, video cable and a manual, plus a CD. Disappointingly the CD didn't contain any photo software, just some USB drivers for Windows (should they be needed) together with a second copy of the manual in electronic form. Relying on just two standard AA alkalines for power is a bit of a two edged sword. On one hand it means that batteries are readily available, but on the other you'll need to buy Ni-MH batteries and a recharger if you want to keep the running costs down. The biggest drain on the batteries comes from the LCD screen, but this can be switched off for maximum economy. Another power saving feature is the Auto Power Off which can be set to activate after a set time; sadly this does power the whole thing off, rather than switching to a standby mode.  In addition to the 1.5" LCD screen on the back of the camera there's an optical viewfinder which can
be used throughout the 2x optical zoom. To frame your picture when using the 2x digital zoom though, you'll need to use the LCD display. The zoom control itself is positioned on the rear where you'd
naturally place your thumb. The zoom stops briefly at the limits of the optical zoom, and pressing it again switches between optical and digital zooming, giving an effective 4x zoom in total. Unfortunately
if you're using the optical viewfinder it doesn't give any indication to say when the limit of the optical zoom has been reached. If you're not careful, it's all too easy to move into the realms of the digital
zoom without noticing - switching the LCD off prevents this.Saving the dayAs the camera doesn't comes with one as standard, another almost essential purchase is an SD memory card to store your pictures. Instead you get a meagre 8Mb of internal memory, which is barely enough to store 10 images at the full 3.3M resolution. Drop down to 640x480 shots for web use and that number jumps to about 100 pictures stored internally, or around 40 images at the intermediate resolution. At least the internal memory is of the flash type, so you won't loose your precious pictures should the batteries fail. A nice touch is the siting of the SD card slot within the battery compartment. This ensures that you cannot remove the card with the power on, and possibly corrupt the data. Altogether the camera can capture at 2048x1536, 1024x768 and 640x480 pixel resolutions, which are
then stored as JPEG images using one of three compression ratios. It can also create a 2976x2240 image through interpolation (resampling), however, as this doesn't add any picture information but
does add to the storage problem, I think it's better ignored by most. Its only real use is when you're sending images straight from the memory card to a printer. What may be more useful to some is the
320x240 movie mode (no audio though), the recording length of which is limited by the available storage space.Selecting the image resolution, and indeed the various shooting modes, is achieved through the LCD's on screen display, and a fairly clear menu system. Here you can adjust such things as the resolution and compression modes, the ISO sensitivity, and light metering modes. On the body of the camera you'll find the more frequently used switches like the flash on/off and self-timer. Overall the settings are easy for non-photographers to get the grips with, while more experienced photographers will see the benefits from having access to spot metering, manual focus and exposure compensation. Without a focus ring on the lens the DS9300 resorts to using the zoom control during manual focus. One of the switches on the back of the camera toggles it between manual and auto-focus, with a "MF" icon appearing on the LCD confirming which mode it's in. One setting I did find a little unusual was the option to imprint the date and time within the picture. In common with most other digital cameras the DS9300 stores date and time information within the Exif file information, and you can elect whether to include this in the picture area when the image is printed. I can see its advantage if your software doesn't support Exif, but users should be aware that once the date is included in an image it cannot be removed. Practical considerationsFor those looking for a point-and-shoot camera the DS9300 provides auto focus and auto exposure, although both can be overridden. As is common with a camera of this sort, only the LCD screen provides any feedback of what's going on and the optical viewfinder doesn't provide any status information of any sort. On pressing the shutter button to the halfway mark, the camera focuses and the LCD confirms the aperture and shutter speed in use. At the same time the focus and exposure are locked, in case you need to reframe the subject. Press the shutter and there's a very noticeable delay while the shot is processed and saved. It's
certainly not a camera on which to take several shots in quick succession. In saying that, the camera does have a continuous shot setting where from three to twelve shots (depending on the
resolution) can be taken. Unfortunately that setting only allows a single shutter press to take several images, so there's no control over the interval between the shots.Final images were sharp and contrasted - in fact too sharp to some extent, but at least that's better than having too fuzzy an image. More worrying was the tendency for whites to burn out, and reds to be over saturated. While the bright colours might please some, I found the red to be a bit over the top. Although colours can easily be toned down within a photo software package, the lack of detail in the whites was gone forever. The movie mode allows short videos to be taken - these came out at an unconventional 27 frames/sec in the Motion JPEG AVI format. While this frame-rate and file format provides good quality animation, you'd almost certainly have to convert the files before importing them into a presentation package, or for web use. In replay mode the LCD displays six thumbnail images at a time, allowing you to quickly scan through the stored pictures. Selected pictures can then be viewed full screen on the LCD, and a very useful video output lets you redirect the LCD's display onto a television screen. Used in this way a slideshow can be set up on a TV, and can be set to automatically play back all the images stored. VerdictThere are things that are nice and neat about the DS9300, but others that are not. The built-in flash, for example, is no more than a token gesture and won't cope with subjects more than a few feet away. Also, its LCD is difficult to see in bright sunlight. Although it is a budget camera with obvious budget roots, it's a good attempt at an easy to use, and very affordable, compact digital camera.Technical specificationDS 9300Image Resolution: 3.3 megapixel (2048 x 1536 pixel) Optical Zoom: 2x Digital Zoom: 2x Lens: F2.9/F5. Macro: 6-14 cm Monitor Display: 1.5" Colour TFT LCD Exposure: Auto exposure White Balance: Auto white balance Internal Memory: 8MB non volatile/flash memory External Memory: SD card Power Supply: 2 x AA alkaline batteries Connectors: Video output, USB and SD card connector Dimensions (w x d x h): 101.3mm x 55mm x 35.8 mm Weight: 135g without battery Accessories: USB Cable, Video Cable, User Manual, CD-ROM Device Driver, Bundle Software Operating System: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP Price: £199 inc vat. Warranty: Two Years Website: http://www.oregonscientific.co.uk About the AuthorIn addition to his freelance writing, Norman Harris runs NH Technology, an audio-visual and multimedia company. He can be contacted through his website at http://www.nhtechnology.co.uk. |
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