Toshiba PDR-5300 Review

The Auto Record mode is the Point-n-Shoot simple mode. You can change image size and quality, sharpness, contrast and color mode. You can also choose from Single, Continuous, AE Bracketing or Interval drive modes. See the menu below.

When you half-press the shutter button the camera sets the white balance and exposure value, the autofocus is successful will show the AF target marks in blue.

Pressing the MENU button in Auto brings up this screen of options:

SIZE - 2560x1920, 2048x1536, 1280x960, 640x480
QUALITY - One, two or three "stars" - more stars is better
SHARPNESS - Normal, Soft or Hard
CONTRAST - Normal, Strong or Soft
COLOR - Color mode: Standard, Vivid, Monochrome or Sepia
CAPTURE MODE - Single, Continuous, AE Bracketing
VOICE MEMO - Enable voice memo for still image capture
LCD BRIGHT - Adjust brightness of LCD display
DIGITAL ZOOM - Enable/disable digital zoom feature
PREVIEW - Display picture just captured on LCD for 2 seconds
INTERVAL - Enable interval recording

In Program AE, TV, AV, Manual modes you have access to the full range of exposure options including white balance, ISO, exposure compensation and more.

Here's an animated look at all of the Record mode screens.

In Program, Tv, Av, Manual you also have these options:

WHITE BALANCE - Auto, incandescent, fluorescent, daylight, cloudy, manual
COLOR - Color mode: Standard, Vivid, Monochrome or Sepia
METERING - Center or Spot
ISO - Auto or 100, 200, or 400
MANUAL WB - Set up the manual white balance temperature

The macro focus mode covers from 9 cm (wide) to infinity, 30cm to infinity (tele). There is also fixed focus at 1 m, 3 m and infinity.

The PDR-5300 is capable of capturing motion video with audio at 15 frames per second. The image size is selectable between Full (320 x 240) and Half (160 x 120) and in either resolution you can select one, two or three "stars" quality.

Maximum video clip lengths for 320x240 are: 30, 45 and 60 seconds
Maximum video clip lengths for 160x120 are: 90, 120 and 180 seconds

Turning the Mode Dial to the Setup position gives you access to:

CARD INFO - Tells how much space is left on SD card
FR NO RESET - Reset image file numbering
FORMAT - Format the SD card
SOUND - Turn sounds On or Off
BEEP - Turn beep sounds On or Off
AUTO OFF - Settable for 1, 2 or 3 minutes
TIME&DATE - Set the internal clock
SYS RESET - Reset all settings to default
LANGUAGE - Set the menu language
VIDEO OUT - Video out format: NTSC or PAL
SYSTEM INFO - Submenu with Firmware version number