ePhoto CL18 Review

Agfa's ePhoto CL18 is an entry-level,dual purpose, digital camera.The bundled software allows you to make calendars, greeting cards, e-cards, storyboards, and send photos to your friends via email. Constructed of high-impact plastic, this camera has a fixed focus 45mm lens which allows you to capture 640 x 480 images at ISO 200. Your suject matter can be as close as 20 inches and with a shutter speed of 1/30 to 1/700 you will be able to take photos in varying light conditions. The camera has 2 quality modes (hi/low) and 2Mb of internal memory to store your photos until you are ready to download them. A carying case is included and this lightweight camera (117 grams) fits nicely in a pocket or purse. Attach the desktop tripod, which comes in the box, and you are ready for some video conferencing! By using NetMeeting you can be ready for an e-meeting in just minutes. On the back we find the viewfinder, LCD data display, and the buttons for Quality, Flash/Timer, On/Off and Rec/Play. Next to the viewfinder is an LED which flashes green when the photo is being written to the memory. The monochrome LCD data display shows the battery condition, the picture quality (hi/low), number of pictures remaining and mode (record or play). The play mode is not a review mode it is for video conferencing. The only connection to the computer is via the USB port. This allows for very quick downloading of your photos, about one image every 3 seconds, but it also means that those of you without an USB port on your computer are out of luck. The other connection shown here is the video out which supports NTSC or PAL. The CL18 comes with 2 AA Alkaline batteries but you may use NiMH or Lithium batteries if you prefer. After a few seconds of non-use the camera shuts off and you must depress the on/off button to continue to take pictures. Great news for those times when the camera is accidently turned on. In order to download your photos you need to run the Twain Driver program which is included with the camera. Your photos are displayed in proof sheet style as small thumbnails. You simply select those that you want to transfer to the computer. Using the TWAIN driver also gives you control of the camera. You can take a picture or delete the images stored in the camera. Capturing video images with VideoImpression couldn't be easier. The user friendly screen, shown here, is pretty self explanatory. To save your captured video to your computer you just click on the floppy icon. DANNEE'S Conclusion Agfa has really hit the niche market with this camera. Inside the box is everything you need to jump into the digital imaging world. The image quality is what you would expect from a low-resolution, entry level camera. The dual capability and ease of use will be the main draw for this camera. You can now use one camera for video conferencing and still photos.

Sample Pictures

Product Specifications: ePhoto CL18 Digital Camera
Picture Resolution:	True 640 x 480 optical resolution (in pixels)
Dual Mode:	Point-and-Shoot digital camera with video conferencing feature
Internal Memory capacity:	2MB (non-removable)
Number of Pictures on internal memory:	32 VGA images
Software Included: Image editing software: Video Conferencing Software:	ArcSoft VideoImpressionTM, Corel Print HouseTM 5, Corel Photo HouseTM5 with AGFA PhotoGenie QuickFix for color correction and image enhancement Microsoft NetMeeting
Processing time between pictures:	6-7 seconds
Lens:	f/2.0 7.2mm equivalent to 45mm camera
Flash Modes:	auto / fill-in / red eye reduction / disable
Color Depth of Sensor:	24 bit output
Timer:	10 second self timer
Output file format:	JPEG
Video Out:	NTSC or PAL selectable
Serial Interface:	USB
System Requirements:	Minimum requirements for PC At least 32 MB of RAM 50 MB of available hard disk space VGA color monitor with at least 256 colors 2x of faster CD-ROM

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