Toshiba PDR-3310 Review

By: Steve's Digicams


Steve's Digicams



Review posted 5/21/02



Click on the PDR-3310 for a QTVR tour




The Toshiba PDR-3310 is an astonishingly small 3.2 megapixel digital camera that packs a rich array of features into a compact form factor. Measuring a sleek 3.58 x 2.24 x 1.24, or about the size of a credit card, the PDR-3310 is Toshiba's entry into the very competitive ultra-small, zoom-equipped digital camera category.

Unlike many of the other ultra-small digital cameras, the PDR-3310 has a high-resolution 3X optical zoom rather than a limited 2X optical zoom, plus features a Lithium rechargeable battery, and its body is fashioned from durable Titanium. The PDR-3310 also offers user-selectable manual control of white balance and exposure compensation as well as manual focusing. In addition, the camera's macro mode allows the user to compose dynamic, eye-catching photographs as close up as three inches.

The sleek and silver PDR-3310 captures up to 2048 x 1536 pixel still images that rival conventional 35mm film pictures. It also records up to 15 seconds of 320x240 motion video that can be displayed on the camera's 1.5" color LCD or a television set. Still images and movie clips are stored on postage-stamp sized MultiMedia Card (MMC) or Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards. Still images are saved in JPEG compressed format with one of three quality levels for the highest possible quality for printing, screen display, web pages or email attachments. Movies are stored in Windows AVI format.


PDR-3310 Features:

  • Three megapixel imager for up to 2048 x 1536 still images
  • 3X optical zoom, F/2.8 (35-105mm 35mm equivalent)
  • 1.5-inch color LCD monitor w/110,000 pixels
  • Macro focus as close as 3" from the lens
  • Aperture Priority (F/2.8 or F/9.6)
  • Program AE w/automatic shutter (1 - 1/2000 sec.)
  • Long shutter speeds of 2, 4, or 8 sec
  • Manual focusing possible
  • Metering modes: Evaluation, Center-weighted or Spot
  • Selectable ISO sensitivity; Standard (ISO 64), 2X or 4X
  • Automatic popup flash with 4 modes (Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in or Flash Off)
  • Color modes (Color, Sepia or Black & White)
  • White Balance (Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Cloudy, Fluorescent, or Manual Pre-set)
  • Exposure compensation (+/- 2EV in 1/3EV steps)
  • Ultra compact and durable steel body design
  • Rechargeable lithium battery pack and charger included
  • Builtin USB for downloading to the host computer
The PDR-3310 outfit includes a padded camera case, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, AC charger/adapter, 16MB SD card, USB data cable and video cable, ImageExpert software and will be priced at approx. $499.





Physical Views



Toshiba PDR-3310

Toshiba PDR-3310

Toshiba PDR-3310

Toshiba PDR-3310Toshiba PDR-3310

Toshiba PDR-3310





Toshiba PDR-3310

The PDR-3310 compared in size to a standard CD disc.









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PDR-3310 Specifications

Type:
 Digital still camera with record, playback, and erase modes.
Imaging Device:
 1/1.8" square-pixel interlace readout system CCD with 3,340,000 pixels gross, 3,220,000 effective.
Recording media: SD Memory Card, Multi-Media Card (MMC)
Recording Capacity (Guideline) and Image Dimensions in Pixels (when using 16MB SD Memory Card, all pictures taken in the same mode).
Super Fine: About 7-9 (2048 x 1536)
Fine: About 15-19 (2048 x 1536)
Normal: About 54-64 (1024 x 768)
Movies (15 seconds each): About 3 (320 x 240)
Image Format: Complies with JPEG standard (Exif ver. 2.1)
DCF Standard (Design Rule for camera File systems),supports DPOF.
Lens:
 3x optical zoom lens, f=7.3 mm - 21.9 mm (35mm equivalent 35-105mm), F2.8-4.8
Focusing Range:
 About 60 cm - infinity.
In Macro Mode:
 About 17 cm - 60 cm (at wide-angle setting).
Exposure Control/
Metering Method:
 CCD multi-area evaluation,center-weighted, and spot metering.
Control Method:
 Programmed AE
Aperture-Priority AE
Long Exposure modes.
Exposure Compensation:
 +2.0 EV to -2.0 EV (in 1/3 steps).
Aperture Control:
 Automatic, or manually settable to F2.8 or F9.6.
Automatic Exposure Linkage Range:
 EV6 to EV16 (at equivalent ISO 64).
White Balance:
 Automatic, manual (preset),outdoor (daylight/clouds), indoor Tungsten/Fluorescent).
Shutter:
 CCD electronic shutter and programmed electronic shutter with independent aperture control (1 sec-1/2000 sec, 2 sec, 4 sec, 8 sec).
Focusing control:
 Video feedback auto-focusing (single AF, continuous AF modes), and manual focusing.
Viewfinder:
 True image zoom viewfinder.
Flash:
 Built-in automatic popup flash, recycling time about 8 seconds (on full battery charge, at room temperature).

Flash range about 60 cm - 2.5 meters (Wideangle).

Recording Modes:
 Flash modes (auto flash, red-eye reduction, forced flash, no flash, red-eye reduction forced flash*); macro recording mode, landscape recording mode; color modes (color, B/W, sepia); white balance (Auto, daylight, tungsten, cloudy, fluorescent, preset); AE modes (programmed, F2.8; F9.6); focus (AF/MF); long-exposure (OFF/2 sec/4 sec/8 sec); sensitivity (standard/2x/4x); metering modes (evaluation; center-weighted; spot).
* Settable during long-exposure mode.
Playback modes:
 Multiple image display; protect; erase (single image); all erase (erases all images in folder DCIM); image rotation (right/left 90 degrees); slide show; DPOF setting.
*Note that files (and folders) recorded on other manufacturer's cameras and devices cannot be erased by this camera.
Setup modes:
 Date; memory card format; electronic tone ON/OFF; auto power off setting function ON/OFF and time setting (time until camera power turns off automatically); AF mode selection (continuous or single-image); mode lock ON/OFF (preserves mode setting data); digital zoom ON/OFF; display language setting (Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish); video output standard (NTSC/PAL); file number reset; default reset, select menu color (purple, red, yellow, blue.)
LCD monitor:
 Built-in, 1.5" 110,000-pixel polysilicon TFT color LCD monitor; size: 521x218 pixels.
Input/Output:
 NTSC/PAL composite video signal selectable, power input, USB 1.1 data I/O
Battery Power:
 PDR-BT9 3.6V 900mAh lithium battery pack, dedicated AC adapter/charger. Five hours to charge fully discharged battery.

Number of images recordable:
LCD monitor ON - about 100
LCD monitor OFF - about 150
Continuous playback time is about 50 minutes

Dimensions:
 3.58 (W) x 2.25 (H) x 1.24 (D) inches
91mm (W) x 57mm (H) x 31.5mm (D)
Weight:
 6.17 oz. / 175 g (not including SD card or battery)







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