I took this camera along on a week long trip to Florida. I never lost a charge and made over 1.5 Gbs of content with this camera. The video camera is not an SLR. Please do not expect professional quality images from this camera. However if you want to shot video, this is the camera for you. Buy a 1Gb memory card and start shooting your favorite family moments. I suggest using the 640x480 mode so that your video is DVD quality.
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br /Zoom... the video zoom was great. I shot some offroad video of my Jeep and was able to easily zoom in over 100 ft away on the Jeep while shoting.
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br /I never installed the camera software on my Windows XP based PC. Instead I used a secure digital memory card reader and pulled the files of the card.
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br /For $145 this video camera has replaced my Mustek DV4500. I threw this camera around, ran it's battery down and let it sit in a black Jeep in the sun for two days. After I did all this the camera was still running. The controls on the camera are not complicated like other video cameras in this genre either. All this being said, one could make the case that a cheap camera like this could easily be used by the younger generation, easily.
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br /Pros:
br /1) 640x480 video recording was seamless with excellent audio streaming.
br /2) Long battery life (held a charge for 1.5gbs worth of pictures and video recording)
br /3) Video stabilization really does make video smoother.
br /4) Can take 1gb memory cards
br /5) If you can wait 1/4 of a second, the 5mp photos come out well for a camera with no real lens.
br /6) Best image quality of any solid state video camera in this genre.
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br /Cons:
br /1) Poor flash photography
br /2) Images: Shutter lag is over 1/4 of a second.
br /3) Battery charging requires removal of battery.
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br /UPDATE 9/7/2006:
br /I am still using the camera. I keep it in my Jeep during the hot Louisiana days, no problems. I really like the quick boot time of the camera; 5 seconds or less. I can instantly shot video or take a picture with the press of a button.

I'd been meaning to get a camcorder for awhile now. I found about this little thing by chance. I bought it, since it was only a little over $100 from the purchasing store after tax. In still picture mode, the camera is very good. The resolution is high, and even in the darkest of rooms the flashing element brightens up the room while the picture is being snapped so that the picture does not look dark at all. However, in video mode, be warned that in low lighting conditions the camcorder is absolutely useless. No amount of tinkering with the settings creates viewable low-light video. Also, in the low-resolution video recording mode, the picture quality is near horrible. In high-resolution the picture quality is much better and acceptable, but of course it takes more storage. Natively, you can store about 45 seconds of acceptable video and 3 minutes of poor quality video. I have a 256 MB card on hand, which only gives me 15 minutes of decent video. SD cards are pricey; a 1 GB card (which only affords you an hour of video time!) can be anywhere from $75 to $100 (with the latter being more common). The battery is acceptable for such a cheap camera, but a serious user might need an extra one, as it does not last much longer than a half hour. A friend of mine bought this as a gift for his 12 year old. As a child's gift it's just fine. It'll probably get broken anyway. And for a tiny, take-anywhere still camera (in light or dark situations) it's good for adults, for you can store hundreds of still images on even the sparsest of SD cards. However, someone serious about capturing priceless moments on a digital camcorder might want something that offers better lighting conditions AND better storage options, such as DV. You won't get it in this price range, though, so for the price, this is actually a decent little piece of equipment. As a bonus, it shows up (via USB connection to a computer) in Windows as an extra drive, not as a peripheral, although that can be changed in the settings menu. Because it shows up as a storage medium, it is VERY easy to view stills and video clips and save them to the computer to be edited later. If you don't need to film in the dark, and you only want clips of video a few minutes long--not film a wedding or graduation or anything--and a camera to capture still images--by all means buy this. Or if you want something inexpensive for your child, buy this. It's acceptable, although not outstanding. I will be using it as a digital still camera only, and I'm looking to replace its camcorder features with something more realistic.

I just started using my camera yesterday and my first impression is that this thing seems very fragile. Hope I don't drop it, as it might not survive the fall. It is extremely small, light and compact. Think of two packs of cigarettes or two packs of playing cards. It is that small. Great for travel due to the light weight and compactness. Got it for about $90 on sale; would hate to pay more than that for it. Very easy to operate, but if you have big hands, this will be too small for you. Be warned that it won't take more than a couple minutes of video without a memory card, so you'll have to put a little more money into it if you really want to do video or really much of anything. The first video I took came out pretty decent, but it was in good light. I tried some still shots inside at night and they came out very dark in spite of the flash. The flash doesn't seem adequate, so this is probably a camera best used outdoors or in the daytime. Great camera for a kid. This is a good camera for small hands and a great size for kids. If they break it or lose it, you aren't out a bundle. As another reviewer pointed out, it does only take video in the ASF format; not MPEG, as the advertising suggests. I think MPEG might be just music files. I didn't need to install the software to capture the pictures or movies on my computer (Windows XP). Another great thing is that this is a complete package. It has the camera, a carrying strap, a carrying case, USB cable, TV cables, headphones, battery, battery charger and software. It does not come with a lens cap and the cap is not available either. You can buy an optional tripod for it and with the small size, I think that could be useful in some situations to help hold and stabilize the camera. I am not sure how you store music on it; I probably won't use that feature, but it seems like it would be a nice compact music player; again you'll need a memory card to save much of anything on it. One problem I had so far. The memory card (which you have to buy separately--a standard SD card) slips in the bottom under a little rubber membrane. The first time I held the camera I accidentally popped out the card and lost the shots I was trying to take. This might be a problem and I am thinking I may have to put a piece of heavy tape over the bottom to hold the membrane and memory chip in place and prevent ejecting the memory again. Another downside that I see is the battery. You can't just pick up some spare batteries at the corner store and pop them in. You have to use the special rechargeable battery. If you don't have a spare one charged up, your camera will go dead and you'll have to wait until you can plug in the charger and recharge the battery. That's another $20 for a spare battery. My digital camera uses standard AA batteries, so I can use either rechargeables or regular batteries. If this camera used regular batteries, it would make it larger and heavier, so the small rechargeable does help on the weight and size. Don't buy this if you are a serious photographer. Buy it for occasional use, for easy portability and as a first camera to learn on. Controls are easy and straightforward. Nice camera for the money, but not for serious photographers. It does a lot for a tiny little thing; sure doesn't make me want to go back to the days of huge video cameras that you had to hold on your shoulder, due to the weight. Minaturization can go too far and this is about as small as I would ever want to go; might be easier to use if it was just a tiny bit bigger.

I purchased this item a week ago and really enjoy it. I wanted something small and compact to catch those special moments with my 18 mo. old son instead of carrying around a larger camcorder. The picture quality is great, the focus lacks a little in quality, and the video is a bit fuzzy based on lighting conditions but overall it is a great item for the price. I recommend this item to on the go families with kids who want to catch those little moments on video. Thanks!

I have not used it much since I just bought this camera yesterday from target. There was an older model on sale which had prompted me to try get the $100+ digital camera in the first place. But i was willing to pay more for this newer model mainly because it has a rechargeable Li-ion battery. The other feature which makes this camera more like a still camera than a video camera is that it has a flash (red-eye function at that) much like the pricier JVC miniDV camcorder I have, but with higher resolution in the still mode. The SD memory slot makes it more convenient for me simply because its smaller and these cards can be write-protected. You can get about 2 hours of video on one 512 Mbyte SD card (according to the literature). The only thing i didn't like was the fact that the back of the package says it has 16 Mbyte of built-in memory but if you read carefully the specs inside then you find out it's 16MB of RAM but only 8 MB for storage. I plan to get a much larger removeable card (1GB or more) to record video and may only use the internal memory for snapshots. My girlfriend is taking to Mexico on vacation. We'll see how it hold out on battery use (so far I have use it with the battery out of box and it seems to be working for quite a while).

This is a great concept. I love the many features; however, the weak link is the poor video especially in bad lighting. It also tends to be unstable. It needs a more powerful light, battery or both.

It really is good value for money. I can take it with me wherever I go when I couldn't be bothered to get a proper camcorder ready. It's also really easy to get photos, video onto computer and even dvd. That's why I use it far more than my proper camcorder.
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br /Photos are good; video is good quality but jerky and the fps might rely on a fast SD card; I'm not sure.

I just bought this the other day. It is actually pretty good. Camera take pretty good picts. The video is not bad at all. The softwear is really easy to use. Great small size. Only thing is the speaker isn't very loud. I mean you can hear it but it just isn't the loudest thing. So in all this camera is really easy to use. Very basic for the beginner to the person who wants a basic camera to use.

This camcorder is amazing!!! It's so small and the quality is decent too! I would DEFINITELY recommend this to anyone! (just don't fall in the pool with it in your pocket, because then it starts acting weird and spazzing out...

This little hand-held portable camera was good at first, I thought that the picture and video quality was fine, but then, 2 weeks after I bought it, the screen broke, and I can't even use it as a webcam. So now, I have to manually try to delete pictures and it is very difficult to maneuver. Also, with a very small memory chip, you can take maybe 12 pictures before the memory is full. I would recommend spending that extra $20-$30 for a better camera as this is possibly one of the worst digital camcorders that I have ever seen.

Only worked about 3 minutes first time we tried it but we are trying some other things???????

Pros: Price is right (cheap); Easy to use; clever tiny design; interesting features that you can personalize to your liking; sufficient storage (with addon 1GB card...spend extra and get it); battery life seems pretty good so far; no worry about power when connected to usb port on pc.
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br /Cons: Video is not outstanding but ok; still photos come out pretty decent; for best results you need to use camera in good lighting conditions.

This product is nice but for some reason the lens kept moving on its' own. unless you check it out carefully, i would not invest in it.

For the price, you really do get a lot of neat features: mp3 playback, short video, decent pictures, the use of SD cards, rechargeable battery, and so on.
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br /Regrettably, the quality of the hardware leaves A LOT to be desired. The buttons are flimsy and scream "Fragile!"
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br /I've had to exchange my device twice, as each has worked for less than 2 months before failing. I do not know if there is a quality control problem: some units work as described whereas others simply fail, or if there is a quality issues across the board. Either way, you may want to consider spending a few dollars more and buying a separate camera and mp3 player (iPod Shuffle is only $69!)...
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br /...you'll get the same functionality AND much better quality.
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br /--Dad with a 2X disappointed son :/

return? ha ha!!! you must email them for permission. they don't provide the email address. i have spent untold hours trying to get them to respond. they will do everything to avoid returns. and amazon just looks the other way.
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br /don't do it!!

We bought this mostly because of an upcoming wedding and all the parties that come with one. Once we got a chance to play with all the settings we decided that it was a neat little camera. The only thing is that the software didn't work so we just went to the website, and the tripod only lasted about an hour (we sort of fixed it). Good luck. I hope you have as much fun with as we have.

After about 2 months of light use, the camera stopped working. Also, the output format was very difficult to work with. Absolutely will not work on a Mac. The price is coming down greatly...I saw it for $88 at Target.

The IS-DV only records videos in the 'ASF' format, not MPEG-4. I bought one from 'egghead.com'. After 30 days, I contacted Aiptek to tell them the problem, they acknowledged that the IS-DV only records videos in the 'ASF' format. They said there is nothing they will do about it. Do not buy this product. Aiptek advertises that the IS-DV records video in MPEG-4 format, but it doesn't. 'Egghead.com' won't deal with me because they say I should deal with the manufacture after 30 days from the purchase date.

I bought a 5100, owned a 2100 before that - great, basic, easy,sturdy,energysaving
br /I've dropped it, taken it everywhere, it uses few batteries, light, small, good strap, use on any computer (need the cable). I finally trashed it, sorry.
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br /This one is cheaper than the first one I bought, and it was a bargain.
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br /(no i'm not with the company)

This item is awsowm. It plays mpg-4 format. It can store music. You should buy extra memory.