Agfa CL30 1MP Digital Camera

This camera was my first digital camera. It served the purpose at the time. You really need to fool around with the controls to get a good picture. I suggest that you get rechangeable battery unit as it eats battery life. I found the camera to be very heavy. People who have Windows ME operating system do not buy this camera. Afga at this times does not have drivers for the CL 30 for Windows Me. For the price, you can get a far better camera with higher resolution. (...) Digital cameras have come a long way in 2 years. (...)

The agfa e-photo smile camera itself would be fine, IF it didnt shut off thinking it had a low battery after you take only 2 or three shots. This happened in 2 - I ordered a second to be sure it was the camera. And the help line for Agfa is useless at best. They told me to try a camera battery and that would solve everything, EVEN THOUGH the camera CAME with two REGULAR alkalines and NOWHERE In the brochure does it say it needs that special battery. Id try another camera. Agfa IS generally a good brand, perhaps not with their low models, though. Pictures also very very very grainy in poor light.

Pictures taken in High resolution are realy nice, although colors are shifted litle a bit to blue, but when you set to Low Res to spare some memory space, pictures get some unexpected and ugly artifacts on homogenous surfaces (like face for example).

That's not only due to lower resolution but rather to something wrong in software resizing in camera's firmware itself.

If you take HiRes and resize on you PC, everything is OK.

If you want to be able to store 30+ pictures on your digital camera (you'll have to use Low Res), don't buy CL30. If you don't care how many pictures you can store before download, for less then 300$ you'll have nice 1M pixel / USB digital camera.

"~I recieved this camera today and although it's my first venture into digital imagery, I was taking and viewing pictures in 15 minutes. The sofware is fun and easy to use. The camera takes wonderful pictures and the LCD is true to life. I especially like the USB hookup which is great for me since I am using this camera with a superslim laptop. and the batteries provided with the camera are dead. I am on my way tomorrow to get rechargeables and suggest you do the same before you receive this camera if you plan on using it for more than 12 pictures on the first day.

There is no doubt about it; this is a great camera to discover the virtues (and limitations) of digital photography. The interface, a menu system given via a LCD, is easy to understand and use, though in bright sun light the LCD can be nearly impossible to see. The camera's main problem, as many have mentioned, is battery use. The camera comes supplied with batteries (wow!) but since this camera is such a joy to use, you'll likely go through them on your way to the store to buy the NiMH rechargeables that you'll need. I purchased a 13hr charger and 8 AA NiMH batteries for $40.00 at Radio Shack.

The advantage of the digital is that I've been taking many many more "memory" shots of my life with this camera then I ever did using the traditional chemistry based system. Another advantage is that the LCD lets you review the pictures right after taking the image. This can be a great feature at parties and the like. When it comes to a traditional camera, the outlay of the many dollars and the amount of time between shot taken and shot realized was too costly for me to take many pictures.

The disadvantages of digital cameras, at least at this cost level, are resolution (you really cannot beat the old system yet) and image control (focus, f-stop, zoom, etc.) but maybe I just haven't discovered those aspects of the camera yet.

All in all, a great "new to digital" camera coupled with a great place to buy it. Amazon.com treated me very well when I had some problems with the order. I highly recommend them.