By Tim Hillebrand
In this article, we're going to take a look at two simple cameras I call Ph.D., or "Push Here Dummy", cameras. Despite the point and shoot simplicity of both of these units, each offers some surprisingly sophisticated features, particularly for the price and size. They're both snappy little photomongers worthy of your consideration.
The Veo 130S SD Ph.D. camera
I thought I was all set for my annual summer sojourn with a nice little Veo 130S camera, which plugs into the SDIO slot of my PDA. The Veo 130S, in Figure A, will take video clips as well as snapshots.
FIGURE A
The Veo 130S SD digital camera for PDAs. (click for larger image)
One of my missions, besides visiting kids, grandkids, friends, and relatives, was to test various mobile devices, and write about how they helped me conduct business and stay in touch while on the road. I thought I was all set photographically for taking family pictures and tourist type snapshots that I could email to friends and family.
Once in a while I would have to take a shot of some hardware or a software box, but no big deal. Certainly the 1.3 Megapixel 130S would be sufficient.
Well, it turned out not to be up to snuff for some newspaper and magazine articles, and I had to invest in something with a little more hunk. But first let me tell you a little more about the Veo Photo Traveler 130S, because I think it's a nice package for ordinary camera chores.
The multi-element lens produces a high quality image that's recommended for printing on paper up to 3 x 5 inches. After that the image may become too pixilated. An outer ring on the lens allows for fine focusing, which is fine if you can see the image on the screen, but often outdoors the screen is difficult to see. The lens also swivels for self-portraits and for forward-facing scenes.
The image preview screen is, of course, on your PDA, so it's larger than the normal digital camera screen, and probably higher resolution too. To take the shot, just push the button on the pressure sensitive PDA screen. Captured images can be transferred to a PC, where they can be organized into albums for viewing.
The camera comes with Creative Studio, which enables you to edit your pictures, organize them into shows, use them to create greeting cards, or a Website. The software is nicely intuitive and allows for a great deal of user creativity.
To protect your camera, the Veo 130S comes with a handsome leather case. There isn't much chance of it falling out of the case, as the magnetic cover closes like the jaws of an angry alligator. The suggested retail price is $129, but I've seen them for $99. It's available for Pocket PCs, SmartPhones and Palms, as long as they're equipped with an SDIO slot. Veo also makes a similar unit for CF slotted devices.
RATING: 4 STARSThe Veo 130S is a good camera for what it's intended for. You won't be any threat to the likes of Herb Ritts or Richard Avedon, but for a PDA camera intended for snapshots, it does the job.
The Pentax S4i pocket personal camera
The pictures I took using the Veo and submitted to certain publications were not acceptable. The resolution just wasn't high enough to be blown up for newspaper and magazine pages. So I had to find a solution.
I happened to be in Santa Barbara, California at the time, where I found an amazing camera store that caters to professionals, and students at the local photographic institute. I told the salesman that I needed something that would give me high-resolution pictures, but wouldn't be very bulky and didn't cost a ransom.
His eyes lit up as he said he had just the thing for me, the Pentax S4i. He had just gotten one for his wife, and she loved it.
From under the counter he pulled out this silvery little box and handed it to me. Sure enough, it was a camera so small it would fit in an Altoids box, and lighter than a Robin's beak. Shown in Figure B is the Pentax S4i.
FIGURE B
The Pentax S4i digital pocket personal camera. (click for larger image)
When you push the ON button the lens telescopes out as the unit comes alive with sound and light. Now it's ready to go, with a 3X telephoto/wide angle zoom lens. The optical zoom can also be augmented with 4X digital zoom, which takes the camera's total zoom capability to an impressive 12X.
The Pentax S4i is a compact-type digital still camera with built-in zoom lens, autofocus, auto exposure, and an auto flash that can be turned off. The S4i will also take video clips with sound.
The push of a button brings up the menu, revealing the inner depth and complexity of this amazing 4-megapixel wonder. Some of the features that impressed me were the 1.8-inch LCD monitor, shown in Figure C, which is surprisingly large for a camera of this size.
FIGURE C
Shown here is the monitor and menu of the Pentax S4i. (click for larger image)
With the super-macro manual focus mode, you can take pictures of objects only 2.5 inches away, and an infinity landscape mode allows for distance shots. The auto focus mode is generally fine for everyday use, and the super fast lens has a speed of 0.01 seconds to help reduce blurred shots.
There are a huge variety of programmed picture modes available that can be easily selected from the screen, as you see in Figure D.
FIGURE D
The S4i has many photo modes pre-programmed. (click for larger image)
Check out these different image options: Program mode, Night scene mode, Movie mode, Panorama assist, 3D image mode, Landscape mode, Flower mode, Portrait mode, Self-portrait mode, Surf and snow mode, Autumn color mode, Sunset mode, Museum mode, Text mode, Food mode, Soft mode, Posterization mode, User mode, Marine mode, Marine movie mode, and Voice recording mode.
An array of digital filters is also available and useful for various effects, such as black and white, or sepia tone, as well as a rainbow of color filters. There's even an adjustable slim filter that makes subjects appear more slender. This feature alone could make you the most popular photographer on the block.
What's in the box
Everyone always wants to know what comes in the box, so here is the list: USB cable, AV cable, AC adapter, strap, lithium-ion battery, battery charging stand, software CD, operating manual, serial number card, and a service network directory.
Battery
The Lithium-ion battery is rechargeable and removable, so you can carry spares. However, I must say that while I'm not exactly a fashion model machine-gun shooter, the battery never ran out on me, and I've gone for days without charging it. The charging cradle will charge the battery while still in the camera, plus there is a slot to charge a spare battery at the same time.
Cost
Of course, you're wondering how much this incredible little picture box set me back. Well, you're in for a surprise because I walked out the door with it, and a nice leather carrying case, for about $279, even though the suggested retail price is $339.
I suppose one might do even better on the Internet given time and patience. I'd call this an amazing value for the quality of the product and the depth of its features.
Storage
The camera comes with a generous 10 MB of onboard memory. It's also equipped with a slot for an SD card, a feature that sold me right away, because I don't believe in the proliferation of storage card formats and try to limit mine to just SD and CF.
Conveniently, my Tablet PC also comes with built-in SD and CF slots, and it's my PDA's mothership while traveling. While the camera comes with a USB cable, I find it much more convenient to slip out the SD card and slide it into the port on the mothership. Using a 512 MB SD card, I never ran out of space on the storage card during my entire 14,000-mile trip.
RATING: 5 STARSFor the average guy, this fit-in-an-Altoids-can pocket camera, has plenty of hunk for its size, and takes pictures like the big boys. At least my publisher didn't know the difference, and he could blow my shots to the size of a billboard if he wanted to.
Denouement
I enjoyed using the Veo, and the Pentax, and found them both worthy of your consideration. The Veo is compact, easy to use, and convenient, as it just plugs into a PDA and it's ready to go. It works just fine for taking pictures to share with friends and family or to publish on the Web, but it suffers for not having a flash and from the 1.3 MP low resolution.
If you need something with greater resolution and a plethora of rather sophisticated features, don't want to be bogged down with a ball and chain, and don't want to spend a bundle, the Pentax 4Si is a perfect solution.
I suppose you could really call the Pentax S4i camera a Pocket PC because it's a Pocket Personal Camera. Therefore, you could say that I tried out two cameras on my summer travels, one was for a Pocket PC, and the other was a Pocket PC.