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Even a few months ago a camera at this price would have been very unusual, as this Inovix DC430 has 3x optical zoom I think I can safely say unique, and finally there is a reasonably sized storage card as standard.

The unit is quite boxy with it’s dimensions being 12x5x6cm and total weight with the 4AA batteries and 32MB Compact Flash card inserted is around 350grams.

The stated 35mm equivalent is 42-126mm (although the box says 34-102mm) anyhow the 3x optical zoom works well from a rocker button at the right side of the rear of the unit. I am very pleased that the unit is not emblazoned with 6x zoom as some cameras of better known makes would be, it does have 2x digital zoom but as most people know if you use digital zoom you make the overall image smaller.

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The top of the unit has a small LED that displays icons for image size, mode, flash state etc as well as battery condition and the total number of images that you can take at the current resolution. To the right of this is a six position wheel whose functions are clearly laid out in the 100 page manual. In the centre of the wheel is the shutter and just to the left of this is the microphone.

The front has the zoom lens, viewfinder, flash and self timer lamp as well as variable flash sensor that allows a background flash when light is borderline. The rear has the battery cover and tripod socket. The wrist strap anchor point and card insertion door are on the right side, the left side has a rubber bung covering DC input, AV output and USB connection, cables are supplied for the last two items.

The rear has a bright 3x2cm TFT display that is excellent indoors however outside when in strong sunlight you need to shade it to see content. I prefer to sight through a conventional viewfinder and the top left has one of these complete with green and red indicators for indicating that the image is ready to be taken once the focal length has been calculated using the half press on the shutter.

There is a three toggle LCD button that allows you to specify just what is displayed on the TFT everything/minimal/off. A five position wheel allows you to make your choices from the well laid out menus that give you lots of controls only found normally on vastly more expensive cameras.

In use the camera performed well and my only slight worry was the ten second delay from initial switch on to being ready to take the first image. Images can be large 2272x1704, medium 1600x1200, or small 640x480, each of these can be super fine, fine or normal compression giving nine possible sizes. The number of images that can be taken is always variable as to the range and content of the image. On the 32MB card provided, that would be from say 12 super fine/large to around 360 normal/small.

I cannot praise the manual enough it is far more comprehensive and better written than most. This is an easy to use camera that has enough functionality for the intermediate user as well as the digital novice being able to point and shoot and get respectable results.

As with most digital cameras you can also take short AVI clips at 320x240 and finally you also get a quite respectable case for the camera, another thing that is often an extra. The price is £129.99.

Link : http://www.theupgradestore.co.uk/digital/product_page.asp?id=Camera > Inovix DC430