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Six Mega-Pixels from Acer
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Acers recent entry into the arena of digital camera has seen the release of three cameras aimed at different market sectors. For first and second time buyers, who are looking for both performance and value in their purchase, the Acer CR-6530 is the companys top-of-the-range offering. This is a 6.3 mega-pixel camera which stands out due to its black casing. Acers reason for bucking the trend of the silver livery adopted by most digital cameras is to make the camera look more like the SLR models that have tended to dominate the market in the past.
Measuring 94 x 63 x 35mm (W x H x D), the camera weighs just 210g. Positioned on the top right of the camera are controls for power on/off and a mode dial with a central shutter release button. A timer LED, viewfinder, flash and lens, giving 3X optical with an additional 4X zoom capability are positioned on the front of the camera. Shutter speeds range from 1/1500 to 8 seconds.
As well as the traditional viewfinder, this camera has a 2.5" LCD on the back of the unit. This screen displays 882 x 228 pixels and gives a bright, clear image in a variety of lightning conditions. All relevant settings are displayed on this screen when lining up scenes. Sitting alongside the LCD are buttons to bring up the cameras menu system and delete unwanted images plus a navigation compass. There is also a wheel for adjusting the focus of the viewfinder. I found this control rather fiddly to manipulate and noticed no discernable difference. Further controls allow you to turn the LCD display on/off to save on battery life and adjust the optical zoom level.
On the right side of the camera is a jog wheel. This can be used to cycle through captured images and change certain settings depending upon the current mode of the camera.
From switch on the camera is ready to take its first picture within three seconds and there is a similar delay between taking subsequent pictures. The maximum resolution of still images is 2816 x 2112 and there are a number of pre-defined capture modes including night, portrait and manual. Video clips can be recorded at 320 x 240 @15 fps.
Still images and video clips can be viewed on the LCD monitor. A zoom feature allows you to enlarge still images when viewing and there is also an option to view a collage of thumbnails of stored images. Using this thumbnail view you can see nine images at once and then select the one you want to be displayed.
Images are stored on a SD memory card. A 64MB card is supplied as standard in the box. This simplifies the transfer of images for those who have access to a card reader. You can also use the supplied USB cable with Windows 98 or Mac OS 9.0 and later versions of either operating system. Windows users will also benefit from the supplied NTI Photo Suite software enabling retouching and image organisation features.
The camera has a built-in microphone and speaker for recording and playing back voice memos. However this feature is rather limited. It can only be used in conjunction with an already captured image and there is only 30 seconds of recording time. Once the memo has been recorded, it can not be over-recorded or deleted unless you remove its associated image. Furthermore the volume level and play back quality left a lot to be desired. I was disappointed with this aspect of the camera.
Image quality is generally good. Colours were accurate and realistic although there was one occasion when the subject matter developed a case of panda eyes which were not visible in real life. With its range of features I feel that this camera is better suited to the more experience user who will be prepared to experiment with different settings.
I do have one slight niggle concerning the pouch supplied with this camera. The pouch is leather and has a magnetic fastener. However it is such a snug fit for the camera that you need to make sure you insert it the right way round. Get it wrong and it becomes difficult to remove the camera without releasing the cover of the battery/SD card compartment. This camera has been aggressively priced at £229.
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