As with many older cameras it's durable and built like a tank, and is heavy and sturdy enough to serve as a self defense weapon in a pinch. I never actually tried it but hey, I'm nonviolent.

Some "strengths" are actually standard features that most cameras are assumed to have, such as saving images in RAW/JPEG format, a standard flash hotshoe, and a burst mode of 4FPS for small size images. However, in a field of contemporary cameras that used proprietary formats and required special software to download, these "standard" features enhance it's usefulness.

Used within it's limit of a maximum ISO of 400 and the 2.5X zoom, it can take good pictures. Indoors the white balance is just right, outdoors to me it seemed a little off and overexposed. It's main use for today would be as a big and heavy snapshot camera.

The battery that you may assume is LIthium Ion is actually NIMH...... a proprietary NIMH. I hate NIMHs, they die when you need them and lose their charge just when sitting. Still, the batteries are available if you look.

Unless you're still on Windows 98 the serial cable will cause you grief to get hooked up, just pop the card in a memory reader.

No built in flash.

It's just weird looking, but grows on you after awhile.

Movie mode.......are you kidding? What movie mode?

I'm writing largely from memory on this review, as it is over the years I've owned three of these things. One as a single purchase, and two as a combo deal.

This camera is so old it has a serial port to download pictures, and dates from the early years of digital cameras when manufacturers were experimenting around with body shapes and formats before deciding to copy film cameras for DSLR's and little silver boxes for compacts.

While a grand daddy to even a dinosaur like the Nikon D1, this camera still has a few "modern" features like the ability to capture in RAW format and add voice annotations to pictures. It's lens shroud for some reason is metal, which combined with it's unusual appearance makes the camera seem even older than it is.

Customer Service

Ha!

Similar Products Used:

D50, DCS 620x, D90, D50, D200, Minolta a200, yada, yada,