Strengths: Well, it;s cheap. As they left the market some time ago they're scarce and sometimes people think they're sitting on a rarity.
The still image quality can be pretty good, but see below.
Uses AA batteries, NIMH or alkaline.
Fits your hand like a regular camcorder.
Can take unlimited length video clips at a constant 30FPS. Many cheap camcorders have a variable compression, the more complex or detailed the scene is the slower the frame rate. Look at an empty field and it's fine, switch view to a patch of nearby forest--boom! 10FPS. Not the DXG, it'll keep on trucking.
Weaknesses: The video quality is more like a contemporary cell phone, and is atrocious. I think even the 320X240 is upsampled from a lower resolution as there are visible pixellation blocks. Details are smeared or blurred, and the camcorder needs lots of light.
Quality control on these isn't very good. I actually was determined enough to own two of them. #1 would only work well in bright outdoor daylight, even in a house with all the lights on you could barely see anything, and the flash was mistimed so badly all the pictures were dark. #2 had a correctly timed flash and took --by comparison-- decent indoor videos. At least you could make out what was on the screen.
For the money you're better off with an older camcorder or even a name brand digital camera.
Bottom Line:
This is a post facto review, or in other words it was something I owned 3-4 years ago. The seeming replacement for Russian film cameras are the cheap Chinese imports, sold under various names, and no telling who really makes them.
This is a lightweight device that is styled like a palmcorder and is only slightly smaller. It takes AA batteries and SD flash cards. Video is 320X240 (the marketing jargon at the time was "VCR quality") at 30FPS. The 640X480 option is only 15FPS and not really worth it.
I think this one could also record/play audio, in addition to the 3.2MP still images. A strange thing is this was one of the first devices I owned that used MP4 compression, even though the video doesn't seem to need it.
Strengths: The 301V is very cheap, lasts a long time on 4AA batteries, and can record unimited video, up to 90 minutes, on a 512MB SD card. (I've used a 1GB in it). Fairly nice still pictures can be made with patience.
Weaknesses: The flash is weak and erratic under automatic seetings. Records videos in .asf format, which is MPEG4. Windows Media Player can work with it but Macs require VLC to play them. Videos are fair quality, there is no lens cap, and quality is overall fairly cheap.
Bottom Line:
I bought this camera a few months ago for casual use, mainly as a mini "camcorder." It's *not* a good camera, but fits the bill for something cheap and inobtrusive. The video quality at 320X240 is 30FPS, and the quality is something like first generation home video - you can live with it if you have to. 640X480 is 15FPS and very poor quality, while the still pictures are typical for a 3.2MP snapshot camera. Dig into the manual settings and fairly nice pictures can be made. The flash, however, is very weak, and practically requires to be used on the manual settings to work reliably.
