Agfa ePhoto CL30

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Expert, Linköping

Summary:
This was my first digital camera, apart from my old QuickCam. As such, I loved what I could do with it, but what I could not do quickly outweighted that. It takes forever to charge the flash, and when it is done it might already be low on battery. Picture quality is horrible indoors, with or without flash. Even outdoors, half of the pictures are worthless. Finally, the battery hatch broke when the camera was dropped in the floor - protected by both the bag it was inside and its own black bag, two layers of protection, but the batteries kicked the hatch out. I bought a Kodak 280 instead, which was far more than twice as good. The Agfa, with the battery hatch patched together, now serves as kid camera, but barely works as that since it is too slow and always runs out of batteries.

Strengths:
Good software (PhotoWise). Good close-up photos (if you are lucky). Fixed-focus option good for fast response with decent sharpness.

Weaknesses:
Very poor indoors photos. Even outdoors it often has problems. Poor battery life. Poor mechanical quality. Slow processing of pictures. Very slow flash charging at start-up.@

Similar Products Used:
Kodak DC280, Olympus C-100. Both makes me understand why Agfa left the digital camera market. Á

Customer Service:
Not used

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
6 Months

Summary:
I had this camera for 6 months now and am not happy with the camera at all. With every few usage, the camera locks up after turning on and have to switch off/on again, especally when uploading. The view finder is not even close to accurate, always croping the right side. If I use the screen, I'm able to only get a few photos before the battery dies. Forget about uploading using the batteries. One or two photos will drain a fresh set of batteries. Had to spend $50 for the optional ac adapter. The picture quality is only average, although the camera is easy to use. I will never buy online again for this kind of equipment. It's such a hassle to return merchandise that most people just keep it. I will now pay a little more locally and have the option return if not satisfy.

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
None

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
6 Months

Summary:
Cost less than $300 at "Solutions4sure.com" plus $50 rebate from Agfa. Upgraded to 16mb flash card and battery power pack. High res settings provide photo shop quality prints with quality printer and paper. Medium res gives excellant computer/web photo quality. Have settled on the native res of the ccd as my default. Compared to friends that have other cameras, this is overall a better camera for the cost. Several cameras at twice the price yield poorer pictures. Included software is easy to use and designed for a beginner. I use it to download the pics and then use other editing software if I feel it necessary. One of the few cameras with both a serial port and a USB port. Excellant cost/performance buy.

Strengths:
Ease of use and auto features for those that are not expert photographers. Great for family photos and party snapshots. USB port best, Serial port also available.

Weaknesses:
Lens speed. If targets are in motion, most pics come out blurry or double exposed.

Similar Products Used:
None

Customer Service:
Agfa is excellant. After a couple of weeks the mode selection knob stopped working when rotated. Contacted both the Agfa web site and tech service number. Was given a case number and in two weeks a NEW camera arrived at my house. Only then did I have to return the old one. The new one has worked as advertised. Excellant customer service!!

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
1 Month

Summary:
Decent camera for the money. But, I wish I had more models in my area to test drive. I probably would have gone with another.

Strengths:
The camera's USB port is very fast and easy to set up. The camera's navigation system is very easy to use. It's very much like using a mouse.

Weaknesses:
Battery life is a joke. Alkalines last about 15 pictures and that's with optional features turned off. The included software offers a 'PhotoGenie' feature that automatically resizes the camera's 'lowest compression' images. Thus, the highest advertised resolution is interpolated. Cheap trick. and, you can't turn it off if you want the image without stretching. My images have a green dot and a few other, smaller dots scattered around the image - very disappointing. The recovery speed seems awfully slow, even with Kodak 1600 mAH batteries. Removing the CompactFlash media is awkward and difficult.

Similar Products Used:
kodak zoom

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 Month

Summary:
A good starter camera but don't expect to get much technical help if you need it. The center third of my photos were in focus, but everything else was blurred. Although I tried to get technical help, they failed miserably - ie. what little response I got, misinterpreted my problem. After 2 weeks of trying to get them to help, I returned the camera to store for a refund. If AGFA had a toll-free number, this would help. This camera also eats batteries up real bad.

Strengths:
Good color reproduction, choice of resolutions, good flash

Weaknesses:
Technical Support, Focus, Battery Consumption

Similar Products Used:
None

Customer Service:
Poor