Polaroid PDC 3070 Digital Camera

When I initially received the Polaroid PDC 3070 digital camera I was confused as to why Polaroid, famous for the instant printed photo, would create a camera that prints your image immediately and then stores it digitally. I soon discovered that this camera does not print out your images and is Polaroids’ attempt at entering into the low end digital camera market with this particular model costing around R1100, which as you will read below is way to much.

Basic Specifications

• 3.2 mega pixel resolution
• 3x Digital zoom
• 1.5″ LCD display
• 8MB internal memory
• SD Memory-card compatible - Up to 256M
• Video Clip

Using the Camera

The Polaroid PDC 3070 is by design a cheap camera. It is aimed at the low end camera market, possibly even as your children’s first camera, but I feel that Polaroid have wasted their time in creating this camera as it doesn’t really have any place in the market as most cell phones now a days have the same mega pixel cameras and are easier to use.

The camera has a built in 8Mb memory chip which holds a grand total of 2, yes two, quite blurry and oddly coloured pictures. To be fair the blurry part is expected as it is only a 3.2 mega pixel camera, and taking photos of objects that are fairly close up appears to be fine, but there is no excuse for the bad colours that are very apparent on all photos as they appear to have a red tinge to them whenever the light is not 100% optimal.

The Polaroid also supports SD cards which expand on the 8Mb built-in memory, but it will only read up to 256M of whatever size you put in. This helps when you want to take video clips which are surprisingly good although the colour problem mentioned above is still present when taking clips.

Using the Menus

With all the cameras available at the moment one would think that usability would be reaching the peak. Cameras should be so easy to use that even a 5 year old could understand them and you would be right, except in the case of this Polaroid.

When you eventually figure out how to switch it on (You have to hold the power button in for 5 seconds) you are taken directly into photo taking mode which is what you would expect and that part remains simple, it’s when you want to use the playback/menu system that things go horribly wrong.

So finally you have made it into the menu system and you would like to use the second menu option so you press the next/previous button but this would be wrong. This selects the menu option you are on instead. To get to the next menu option you have to use a button located on the back of the camera to scroll down and then use the buttons on the top (next/previous) to move between the menu options.

Some Good News

The Polaroid PDC 3070 has built in PictBridge support which means that you can print your oddly coloured photos directly from the camera on to most printers. Another good quality about the camera is its build quality which feels sturdy and definitely doesn’t look bad - compared to some other digital cameras out there.

Conclusion

This camera doesn’t have a real place in the market because the picture quality is really not up to scratch, even for a 3.2 mega pixel camera and you would be better off buying a new cellphone and getting the better quality with more storage space.

What’s in the box?

• PDC 3080 Digital Camera
• CD-Rom Software
• 4 AAA Batteries
• USB Cable
• Pouch
• Hand Strap

Detailed Specifications

• Still Resolution: 2048×1536
• Lens Type: Glass
• Focal Length: 8.8mm
• Aperture: 2.8
• Focus: Fixed
• Exposure: Auto/Manual
• Optical Zoom: n/a
• Digital Zoom: 3x
• Flash Modes: Off, Auto, On
• LCD Display: 1.5
• Memory Internal: 8MB
• Removable Memory Format: SD
• Max. Memory Supported: 256MB
• Battery Type: AAA x 4
• Video Out / Docking Station: n/a
• Video Resolution: 320×240
• Video Format: AVI
• System Requirements: Win98SE, ME, 2000, XP Mac OS 9.2 - OS X

Pricing and Availability

The Polaroid PDC 3070 Digital Camera is available from WantItAll and retails for around R1150.

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(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Filed Under Digital Cameras, Featured Reviews, Photography