Customer Reviews
2nd time is the charm
I've had two of these. The first I kept for about ~4 months, but felt the video quality was too poor. It was pixellated and too dark indoors, so that with even bright lights you'd only see dim objects. In addition, the flash was horribly mistimed, it either would show everything blue, or all black.
However, while many of the other flash camcorders out there may offer better quality video in the image department, the frame rate is usually variable. Shoot straight down a street and it looks fine, but turn and look at something dark or complex like trees and boom, 10FPs.
The 301V has a constant frame rate, and at 320X240, the best setting for it, the video zooms along pretty well. I also liked it's mini-camcorder format, the little gizmos you hold like a raygun and press a button with your thumb have simply never felt right to me.
So after some back-and-forthing, I got another. 301V-2 is like a whole different camera. The flash is till feeble, but it times correctly and pictures come out pretty well. Nothing to compare to my digital SLR, but decent snapshot quality.
The video is still grainy, but now indoors it's possible to see things under bright to normal lighting. Not a change worth shouting from the rooftops, but enough to make me carry this little thing around more. I don't know if I simply had a lemon last time, or DXG has put an improved firmware in the later cameras. Either way, I like it better.
Here's a quick rundown:
Battery life: Poor on alkalines, just buy a few sets on Nimh rechargeables.
Memory: 16MB internal that's not much good except for emergencies. Supposedly a 512MB SD card limit, but I've used 1GB just fine.
Recording time: About 90 minutes or ~340 pictures per 512MB.
Format: ASF, a format that I think is basically MPEG4. Windows media player and movie player can work with it, but Macs have trouble.
Quality: Snapshot pictures and better-than-nothing videos. If you're wanting to make real movies or family memories, spend more money.
Cheapness: It isn't the most sturdy thing in the world, but I was able to take 301V-1 canoeing and it lived to talk about it.
Novelty: It's just neat, and different from the other gadgets.
I have a different DXG camcorder, and I like it
I don't have the 301v, but I do have a similar DXG product. Please take a look at my review for the DXG-305v.
Anyone interested in the DXG-301v is invited to join the new DXG-Digital user group at Yahoo! to discuss all DXG products:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxg-digital
Panama Canal
I bought this on sale at Radio Shack in November of 2004. No doubt they are cheaper now. Definitely get the larger cards, I have 2 of the 256 cards and they hold plenty. This camera went with us through the Canal, as well as a trip to California. Yes it does eat batteries, but this has been par for the course with most of my digital photography toys. I took 2 sets of rechargeables and was never at a loss for power.
Minus side - I have never been able to figure out the white balance, as a result movies in sunlight are very good, but indoors are greenish. The still feature is nice but I got better stills from my Fuji FinePix. It developed an intermittent, and turned out to be dirty contacts on one of the memory cards. Sound quality is not super hi-fi but more than adequate for home movies.
Plus side - Using the software, several clips can be stitched, edited, and made rather fancy. I only use the 640x480 mode, and a movie shot in sunlight, shown on a 27" TV, look quite acceptable. We have had a lot of fun with this camera, and I think it is a good choice as an entry-level tapeless movie camera. I just wish I could figure out the white balance, though!
Forget the digital zoom, it gets very pixelated. Get closer to your subject instead! People have always been amazed with this tiny movie camera, it's fun to show off and use. It comes with a very practical case with shoulder strap. I do not regret having purchased it.
