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Digital Camera Guide
Digital photography is, essentially, a great thing. You can edit your photos (eg. to remove red-eye), share your snaps with friends quickly and hassle-free via email, use them on web pages, even print them on t-shirts.

Don't know your VGA from your QCIF? Want to join the digital camera revolution but undecided as to which model of digital camera to get? Check out our comparison guide below to find the right digital camera for you...
Digital Camera Comparison
Camera Memory Mega
Pixels*
(see below)		 Photo Quality/
Quantity*
(see below)		 Video / Audio Flash PC / Mac
l'espion mini
£19.95
Digital Dream L'espion Digital Camera		 2MB 0.1 QCIF: 80
QVGA: 20		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: Little brother of the camera that started it all. Still unbeaten on "wow" factor (and price!), the L'espion is the smallest digital camera we've ever seen. Never fails to make an impression.
l'espion Digital Camera
Save £10! £39.95
now £29.95!
Digital Dream L'espion Digital Camera		 2MB 0.1 QCIF: 80
QVGA: 20		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: The camera that started it all. Still unbeaten on "wow" factor, the L'espion is the smallest digital camera we've ever seen. Never fails to make an impression.
gSmart Digital Camera
£39.95
gSmart Mini Digital Camera		 8MB 0.3 QVGA: 200+ Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: A new tiny digital camera with the same technical spec as the (now discontinued) Blink Digital Camera and it's even got an internal rechargable battery that protects your snaps by shutting off when its low on power. Brilliant.
Snap Digital Camera
£39.95
Snap Digital Camera		 8MB 0.3 VGA: 100
QVGA: up to 400		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: The natural successor to the Blink Digital Camera (now discontinued), SiPix have triumphed with the Snap - better looks, better spec, better camera, period. (You don't lose your pictures if the battery dies, either.)
SiPix Pocket DV Camcorder
£49.95
SiPix DV100		 8MB Flash memory XGA: 82
UXGA: 34
QXGA: 14		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
The DV100 also boasts a 1.6" TFT LCD colour display, X2 digital zoom and an expansion slot for SD and MultiMedia memory cards.
L'espion Xtra Digital Camera
£49.95
l'espion Xtra Digital Camera		 8MB 0.3 VGA: 279
CIF: up to 478		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Mac drivers now available
Firebox Verdict: Everyone loves a L'espion and now it's looking particularly buff thanks to its shiny metal body. It's not just looks and no brains, either, because it's now got 8MB of memory and higher resolution photos. And did we mention its small enough to slap on a keyring?
Groove Digital Camera
£49.95
Groove Digital Camera		 16MB 1.3 VGA: 155
SXGA: 32
UXGA: 9		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: The latest model from the manufacturers of the Blink. The best-value 1.3 digital still camera on the market comes with everything you'd expect (onboard flash and microphone) and takes great photos thanks to the new Picture ALIVE technology.
Enigma 1.3
Save £10! £79.95
now £69.95!
Digital Dream Enigma 1.3 Digital Camera		 8MB
expandable		 1.3 VGA: 140
SXGA: 40
expandable		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Mac driver in 2003!
Firebox Verdict: From the same stable as the l'espion (above), the Enigma 1.3 is the world's smallest digital camera with a flash - so this is the one to keep handy if you're shooting in low light. With 1.3 mega-pixel resolution (ie. high quality snaps) and expandable memory (up to 128MB using optional SmartMedia cards), it's no "mystery" why the Enigma is so popular.

SiPix Ultra
£99.95
SiPix Ultra		 6MB expandable 2.1 VGA: 75
SXGA: 36
UXGA: 20
QXGA: 16		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: A 2.1 Megapixel camera with Movie Mode and built in MP3 player, all for £99.95. Wonders will never cease!
Epsilon 1.3
Save £20! £99.95
now £79.95!
Epsilon 1.3		 8MB expandable 1.3 VGA: 246
SXGA: 40		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: With its TFT colour screen, expandable memory (SmartMedia), 4x Digital Zoom and bulit-in Flash, the Epsilon 1.3 is the second best digital still camera we've seen under £100. (see below)
Epsilon 2.1
from £99.95
Epsilon 2.1		 8MB expandable 2.1 SVGA: 51
UXGA: 16
QXGA: 12		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: With its TFT colour screen, expandable memory (SmartMedia), 4x Digital Zoom and bulit-in Flash, the Epsilon 2.1 is the best digital still camera we've seen under £100.

Aiptek PocketCam Slim 3000F
from £99.95
Aiptek PocketCam Slim 3000F 		16MB Flash memory 2.0
(3.0)		 XGA: 87
UXGA: 41
QXGA: 26		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
The Aiptek can output up to 3.0 megapixels thanks to the miracles of software interpolation. And it's a video camera. And a webcam.
Aiptek PocketCam 3 Mega
from £129.95
Aiptek PocketCam 3 Mega 		16MB Compact Flash memory 2.0
(3.0)		 UXGA: 41
QXGA: 26		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
The 3Mega can output up to 3.0 megapixels thanks to the miracles of software interpolation. Memory is upgradeable via CompactFlash cards. It also functions as a video camera and webcam.
Pocket DV3 Camcorder
£129.95
Pocket DV3 Camcorder		 32MB expandable 2.1 UXGA: 40 expandable Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: Featuring a sharper, clearer 1.5" colour TFT LCD screen, 2.1 megapixel resolution (up to 3 mega pixel through software) 2x digital zoom and overall improved usability.
Quantum 3.2
£129.95!
Quantum 3.2		 16MB expandable 3.2 XGA: 74
QXGA: 18
2976 x 2232: 8		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: The Quantum offers high resolution, a colour screen and expandable memory, all wrapped in a sleek and stylish case. A great bargain.
Pocket DV4 Camcorder
£129.95
Pocket DV4 Camcorder		 32MB expandable 3 QXGA: 12/20
expandable		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: With a 1.5" colour TFT LCD screen, 2 megapixel resolution (up to 3 mega pixel through software) 4x digital zoom, voice recorder, MP3, expandable memory (SD cards), great new looks and improved usability the Pocket DV4 has great features at a great price.

Pocket DV5 Camcorder
£149.95
Pocket DV5 Camcorder		 32MB expandable 3 QXGA: 12/20
expandable		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: With a 1.5" colour TFT LCD screen, 2 megapixel resolution, MPEG-4 support, 4x digital zoom, voice recorder, MP3, expandable memory (SD cards), great new looks and improved usability the Pocket DV5 is our new flagship Digital Camcorder.
DV4000 Camcorder
£149.95
DV4000 Camcorder		 16MB expandable 4 QXGA: 24
expandable		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: The DV4000 is the first DV Cam we have sold which uses the new MPEG-4 standard for video, meaning smaller, better quality files. Also functions as a digital stills camera, voice recorder, MP3 player, PC Web Cam, and Card Reader. A great little all-rounder for less that £150!

PhotoClip Colour Screen
from £199.95 PhotoClip 5-in-1		 64MB 1.3 SXGA: up to 1000 Video
(20min)
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: Never in the history of gadgets has something the size of a packet of Malboro Lights delivered so much. This Swiss Army Knife of digital gadgets is a digital camera, video camera, MP3 player, data storage unit, voice recorder and webcam...!
Casio Exilim EX-S2
Save £50! £249.95
now £199.95!
Casio Exilim		 12MB expandable 2.1 VGA: 118
SXGA: 42
UXGA: 29		 Video
Audio 		PC
Mac
Firebox Verdict: Pure class.

Additional Memory
To hold even more photos at higher resolution you can buy additional memory cards for your digital camera - either on their own or save money when you buy them with the camera itself!

(Check the technical specification of your camera to make sure you buy the type format of memory card).


CompactFlash
SmartMedia
SecureDigital

...and with all those different media cards lying around you'll be wanting a 6-in-1 Card Reader - it lets you download photos directly from six different types of media cards, without having to plug the camera into your PC and install all the software:

6-in-1 Card Reader

Jargon Guide
Don't understand the lingo? Read on...

Where does the film go?
Ah. You're a bit new to this digital thing. There is no film in a digital camera - your images are stored digitally (ie. as computer files) in the Memory of your digital camera. Some digital cameras can also record video (depending on the model, with audio too), voice notes, playback MP3 music files and even store documents for you! We're probably getting ahead of ourselves though. Let's stick to images for the time being.

Memory
This is the storage capacity of the camera. The amount of photos/video you can store on a digital camera is a function of the Memory available, the Resolution of the Images/Video, and the Compression applied to each image. With digital photography, the trade-off is between the quality of the images/video, and the quantity that you want to store. Higher quality images take up more room than lower quality ones...

Think of Memory as the physical storage space in a room, and Photos/Images as boxes that you want to store in that room. Given a fixed amount of Memory, you could either store: Bits & Bytes
A bit (short for "binary digit") is the smallest unit of data that can be stored - either 0 or 1. Information is generally stored in multiples called "bytes", and in most computer systems there are eight "bits" to every "byte".

Now, believe it or not, half a byte is actually called a "nibble", and half a "nibble" is a "crumb" - but we really haven't got time to go into that right now.

Megabytes
We state the memory of all our digital cameras in "megabytes" (eg. "8MB") - but beware, as some manufacturers refer to "megabits" (eg. "8Mb") which is very different: You can see why a cheeky manufacturer would prefer to state memory in megabits rather than megabytes. The number one rule when comparing digital cameras is to make sure you're comparing apples to apples - that is, megabytes to megabytes (and not megabytes to megabits). Or nibbles. But we told you already that we haven't got time to go into that right now.

Resolution
Image Resolution is the number of pixels (individual points of color) contained in an image, whether: The higher the resolution, the more pixels there are to play with to show the detail in the image you're looking at - and so the better the quality of the image.

Mega Pixels
This is a measure of the maximum number of pixels that are contained in the images taken by digital cameras. If you remember your maths, "area = width x height" - so the number of pixels in an image is the height multiplied by the width. A 640x480 image therefore contains 307,200 pixels - or 0.3 Mega Pixels.

Print Resolution
Print Resolution (expressed in "dpi" - dots per inch) is the number pixels used to draw every square inch of the image. Your original images have a fixed number of pixels (dots) in it, and the print resolution you use will determine how big it looks printed out on a monitor, on paper, etc. An image 300 pixels wide x 300 pixels tall will appear... In general, the higher the Print Resolution, the higher the quality of the end result. If you squash the pixels of your image into a small space, the image will appear more detailed.

Image Size
How big your images appear on screen and on paper depends on the resolution of your photo:

Name Resolution Email/Web @ 72 dpi
(in inches)		 Print @ 300 dpi
(in inches)
QCIF 176x144 pixels 2.4" x 2" 0.6" x 0.48
CIF 320x240 pixels 4.4" x 3.3" 1.1" x 0.8"
QVGA 352x288 pixels 4.9" x 4" 1.2" x 1"
VGA 640x480 pixels 8.9" x 6.7" 2.1" x 1.6"
SVGA 800x600 pixels 11.1" x 8.3" 2.7" x 2"
XGA 1024x768 pixels 14.2" x 10.7" 3.4" x 2.6"
SXGA 1280x960 pixels 17.8" x 13.3" 4.3" x 3.2"
UXGA 1600x1200 pixels 22.2" x 16.7" 5.3" x 4"
QXGA 2048x1536 pixels 28.4" x 21.3" 6.9" x 5.1"


USB Problems
Q: "Help! I don't have USB on my PC/MAC!"
A: Our digital cameras all need a spare USB port, so you'll need to get a USB PCI expansion card if you don't have USB. This is a physical card which slots into your PC and allows you to use USB devices on your PC/Mac. They range in price from £10-15 (for the most basic card) upwards from all good PC retailers like Jungle.com, dabs.com, etc.

Q: "Help! I don't have USB on my Laptop!"
A: Our digital cameras all need USB ports, so you'll need to get a "PCMCIA to 2 USB" card. (Around £30-40). eg. a "Belkin USB Busport Mobile PCMCIA to 2 USB" card. This is a credit-card sized card which plugs into a spare PCMCIA slot on a laptop and enables you to plug in USB devices like digital cameras.

Q: Will any of your digital cameras work on Windows NT?
A: Unfortunately not, because Windows NT doesn't support USB - which is the interface used by all our digital cameras.

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