SiPix Blink Ultra Compact

I've only had the SiPix Blink Ultra Compact camera a day but I like it already. Image quality is fine if you print small enough. Great for snaps. Puzzled by comments that pictures are lost when battery is removed. I tried this with the supplied battery. I replaced the battery after a minute and the pictures were still there. Great! Haven't tried streaming video yet. Probably won't. I'll just use my camcorder.

Bought this SiPix Blink Ultra Compact digital camera not expecting much - less than £40.

Have done little else except take photos of everything ever since :-)

The photos are for the most part very clear with good colour although you have to get used to using the camera (there's a slight shutter delay as with most digicams - move too soon and you get a blurry mess). The storage capacity is more than ample - 100 at 640 x 480, 400 (apparently - I've never taken this many) at half that.

The bundled software is easy to use and has enough features to keep you busy for a while. Downloading pictures is very simple - just pic the thumbnails you want to transfer. It's also very quick.

The only negative point is that the camera is so small people sometimes think you're a loony when your taking photos because they can't see the it :-/ (the little beep when you take a shot lets everyone knoe you're there as well...)

Have a look at the website for some sample photos.

Throw away the battery that came with the camera and buy 2 Nmh batteries and charger immediately. Then you can experiment to your hearts content and see how many shots you CAN get before you shoot something important. Some reviewers claim you can swiftly change the battery without losing the pictures. Didn't work for me though. Is there a Blink enthusiast out there who can figure out way of maintaining power whilst battery changing?....

The Stylecam Blink is a great little digital camera if you take into account it's size. When i first got my hands on it, i was taking snaps of everything. After downloading them on to my computer, i was initially impressed. However all of the pictures i had taken, suffered from blurring. This only seemed to happen around the edges of the pictures. As the centre part of the images were quite clear and sharp.

This i can only attribute to the lens, however i personally think the moulding surrounding the lens is obstructing light.

This problem is only minor, compared to the camera's serious corruption faults. On more them 3 occasions i have come to download my snaps only to click on download and have Windows report an invalid page fault. No matter what you may try, this report from windows is the nail in the coffin for your images. You will not be able to retrieve them after recieving this error. At least on the 3-4 occasions it has happened to me, i have had no success. SiPix support gives one and only one suggestion, which is to take the battery out and wipe the camera clean. This is not the most supportive advice, if you happen to have 40+ snaps from your holiday.

To look at why this fault happens, you only need look at the SDRAM. A style of memory which unlike flash, will only remember information whilst there is a source of power.

Why companies don't use flash i don't know, perhaps the price is too much. But for eight megabytes i think it's a cost most of us would be willing to pay. So long as it prevents the loss of valued snaps.

James

The SiPix Blink Ultra Compact digital camera is a fun item and I enjoyed the screen view but I would like some indication of how long the battery lasts before pictures are lost.