No Fluff or Mumbo Jumbo - "Just The Basics" on Digital Cameras

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Mini-Review

SiPix StyleCam BLINK II

PHOTO VIA THE SiPix DIGITAL WEB SITE

INTRODUCTION

SiPix is a company which manufactures displays, as well as lower-end digital cameras, or "budget cams" as some call them.  Even their best digital cameras are not going to compete with the lowest priced models of name brands such as Olympus or Sony.  Still, there is a sizeable portion of people out there who's budgets simply do not allow them to spend hundreds of dollars on any camera - digital or not.  Companies like SiPix come to their rescue, offering budget priced digital imaging devices for lower than the norm prices, to allow "the masses" to take their first steps into digital photography.

I've received a number of emails from people asking me about the SiPix Blink II camera.  At first I wondered "Why?" as this is a sub-$50.00 device which yields a top image size of 640 x 480, and might by most be considered a toy, rather than an actual "camera".  Even for SiPix, this is a low resolution gizmo.  Still, viewers speak, so I try to respond; I found a Blink II on sale this weekend, so bought one and brought it home to see what all the interest was about.

In the now common blister-wrap type of packaging, you will find the SiPix Blink II camera, a mini USB cable for downloading your images, a small instruction booklet, software (drivers and imaging software), a stand (to hold the camera for video conferencing), a neck strap, and a single AAA sized alkaline battery to power the device.  

FEATURES AND IMAGE QUALITY

The camera itself is SMALL, measuring only roughly about 2 x 2 inches square, and is only about half of an inch thick.  This definitely qualifies as a "pocket camera".  It is powered by a single AAA battery, and care should be taken regarding battery life, because if the battery completely drains, you will lose all stored images on the device.  There is no removable memory so it is all internal (8 megs).  Claims are that a single battery will last through hundreds of images and many downloads, and we've been chugging along with it for two days with no loss of apparent power.  

Small?  How's this for small?

The camera is simply made.  Plastic, tiny tiny lens on the front, shutter button on top, USB port on side, and on the back simply a power/mode button, optical viewfinder, and small black and white LCD display which shows you how many photos you have taken (but not how many are left), the mode you're in, etc.   The 8 megs of internal memory will allow you to take up to 300 images at the lowest setting of 320 x 240 pixels, and a little less than half of that at the top image size of 640 x 480.  I did not push it to see exactly how many photos it would actually hold, but I doubt you'll take that many before you're ready to upload them to your computer.  There is no flash on the Blink II.  Besides still images, the Blink II captures video clips which are more appropriately called "Streaming Snapshot" images by the manual.  This involves the camera taking a number of photos rapidly, and then the included software "stitches" them together to simulate video.  Small, blurry, jerky, and you can only capture a couple of minutes of it before the camera is filled and must be emptied.  

A third feature is that of a web cam that supposedly allows you to use the Blink II for video chat.  According to the manual it works with "popular videoconferencing programs such as Yahoo and Microsoft Netmeeting/Messenger".  Well, I tried it on both, and although the camera software was properly installed, neither application could "see" the camera.  I also tried it on Cuseeme, ICUII, and Paltalk (three other popular video chat programs) and it worked on none of those, either.  So much for that.  

In terms of image quality, I really didn't expect to be wowed by a camera as cheap as this, and I wasn't disappointed.  Image quality is as expected - poor.  The camera uses a CMOS image sensor to capture images (same as a cheap web cam) so you shouldn't expect sharp detailed images, but these were softer than those found on similar devices such as the Aiptek Mega Pencam.  There was a very large noticeable area of distortion in my images in the lower-left corner as well, making about one-sixth of each image unusable.  Though the camera actually has two settings or indoor and outdoor photos (the indoor setting allowing for a longer shutter speed to capture more light) I found little to no difference in the quality.  The lack of a flash really makes indoors shots not worth the time anyway, unless there is a huge amount of natural light coming in.   Each time the camera is turned off or powers down on it's own from not being used, it defaults back to the "indoor" setting as well, so you have to manually go into the mode menu if you're outdoors each time you power up to switch it back to "outdoor" mode.

Image Samples:  Below are two image thumbnails.  Clicking each will brink up a full size 640 x 480 image from the Blink II.  I have added a little bit of compression so they will load a bit faster for those with dialup internet connections, but not enough to noticeably degrade the image quality as they appear to the human eye out-of-camera.  Image # 1 was taken outdoors in my yard, and you can clearly see the distortion in the lower-left corner I talked about earlier.  A bit too much, even for this tiny lens.  Image # 2 was taken indoors with a good amount of natural window light hitting the table. 

FINAL COMMENTS

What saves this camera from getting a  failing grade is the fact that on their packaging, they do not try to sell the Blink II as a serious camera ( unlike others with devices like this ).  The packaging shows younger teens using the camera, and throughout the description are words like "cool" to describe it.  Kid lingo - not adult.  It is geared toward the youth crowd and nothing more, with no false claims made as to image quality, being able to make prints from the images, etc.  Many who crank out gizmos like or very similar to this will make you think their camera will compete head to head with a camera that costs hundreds more.  At least SiPix doesn't do this, so I give them a cookie for that. 

On the included software disk is "ArcSoft Photoimpression" which will allow you to make minor adjustments to your images.  If you keep the Blink II on it's highest 640 x 480 pixel setting, then use Arcsoft to resize the image down to let's say, 320 or 420 pixels, then adjust the colors and brightness a bit, crop off the blurry corners, etc., then you could use the images as small casual web-only and email photos.  For $39.00 really, you can't expect more ( yet ).  Would I suggest the Blink II?  No, not really.  Perhaps for a child ( pre-teen, as a co-workers 13 year old called it "lame" ), or those who just love cheesy little gadgets.  But a serious imaging tool this is not, and you can do much better, even in the SiPix product lineup.  

My "Grades" For The Blink II?

For design, concept, and features  -   6.5

For overall image quality  -  4

For image quality compared to other devices in this price range  -  6