[slewis1972]

Hi

Aldi - have a special:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/special_buys/product_261.html

and its a Traveler DC-8600 :

2.8" LCD Screen
6 × Optical Zoom
8.5 × Digital Zoom
256MB SD Memory Card
High quality Aluminium casing
2 × Rechargeable Batteries
Accessories Include: Pouch, Picture Editing Software, USB & Video Cables, Car Kit including separate charger and 1 × Docking Station

for £179.99. Now, that seems a damn good price consider the spec. Searched on google and all sites seem to be in German

Basically, the camera is for the wife but wanted a good spec. Was looking a mju range but as this comes with a SD card, extra battery - seems a damn good. She just needs a relatively quick point and sheet. This has burst mode so shoudk do the job.

Any advice appreciated

Scott

[JayCee]

Personally I'd go with a Canon compact anyday...or any of the other big-name digicams.

[mr jones]

what you'll be looking with that camera is
probably a 4mp sensor iterpolated to give a (fake) 8mp...
a less than brilliant lens infront of all of this
poor processing chip
probably quite slow

not such a good deal now is it?

as mentioned go for a camera from one of the big makes, canon, fuji, oly, nikon, pani etc, for the same price or a little more you might get 'less' spec (When i say less you'll probably just get fewer MP probably around 4-5mp) but you'll get a more usable camera, better results etc, basically you'll get a better camera than a cheap cam with big numbers, which are a complete and utter con, iv'e seen nothing to change this view from any of these cameras


people are swayed by numbers, dont be, theres a reason there are no reviews of it, cuz its ****e, go to a site like stevesdigicams etc and checkthe reviews and buy off the back of reviews, not off price and big numbers

[richard plumb]

Now now then Mr. Jones, don't hold back, tell the gentleman what you really think


I agree though. I'm looking at cheap digicams as a possible pressie for my son, but I filter out anything I've never heard of. The sensor isn't what counts, its the sum of the parts - lens, sensor, processing.

You'd be better off getting a brand model from last year or lower mp than something like that.

Plenty of digicams to be had for £100-150 that'll give you great pictures.

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by mr jones

what you'll be looking with that camera is
probably a 4mp sensor iterpolated to give a (fake) 8mp...
a less than brilliant lens infront of all of this
poor processing chip
probably quite slow

not such a good deal now is it?

I bought one. It seems well worth the money. Various friends (who have much more expensive cameras!) remarked on the picture quality being good, without knowing what the camera that took them was! These cameras sold out on the first day of the offer.

Originally Posted by mr jones

as mentioned go for a camera from one of the big makes, canon, fuji, oly, nikon, pani etc, for the same price or a little more you might get 'less' spec (When i say less you'll probably just get fewer MP probably around 4-5mp) but you'll get a more usable camera, better results etc, basically you'll get a better camera than a cheap cam with big numbers, which are a complete and utter con, iv'e seen nothing to change this view from any of these cameras

Some people are swayed by big names (I'm not trying to be provocative). There is a manual for this camera at:

http://www.traveler-service.de/uploa...-8600%20EN.zip

Perhaps someone would comment on it?

Is there a "big name" camera with this specification that is near to GBP 180 in price?

Originally Posted by mr jones

people are swayed by numbers, dont be, theres a reason there are no reviews of it, cuz its ****e, go to a site like stevesdigicams etc and checkthe reviews and buy off the back of reviews, not off price and big numbers

Perhaps that there're no reviews is because there's no glamour in reviewing a badged "discount supermarket" special!? If there is a review that says it's what you said, I can't find it!

I could always upload an image somewhere (where?) if anyone's interested...

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Originally Posted by James Latimer

I could always upload an image somewhere (where?) if anyone's interested...

You can upload it here, as long as it is under 800 pixels and 200kb, or you can use imageshack.us and it can be over 200kb.

this camera is a re-badged vivitar DC-8600, it is exactly the same as the vivitar and just re-badged for ALDI, so you get a good camera at a cheap price just cous of a name change, go and check out the vivitar dc-8600 and you will see it is the same camera , lens zoom everything, so simply the traveler dc-8600 is the vivitar dc-8600

[ush flynn]

ah yes vivitar... that makes it all fine... No mate
Im not going to be as harsh as Mr Jones here. Most people who buy thier digital cameras in Aldi wont be hugely disappointed. It will produce pictures good enough to print.. and thats what most people want out of one. Yes it might seem fine to look at. Only when you compare it to say a Panasonic FX9 (180 ish) That you realise what your paying for when you stick with a name you know. Sharper images to the edge of your photo produced by not having the end of a coke bottle as a lens. Less noise and probably greater iso range. Higher res lcd screens with decent backlighting so you can use it properly in the daytime. Most likely better software bundled with the camera. The ability to enlarge images to poster sizes without realising you just wasted £180 of your hard earned cash when you could have had better results

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by Jazz Monkey Jr

You can upload it here, as long as it is under 800 pixels and 200kb, or you can use imageshack.us and it can be over 200kb.

What sort of picture/size is good for evaluating?

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by ush flynn

ah yes vivitar... that makes it all fine... No mate
Im not going to be as harsh as Mr Jones here. Most people who buy thier digital cameras in Aldi wont be hugely disappointed. It will produce pictures good enough to print.. and thats what most people want out of one. Yes it might seem fine to look at. Only when you compare it to say a Panasonic FX9 (180 ish) That you realise what your paying for when you stick with a name you know. Sharper images to the edge of your photo produced by not having the end of a coke bottle as a lens. Less noise and probably greater iso range. Higher res lcd screens with decent backlighting so you can use it properly in the daytime. Most likely better software bundled with the camera. The ability to enlarge images to poster sizes without realising you just wasted £180 of your hard earned cash when you could have had better results

So have you have in fact used this exact camera?

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by gaza01

this camera is a re-badged vivitar DC-8600, it is exactly the same as the vivitar and just re-badged for ALDI, so you get a good camera at a cheap price just cous of a name change, go and check out the vivitar dc-8600 and you will see it is the same camera , lens zoom everything, so simply the traveler dc-8600 is the vivitar dc-8600

That camera seems to have reasonable reviews, 'though it's pretty new... it
also seems to work quite well!

The package from Aldi contained the camera; some sort of S/W from Ulead called "Photo Explorer", "Photo Express", "Cool 360"; a 256 MB SD card; 2x rechargeable batteries; a mains adapter; a docking station, whatever that is; a car adapter; pouch/strap; USB cable; A/V cable; manual.

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by Jazz Monkey Jr

You can upload it here, as long as it is under 800 pixels and 200kb, or you can use imageshack.us and it can be over 200kb.

Not sure where, here... help?

[bowenjones]

Upload your picture to imageshack and copy image location once it's uploaded. Then, click on the image tag icon above where you reply to this post (it looks like a yellow postcard with a mountain on it) and paste your image URL in the box that appears. click ok and submit your post.

[bowenjones]

Originally Posted by Jazz Monkey Jr

You can upload it here, as long as it is under 800 pixels and 200kb, or you can use imageshack.us and it can be over 200kb.

Jazz, the limit for an attachment is 120kb max and 200kb max for embedded images.

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by bowenjones

Upload your picture to imageshack and copy image location once it's uploaded. Then, click on the image tag icon above where you reply to this post (it looks like a yellow postcard with a mountain on it) and paste your image URL in the box that appears. click ok and submit your post.

A melon on a stripey mat, about 500mm away:

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4...08large0wn.jpg

Small printed flags on a world map hanging on the wall, 700mm away:

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3...10large5mr.jpg

A Poplar Hawk Moth about 40mm away (hooked onto my arm!):

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2...50large6lk.jpg

A machine demolishing a building, 100m-ish away:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3...57large6zu.jpg

A machine demolishing a building, 100m-ish away (zoom):

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2...58large0dr.jpg

A squirrel that's jumped out of a waste bin, eating rubbish (1m approx):

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/4...99large8gt.jpg

I hope they're useful, I have *no* previous experience of downouading/uploading images, or using M$ image resizer!

[Zone]

MOD COMMENT

Sorry James I've had to break the links to your images as they are outside of forum limits.
If you can resize them to 800 pixels along the longest edge then please feel free to re-post them.

For what its worth the pictures seem plenty sharp enough to me, the bottom line being is if you're happy with the quality of the camera and the results of the photographs it produces then thats all that counts in my book.

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by Zone

MOD COMMENT

Sorry James I've had to break the links to your images as they are outside of forum limits.
If you can resize them to 800 pixels along the longest edge then please feel free to re-post them.

For what its worth the pictures seem plenty sharp enough to me, the bottom line being is if you're happy with the quality of the camera and the results of the photographs it produces then thats all that counts in my book.

I know, I'm really sorry - tried to edit as soon as I posted, but computer problems meant that I only edited one. I hope the links are better, which are what I should have posted in the first instance.. profuse apologies again.

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by James Latimer

I hope the links are better

What *am* I doing wrong? Have you a FAQ for the clueless (me!)?

[Zone]

James
Your links dont seem to be quite right, on the Melon and Squirrel shots there is a number highlighted in bold http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/4...99large8gt.jpg where as on the others there isn't.

Just check the URL's are correct and if you want to embed the pictures in the post use the small square with the mountain symbol above

[James Latimer]

Originally Posted by Zone

James
Your links dont seem to be quite right

(crosses fingers)

all you that went and purchased this camera would know how good it really is, i have a panasonic lumix 6x optical and 5mpix, the pic quality is really identical and i took it into corel photopaint and done printouts of 2 pics and i could not tell any difference between the 2 cameras, i must mention 1 little thing if you get any grain affects put the iso to 100 and bang all lully,this is a good camera and it would help if people owned one before pre-guessing if it is s..t or not, this is well worth the money and good luck to all of you who got one.

[JayCee]

Originally Posted by gaza01

1 little thing if you get any grain affects put the iso to 100 and bang all lully

Can you put this bit in English please?

I do not normally take part in these review forums however seeing the chat about the Traveler DC-8600 I felt compelled to write.

After a reasonable amount of research I bought one of these cameras before going on holiday. I have to admit I was a little nervous about buying an unbranded product however I had bought quite a lot of stuff from Aldi before and been very happy with the price and quality. Also a 3 year guarantee and a no quibble returns policy was reassuring (which I have used in the past and they really do mean no quibble).

Basically the camera is fantastic, easy to use, great big screen for viewing shots and the picture quality is fantastic. OK I have not blown up to poster size so I cannot comment on image edge blurring however I can say the photos are as good a quality as my SLR and better than my Canon Z135 that this was bought to replace. I have tried out the running water, sunrise and burst functions all with great success and managed to take some pictures of fish in an indoor aquarium without flash that are pretty impressive.

All is all a great buy and with the spec, a spare battery, a memory card and a three year guarantee in with the price I really think this camera is excellent value for money.

Sometimes you just have to take an educated risk when buying products and this certainly paid off for me.

Michelle

what i mean by grainey is somtimes if the iso setting is up to hi you will get pics that have grainey affect like dots, if light conditions are good enough use the lowest iso you can it makes a massive difference, try it yourself set camera to say iso 400 then take a picture the do another on iso 100 or lower and zoom in on the pic the one set with iso 400 will show grainey and iso 100 will be ok, very technical read up on iso settings to find out

[mr jones]

thank you for teaching us meer mortals about sensor noise in such eloguent english



i feel like i have learnt something...

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by mr jones

thank you for teaching us meer mortals about sensor noise in such eloguent english



i feel like i have learnt something...

Bit harsh Jamie, we all are on a learning curve. The description of the affects of ISO on an image are essentially correct.

Nice welcome for a new poster.

And, if you are going to criticise someones English, then try and get your own spelling right at least

i take about 8,000 pictures a year .. probably more this year .. editing all those pictures has made me very critical of cameras ... just got the traveler dc 8600 and did some prelim tests ... i have other cameras of this sort (very small footprint) ... i compared the 8600 with the sony T1 ... i dont expect these tiny cameras to perform like the nikon D200 however i have been very happy with the sony T1 since it goes with me everywhere in my pocket ... now the 8600 is about the same size but thicker .. still small but with an extendable lens ... i took about 100 pictures to test noise, sharpness, distortion, aberrations, light sensitivity, speed and general usefullness ... here is a comparison with the sony T1 (happened to be handy)

the 8600 had a better noise figure than the sony .. in fact very good

8600 had a sharper image overall .. very pleased with that

8600 had very good color except the blue mid response is slightly high (easy to correct with photo editor) .. the sony had greater (excessive) color saturation .. this is adjustable in the 8600

the sony display has a greater useful viewing angle and is dual mode (good in sunlight) .. the traveler has a very nice display but with a critical vertical angle for viewing (not a problem for me)

the 8600 had very familiar controls .. similar to sony cameras .. the 8600 is easy to use with a nice mix of auto and manual controls

8600 took normal pictures with very little trip delay (love that) .. under some conditions the auto focus took a little time but was effective.

the macro and super macro modes are wonderful on the 8600 .. nice sharp images down to bug size

the stable image mode uses speed to lock in a wiggley pictures .. i expect the noise to increase but the results in telephoto mode were good even handheld ..

usually when i found a feature that the 8600 lacked, i had only to look a little and sure enough it was there ...

the movie mode worked good ... the low noise and larger lens allows it to shoot in lower light than the sony

now of course the sony T1 is a few years old and the newer sony T30 etc is better but its abt twice the cost of the traveler 8600

soooo i am impressed with what i have seen so far ... will let you know how the first thousand shots come out but expect them to be better than older generation cameras of this type ...

this is a nice handy camera .. love it so far .. it seems to be of high quality construction and design .. the camera case that comes with it is good but needs a pocket to carry spare battery and SDcards.

i will test other functions soon ..like viewability in sunlight ... zoomed out lens performance ... battery consumption ... multishot modes .. ability to work with one shot strobes .. and most important "how much work i have to do on each photo"

HLEE:

If anyone wants to comment further on the Squirrel Picture (bild0099large8gt.jpg) I have post details from the Exif data.

ImageDescription - Digital StillCamera
Make - Supra
Model - DC-8600
XResolution - 72
YResolution - 72
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Ver 1.00
DateTime - 2006:07:07 13:54:28
YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited
ExifOffset - 358
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1.00 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 148 mm
SceneCaptureType - Standard
GainControl - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown
ExposureTime - 1/140 seconds
FNumber - 4.00
ExposureProgram - Normal program
ISOSpeedRatings - 64
ExifVersion - 0220
DateTimeOriginal - 2006:07:07 13:54:28
DateTimeDigitized - 2006:07:07 13:54:28
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/138 seconds
ApertureValue - F 4.00
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 2.83
MeteringMode - Center weighted average
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired
FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExifImageWidth - 576
ExifImageHeight - 768
FileSource - Other






I bought a Nytech ND 4020 from Lidl sevral years ago. Was pleased at the time but no I.m a Canon Man and go with a Powershot S3. Perfect for me and my abilitys.

Have Fun

[senu]

Originally Posted by herronm

I do not normally take part in these review forums however seeing the chat about the Traveler DC-8600 I felt compelled to write.

After a reasonable amount of research I bought one of these cameras before going on holiday. I have to admit I was a little nervous about buying an unbranded product however I had bought quite a lot of stuff from Aldi before and been very happy with the price and quality. Also a 3 year guarantee and a no quibble returns policy was reassuring (which I have used in the past and they really do mean no quibble).

Basically the camera is fantastic, easy to use, great big screen for viewing shots and the picture quality is fantastic. OK I have not blown up to poster size so I cannot comment on image edge blurring however I can say the photos are as good a quality as my SLR and better than my Canon Z135 that this was bought to replace. I have tried out the running water, sunrise and burst functions all with great success and managed to take some pictures of fish in an indoor aquarium without flash that are pretty impressive.

All is all a great buy and with the spec, a spare battery, a memory card and a three year guarantee in with the price I really think this camera is excellent value for money.

Sometimes you just have to take an educated risk when buying products and this certainly paid off for me.

Michelle

Thank you for that.
For somebody who reads but doesnt "normally take part" in forums that was mighty long.....Painless wasnt it? : we dont bite

Seriously, I have an Aldi in my neck of the woods ( West Drayton , a few miles down the road) and I usually buy some things with confidence from there ( not all mind you) .
Its good to know they do stock reasonable hardware from time to time

did some more tests on the dc-8600 ... wow ... years ago you could test a camera/lens by photographing an open newspaper ... you could read text but the far corners would blur or bend, color registration offsets could be seen ..that is, unless you had a perfect lens ...some very expensive cameras were challanged by this test ... wellll the dc-8600 passes with flying colors ... geometry was near perfect ... chromatic aberration was as good as i have seen ... and the text (of the entire 2 page layout) was readable even in the corners. i will try various zoomed/macro modes soon ... so far i am impressed ... hlee