Mikona DV-8 Digital Camera

Mikona DV-8 Digital Camera Review

In the digital camera arena,the focus is on quantity and features. Each year, the megapixel count rises, and the camera features boggle the mind and toggle endless switches and screens.

The Mikona DV-8 is a very different digital camera than those on the cutting edges of the hobby. The DV-8 lacks a view screen. It does not accept memory cards, but instead has a 25 picture flash memory. It's a single-focus device with a stunning 3/10ths of a megapixel resolution.
In short, it's a lo-fi device.

Yet I've come to love my DV-8 for just the traits that make it seem less appealing than better (and more expensive) digital cameras. It's the digital equivalent of the lomographic camera, those curious eastern European cameras beloved of hip kids for their idiosyncratic lack of picture fidelity. The pictures I take with my Mikona DV-8 regularly get the most compliments of any on my flickr account (gurdonark).

There's a liberation in using a simple camera with few features. Without a macro setting, one focuses on the "big picture". The absence of a flash
makes one appreciate the daylight. The photos take up very little space on one's computer due to the resolution. The low resolution can do magical things to bright colors, so that the yellow of winter prairie grass can shimmer. The camera features a lo-resolution setting which is almost surreal given its already-low resolution. It also has the makings of multi-shot settings, though the memory is so small as to make this almost beside the point.

Does the flash memory sometimes inexplicably erase pictures? Yes, especially when the batteries are near low. It's a good reminder not to get addicted to any one photo.

Is the software easy to use? Extremely.

What is the battery life of the camera? Surprisingly long.

Is it easy to use? Frighteningly.

I have come to love my DV-8 as my "second" camera, as it takes me places visually that finer cameras sometimes miss, somehow.

Mikona DV-8 Digital Camera Overview

Image Sensor: CMOS Sensor 300K(640x480) pixels; Resolution: 640x480(VGA)/320x240(CIF); Memory: 4x16M Bytes SDRAM; Number of pictures: Ld: Hi 26 VGA/Lo 104CIF, Hd: Hi 52 VGA/Lo 208 CIF; Lens: f = 7.2/F2.4; Focus Range: 40cm to infinity; Shutter Range: 1.5~1/2400 second; Status LCD Display: Numeric LCD; Self Timer: Timer with 10 sec. delay; Video Frame Rate: 10 fps(Hi) - 30 fps (Lo); Video Mode: 24 bits (R/G/B); Power Source: 2x1.5V AA alkaline; Auto Power Off: 30 sec.; PC Interface: USB; Operation System: Windows 98/2000/Me/XP; Weight: Approx. 90g (without 2 AA batteries); Dimension: 60(H)x105(W)x36(T)mm

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 10, 2010 00:31:53