Goldeneye

Life

1 April 2005

Digital Dream bills this tiny device as the world’s first ‘official 007’ digital camera. It is certainly small enough to allow for the utmost discretion when taking shots, and the fact that it’s squeezed into a reasonable rendering of the classic ‘Zippo’ lighter case adds a whiff of espionage to proceedings. It’s a non-functioning lighter though, which will disappoint the pedantic sleuths out there.

This camera features a very basic design: It has fixed focus, and there are only two buttons present – one to switch between modes and the other to activate the shutter. There is no slot for a memory card. In fact, the JB1 connects directly to your PC via a USB cable.

There’s 8Mbyte of storage space on-board, not at all bad for a camera as small as this, which allows for up to 150 pictures at the highest resolution (640×480 dots per inch (dpi)) or 310 snaps at a lower resolution (320x240dpi).
An interesting feature is the video clip recording facility that allows you to capture around 30 seconds of video with sound. Alternatively, the camera can be used as a web cam to send live sound and video across the Internet.

The truly devious will be pleased by the discreet recording facility that can store 12 minutes worth of audio. There’s also a ‘James Bond’ mode: This allows you to set the camera to take a picture at intervals of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes. The camera shuts itself down between shots as it carries out its surveillance, so it can happily click away for up to 19 days.
There’s no built-in flash, but the camera does make use of LiteSync technology to enhance indoor lighting in low light conditions. This seems to work pretty well, provided you hold the camera very still.
As well as it’s video and audio capability, the JB1 also doubles up as a handy storage device. Plug it into the USB port of any computer, and it will appear in ‘My Computer’ as an extra 8Mbyte hard drive.

The camera comes with its own software suite, which must be installed on your PC before you can take a peek at your shots. This includes a control panel, to preview your picture, video and audio files, a simple image editor, and NetMeeting software, to allow you to use the camera’s web cam facility. There’s also a video mail feature that allows you to send a video clip via your e-mail, and a greeting card maker that comes with a few flashy Bond-themed templates. Set-up of the software suite is a painless affair, and a good manual combined with the standard array of help files guide you through the functions of each application.

The JB1 is a fun device and it takes pretty decent pictures for a camera of this size and price. The rather feeble hinge on the lighter case is a bit of a let down, but the metal case can be left back at HQ by those that can live without it as the camera also comes with a faux-velvet pouch.

Digital Dream JB1, €99

Memory: 8Mbyte
Connection: USB 1.1
Lens: f = 4.5mm, F2.8
System Requirements: PC Pentium 166MHz or higher, Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP, 32Mbyte of RAM, 20Mbyte of hard disk space, USB port; Mac OS 8.6 or above, mass storage only