Trust 750 LCD Powercam Zoom

Life

1 April 2005

The Trust 750 LCD Powercam Zoom is a three-megapixel camera that should fit the budgets of most digital camera users. Retailing for EUR199.99, the camera is below the price of most of its three-megapixel competitors; however, the trade-off is the sacrifice of some more advanced functions.

The 750 Powercam is compact and light, so you could carry it around in your pocket without too much hassle. Its metallic finish gives it a sophisticated look.

When used in the best conditions, the camera produces good quality images. There are four different resolutions available to users — 2048 by 1536; 1600 by 1200 (default resolution); 1280 by 960; and 800 by 600. As always, the lower the resolution, the more images you can fit on the camera. The camera can also be used to take short movie clips.

Rather than rely exclusively on memory cards, the 750 Powercam Zoom has 16Mbyte of memory built into the camera. It can be expanded up to 512Mbyte using a Secure Digital or 128Mbyte with a Multimedia card.

Transferring images from the camera to a PC is simple using the included USB cable, and images can also be displayed on your television.

The camera also functions as a Web cam, using NetMeeting (included with Windows, or available for download from Microsoft’s Website (www.microsoft.com).

The bundled software that comes with the camera includes four Arcsoft applications: PhotoBase 3.0; PhotoImpression 3.0; VideoImpression 1.6; and FunHouse 1.0.

The white balance control covers automatic settings, sunlight, tungsten and fluorescent lighting environments. While it is easier to leave the white balance set to auto, it might be wise to learn how to use the individual settings. While the picture quality is good, the Trust camera does have some problems with adjusting to light sources. Strong overhead sunlight for example causes the picture quality to degrade slightly, with images looking slightly washed out. Changing the settings can eliminate this to a degree.

One of the functions that you sacrifice with the Trust 750 Powercam zoom is manual focus. The focus is fixed but has a macro function for taking photographs of close-up objects, so you don’t lose out too much. However, another sacrifice is optical zoom. The zoom on the camera is digital zoom only. It does, however, have a ten-second self-timer, allowing users to take timed photos.

The Trust 750 LCD Powercam comes with a carry bag and tripod as standard. Power is provided by two AA batteries rather than a rechargeable lithium ion battery pack, so it might be worth your while investing in some rechargeable batteries.

Specs