November 19 - November 26

Agfa CL30, your Web companion by Alessandro Cancian I know, I know, having a fever is nobodys favourite pastime, mine least of all. Youre bored to death, under the blankets, unable to decide what to do. Well, some week ago a virus that was hitting our editorial department rather hard caught me too. This time, however, I had no time to get bored, because I had received, for review purposes, a new Agfa digital camera model: ePhoto CL30. The Agfa CL30 is clearly designed for entry-level users and the SOHO market in mind: very easy and fun to use thanks also to the control button, called EasyPilot, which offers full access to all the functions of the camera. The pictures I took turned out to be of good quality, with true-to-life colours and a more than satisfying contrast. In closed rooms, with little light, the camera tends to take slightly dark pictures, which can however be corrected with the photo retouching software bundled with the camera: PhotoWise. A very intuitive program, even if I still consider Adobe PhotoShop more suitable for my retouching needs. The LCD monitor equipped with the camera is perfect for a first look at freshly taken pictures, but Id advise you to leave it turned off, considering the battery consumption rate it generates. Normal alkaline battery life is very short, so much so that the purchase of a rechargeable battery pack (offered as an option) is a must unless youre willing to spend a fortune in throwaway batteries. The CL30 is also equipped with a CompactFlash card, capable of storing up to 4 MB, in my opinion ideal for a Web use, where the resolution needed is minimal. In these conditions, the Agfa camera can store up to 36 pictures. If you want to get maximum resolution, on the other hand, you could find yourself down to 6 saved pictures. Computer connection, for picture downloading, is very simple and fast, thanks mainly to the USB port of the CL30. The box also contains connection cables for PC and Mac serial interfaces. The quality to price ratio is interesting: on the Canadian market the suggested selling price is $699 (CDN). In summary, in my opinion the Agfa 30CL is ideal for Web use, less practical for hi-res pictures, given the low capacity of its CompactFlash card. For more information please visit: http://www.agfa.com or http://www.agfa.ca

 

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