Without doubt the Kyocera Finecam SL300R is the most unusual digital camera we have ever seen. Well, there are one or two novelty designs on the market so perhaps we should qualify that comment by saying that the SL300R is the most unusual fully featured digital camera on the market.
It is made in two parts that are joined together by a pivot. When it's closed, the two parts form a slab that is the same size as a regular camera but only 15mm thick. Hold the right hand side steady and rotate the left side forward through ninety degrees and suddenly it looks more like a camera.
Press the power button and in an instant it's on and ready for action, and then you notice that the lens is in a housing that is 62.5mm deep, which is far deeper than any other compact camera thanks to the unusual design. As a result the lens doesn't have to move outside the camera body when it first extends.
That's a good aspect of the unusual design but on the other hand there is no viewfinder, no support for direct printing and no tripod mount, and the camera itself is a little awkward to hold. You end up holding it with your fingertips, and that doesn't help you to steady it properly when you're framing your shot. If you choose, you can rotate the lens section of the camera backwards to take self-portraits while you look at the screen.
Despite its slender design the SL300R has regular controls as well as a USB port and power connection on the camera body, so you charge the battery and transfer photos in the usual way.
The Kyocera is only a 3-megapixel model and although we shot our test photos at the fine setting of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, we were surprised that all the photos came out with a file size around the 750KB mark, which is rather smaller than we expected.
Certainly our test photos were unimpressive. The pictures we took with the flash were horrendously washed out and were far too bright, and close-up macro shots were blurred and next to useless. Portraits and exterior shots taken without flash were more acceptable and came out somewhat better than happy snaps, but they were nowhere near as good as we want from a camera with this price.
You would have to accept that you're paying a premium of at least £100 for the unusual design and slim form factor, and although some may think that's fair, we're not convinced.
