Acer - CU-6530 camera review

Acer is probably not the first company you'd think of when choosing a new digital camera, but it has a range of a dozen models and recently introduced the CU-6530, an ultra-compact camera coming in at well under £200. It's a 6-megapixel device with 3x optical and 4.4x digital zoom and a 63mm LCD screen.

The full metal case of this little camera gives it a good, solid feel, but it's still light and compact enough to fit easily into a pocket, even in its supplied suede-like belt-pouch. Its small size can make it a little awkward to grip and some of the buttons on the back surface are not that easy to use. The three selectors for menu, image delete and icon display are better operated with a thumbnail than a whole digit.

The large display screen gives a good bright picture, even outside, and has enough room for the icons ranged around its edges not to obscure the subject of a shot. You can see at a glance the settings of everyday parameters like exposure, image quality, flash mode and battery level.

The configuration menu system works well, offering useful settings such as 18 scene modes. These range from portrait and natural green to more exotic scenes like candlelight, fireworks, splash water and pets.

Picture quality, in a variety of conditions, proved to be well up to that from cameras at and beyond its price. Although there was some colour swing from purple to blue, by and large the images were well captured, with good levels of detail even in low-light environments.

Image noise is not a major problem with this camera and flash performance, while not up to that of bigger (and more expensive) models, is not at all bad for an ultra-compact. The infra-red auto-focus beam appears more red than infra, so you can see it reflect off walls, but does produce well-focussed images.

The CU-6530 connects to a PC through a supplied dock, which recharges the Lithium-ion battery as well as providing a USB connection to a computer or a PictBridge connection to a printer. The power supply for this dock is rather clumsy, requiring a two to three pin adapter, again included in the box.

Acer supplies a 64MB card with the CU-6530, enough for around 20 shots at normal resolution, though it's not a particularly quick card. This can be important if you're taking several shots in quick succession.

Acer - CE-6430 review

If you're on a comparatively limited budget but would like to be able to take detailed photos with comparatively minimal effort, then the Acer CE-6430 is worth considering.

In keeping with the current vogue, it's sleek and compact and designed in stylish silver with a front panel grip to help you keep a steady hand with those action shots. It's lightweight at just 130g and easily slips into a purse or pocket; a fetching soft camera case is provided.

The biggest plus point is the 6.36-megapixel CCD sensor which ensures you get the sharpness and quality you're after. The image can be amplified using the 3x optical or 4x digital zoom, and viewed on the 2.36-inch TFT colour LCD screen. For extreme close-ups there's a 5cm macro mode, while video can be captured at 30fps (but at a rather disappointing 320 x 240 resolution).

No memory cards are provided but SD cards up to 1GB can be installed. You're definitely going to need them because the paltry 8MB built-in memory will allow you just four high resolution photos (2,816 x 2,112 pixels) before you run out of space. Using the standard mode dial on the top of the camera you can either opt for automatic settings or specialise for Portrait, Landscape, Sports or Night shots.

In capture mode you can take single shots or bursts of three (the Auto Bracket version of this automatically changes the exposure within a set range between shots). Self-timer, exposure and white balance can also be manually modified, as can the flash, the focus, the image quality and the ISO sensitivity, which ranges from 64 to 200. The on-screen menus and icons are familiar and easy to manoeuvre through, and all in all there's much to recommend here.

However there are a few niggles, as one might expect for a 'budget' camera. The first is a common problem with video playback - you can see the video but not hear the audio unless it's plugged into a PC or TV monitor. Not much use if you've just captured a memorable parade or rollercoaster ride and can't check the sound on location.

Second, the accompanying software includes an old issue of Acrobat (6.0), a USB driver for Windows 98 and Windows 98SE and a Manual, but not the NTI Photo Suite advertised in the Manual - shorely shome mishtake? The added insult is that NTI Photo Suite is not Mac compatible so you'd have to use something like iPhoto instead if you're an Apple user.