Granted that the LCD screen being missing is a tad inconvenient, this little tike will let you record up to 20 seconds of sound with each photo! 77% Rating:
UMAX AstraCam USB
Here is a look at the newest digital camera offering from Umax, the AstraCam USB. Very appealing looking unit at first sight, and not without cool features and toys. In fact the only thing this mighty mite is lacking is an LCD viewer.
Granted that the LCD screen being missing is a tad inconvenient, this little tike will let you record up to 20 seconds of sound with each photo! I personally don't quite catch the idea behind that particular feature, but I guess someone wanted it or they wouldn't have built it there. Oh, I get it, for you "freaky" peep's out there taking those not so public type pictures......or not. Enough of that now, it is a nice feature for those of you who snap pics to send to friends and family over the net and want to include a small editorial along with it. It has "me-proof" ease of operation, and 4 lighting type correction filters built in. It is extremely light, I had to keep checking if it was in my pocket or if someone lifted the damn thing while I shoved through the crowds!
It comes with rechargeable batteries, two double A's. The charging cradle will top them off in about two hours or so. And unless you going to walk around all day with it turned on, I will bet that a single charge should get you through the 46 picture limit (without sound), or the 32 picture limit with.
The coolest part of the whole deal is the interface for your PC. It seems that nowadays everything will adapt to USB. Mice, keyboards, web cams, printers, yada yada. Via a typical Twain type software interface, the USB cradle just plugs right into the back of your PC or your attached USB hub and snap, it's in there! Software install was fairly painless, and the look of it is clean and professional. Here is a screenshot of what the front end looks like when you go to pull in those freshly taken photos....
There are multiple selections for after-shot adjustments. The camera resolution is a mild 640x480, but with a little tweaking from the software end you can have yourself a 1280x960 interpolated resolution. You have the options of changing the lighting filters, pulling in the sound recorded, and numerous other toys with the package. Easy to use GUI shouldn't prove too difficult for any user. Hell, I got it right on the first pic! Here are some shots of the options tabs that you get for tweaking before the import stage...
For around $199, it's not the worst deal out there by far. For a decent cam, the sound recording option, and a nice software interface to play with it should match up pretty well in that price range. I have seen a few specs from some other cameras in the $200 range with about the same percs, EXCEPT FOR the USB feature. I think that comes in pretty handy. I mean come on now, do you really want to mess around with a damn COM port adapter every time you wanna download pics? Or those easy to lose floppy adapters for the flash memory cards? I have to say that I am pretty happy with this little digital, and I am sure to get some good use of it from here on out.
Here is a look at the newest digital camera offering from Umax, the AstraCam USB. Very appealing looking unit at first sight, and not without cool features and toys. In fact the only thing this mighty mite is lacking is an LCD viewer. 
The coolest part of the whole deal is the interface for your PC. It seems that nowadays everything will adapt to USB. Mice, keyboards, web cams, printers, yada yada. Via a typical Twain type software interface, the USB cradle just plugs right into the back of your PC or your attached USB hub and snap, it's in there! Software install was fairly painless, and the look of it is clean and professional. Here is a screenshot of what the front end looks like when you go to pull in those freshly taken photos....
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