Benq's 300mini is a stylish, simple and size-challenged digital camera, but photo enthusiasts may be better served looking elsewhere.
While it's possible to spend thousands of dollars on a high-end digital camera, if all you want is the occasional low resolution shot for a web page, or something to mess around with, a much cheaper camera may do just as well for a fraction of the cost. It's this market that Benq's 300mini aims to conquer.
Would you believe very small?
Let's get one thing straight right away. The 300mini is small, and from a style perspective would fit very nicely into a movie adaptation of Get Smart, if such a thing were ever to surface. Measuring just 8.5cm long, the 300mini is lightweight and easy to carry around. If you think it'd make you look cool, a neck strap is provided. We promise not to point and laugh.
Setup of the 300mini couldn't be simpler. Pop a single AAA battery in, choose either high (640x480) or low (320x240) resolution and shoot away. The internal 8MB of SDRAM is good for 107 low resolution pictures and a rather more restrained 26 high resolution pictures. The 300Mini allows for continuous shooting in either mode. Other than that, all you can do is switch the camera off or clear memory by deleting images. Because there's no real way to preview images or even give them numbers, all the images must be deleted off the 300mini at the one time.
I find that quite hard to believe
Benq's documentation on the 300mini claims that you can download images 'without connecting any cables'. We valiantly searched for evidence of Bluetooth, WiFi or even an IR port on the camera, but this was not to be. Sadly for our techno-lust, transfers are performed via USB. If you have an awful lot of space around your USB ports, then it would be theoretically possible to just plug the 300mini in. Otherwise you'll be forced to use the supplied USB cable, which rather sinks the 'no cables' claim. Transfers to PC are done via ArcSoft's supplied PhotoBase software. PhotoBase certainly gets the job done, but it took us a little while to figure out how to transfer images to other applications, rather than just saving them in ArcSoft's proprietary album format. ArcSoft VideoImpression is also supplied if making AVIs out of your images is your thing; this is most useful if you've used continuous shooting mode.
You can't get something for nothing, though, and the low price of the 300mini does mean you've got to accept some limitations. Even at so called high resolution, the 300mini has definite problems with motion blur, so you'd need to make sure your targets aren't moving much -- or make sure to take plenty of photos. Unlike more fully featured cameras, there's no way to upgrade the memory in the 300mini.
The other caveat with the 300mini is the build quality, which is a little shaky. The end of the camera comes away to reveal a USB plug. The first time we removed this end, it fell apart in our hands. It's trivially easy to reassemble, but is hardly a good thing. Likewise, the viewfinder is a small popup magnifying lens made from thin plastic. The camera itself is exceptionally light, meaning that it would be an exceptionally bad idea to pack it at the bottom of a heavy bag, unless you like plastic fragments.
The 300mini is going to sell to people who appreciate its style much more than those who appreciate its picture quality. There's nothing inherently wrong with the 300mini at its price point, although it's hardly a unique camera, and if you're keen on photography, you'd quickly outpace its capabilities.
Benq 300mini
Company: Benq
Price: AU$189
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: (02) 9714 6800
