FujiFilm Slimshot
The Slimshot is a concept camera designed more for the consumer who wants a nifty gadget than anyone who's actually keen on digital photography per se. Having said that, it is at least honest in its packaging; it carefully notes that the pictures taken with the Slimshot are only really suitable for email and web use; it even goes as far as saying that it's not suitable for photo prints.
If all you want is the ability to take simple shots and impress people at the same time, the Slimshot does have a few tricks up its sleeve. Without a doubt, the main hook for the Slimshot is that it lives up to its title. It's the slimmest DSC we've ever seen; a logo on the front of the box proclaims it the world's thinnest. It's the size of a credit card, and not much thicker either.
From a technical perspective, the Slimshot is the lowest powered of any of the cameras we've looked at here, although that's slightly mitigated by the fact that it's also the cheapest at AU$199. 640x480 is the best resolution you can expect from the Slimshot's 0.3 megapixel CCD, although that smaller size does mean you get more pictures from the internal 8MB of memory. Given its minute physical form factor, there's no way to expand the memory. We did like the fact that you don't have to rely on cell batteries for the Slimshot; it recharges via USB while images are uploading.
From a software side, the Slimshot has a slim offering. Slimshot Photo Album runs the camera driver and ArcSoft PhotoImpression 3.0 allows you to tweak your tiny photos to an acceptable standard.
Our test photos from the Slimshot weren't terribly impressive, although they were decent for what is, after all, a 0.3 Megapixel camera. To put that in perspective, the Kodak CX4300 has ten times the resolution of the Slimshot, so we weren't expecting miracles. If all you are ever going to want a camera for is to post images in email and on the web, then the Slimshot's acceptable. If your aspirations go further, however, you should look elsewhere.
FujiFilm Slimshot
Company: Hanimex
Price: AU$199
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 226 355
6%
1%
I have just seen an advertisement for the CX4230 in a pop up when I went to the Korean Herald newspaper at http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/index.asp . It was selling there for 185000 Won which equals AU$204, half what we would pay for it. I wonder why we can't get it at that price here?