Product Description

The Polaroid PhotoMAX PDC 700 expands the PhotoMAX line of digital imaging products with higher resolution, expanded LCD monitor and the first bundling of the PhotoMAX Pro software in a digital camera kit. The sleek design and user-friendly features of the PDC 700 Digital Camera Creative Kit make it an ideal kit for any cyber shutterbug.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96245 in Camera & Photo
• Size: Medium Size
• Brand: Polaroid
• Model: PDC-700
• Platforms: Windows, Windows 98, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows NT
• Dimensions: 5.40" h x 2.60" w x 1.80" l, .62 pounds
• Memory: 4MB
• Display size: 1.8

Features

• 0.8 megapixel sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 4 x 6 prints
• Fixed-focus lens has a focal length of 5mm (equivalent to 52mm on a 35mm camera)
• 4 MB internal memory holds 36 images at default resolution; a CompactFlash card can be added for additional storage
• Connect to pre-iMac Macintosh computers and PCs via serial port
• uses 4 AA batteries (alkalines included); includes AC adapter

Amazon.com Product Description
The Polaroid PhotoMAX PDC 700 expands the PhotoMAX line of digital imaging products by offering higher resolution, an expanded LCD monitor, and the first bundling of the PhotoMAX Pro software in a digital camera kit. The Poloroid PDC 700's user-friendly design grouped with its 24-bit color (millions of colors) image pickup element and 1,024 x 768 pixel resolution enables you to take high-quality color images with the touch of a button. Both the bright image viewfinder and the 1.8-inch LCD screen make seeing your images and deleting the ones you don't want simple, so you don't waste memory. The Polaroid PDC 700 comes with 4 MB of built-in memory, but you can also use the CompactFlash card slot to upgrade your memory.

Automatic focus and built-in three-mode flash as well as date coding and a 10-second self-timer make this tripod-mountable camera easy to use and versatile. The Creative Kit, which comes with the camera, includes a convenient wrist strap, an AC adapter, batteries, a quick start guide, and cables to connect the Polaroid PCD 700 to your TV or your PC. This package also contains a software bundle for your PC that will allow you to download and edit your photos.

Customer Reviews

Great Value
Pluses: 1 Great price for what you get (Camera, case, software, cables to connect to computer) 2 Picture quality is very good.

Minuses 1 Slow to download to computer. (You can start it loading and leave it alone, though.) I have a very fast computer and could take 30 seconds to dowload a picture from camera. 2 Uses batteries up quickly. You can use up 4 penlites in an hour of heavy use (especially if you use the view-screen on the back - that is what really uses the power up). (Not any different from other digital cameras from what I read.) 3 Very little documentation, not a problem for me, since I wouldn't read anyway, but others may want to read more about it.

NOTE: I searched around and other online retailers had lower prices up front, but after you add shipping and taxes (yes taxes on some sites) you end up paying more than on Amazon. So I bought from Amazon! Plus, Amazon delivered quickly of course, and I don't know how the other guys would do as far as customer service.

Number of pictures: With the 4 megs built in, you can take 12 XGA superfine, 25 XGA fine, 50 XGA normal - 22 VGA superfine, 45 VGA fine, 90 VGA normal.

Extra pictures: It uses CompactFlash Cards. Can buy to add Megs of memory to hold more pics. (approx $ per meg for the CompactFlash cards) Amazon and others also sell these.

Polaroid PDC 700 is a digital wonder.
I bought the PDC 700 with all kinds of limitations in mind, first and foremost being cost. I was not going to pay over $300 for a digital camera and I wanted the highest resolution for the least amount of money. I found exactly that with the PDC 700. I also bought three Sandisk 16 mb flash cards, a 32 mb flash card, a battery charger and sufficient nimh batteries, and a Datafab compact flash reader (parallel). This last weekend, I started taking pictures of everything around my house and office. EVERY picture I took on medium resolution far surpasses the picture quality I ever had with 35mm SLR cameras. The printed pictures were also fantastic on my Lexmark Z11 printer.... Bottom line, I can take an infinite number of pictures at a wonderful resolution, crop them if necessary using the Photoshop LE look-alike software included with the camera, and print great pictures the quality of which I have never seen before at a wonderfully low price. This camera is indeed a quality product. The only drawback is the case - it is too small for anything but the camera, so I bought a larger camera bag that holds all the accessories.

A few improvements and it'd be excellent!
Polaroid did a pretty good job on this camera. Let's break it down step by step:

ADVANTAGES:

1) 4 MB built-in memory - this is a fair amount compared to other comparable cameras.

2) Compact Flash compatible for adding more memory - Compact Flash cards are relatively inexpensive - it's like film you can use forever! Just drop it in, take the pictures, and when the card fills up, replace it (or use the 4 MB built-in).

3) The LCD display is great. Not choppy - you can even adjust the brightness. It can be turned off to decrease battery drain. Also, immediately after you take a picture, it will display the picture on the LCD (whether you have it on or off) and ask if you want to delete it now? This is great when you take a picture and look at it and immediately know you don't want it.

4) Menu functions. Once you figure it out, the menu is really cool. You change what type of light you will be taking pictures in, you can format the memory, erase all or one picture in the camera, etc.

5) The software is great. You can actually hook your camera up to your computer, and from the software you can change the camera settings without ever touching the camera (you can take a picture, turn on/off the lcd display, change flash formats and picture quality, etc.).

6) Accessories. The kit comes with a TV cable, a nice camera case, a wrist strap, a serial (RS-232) cable for camera-computer connection, BRAND-NAME batteries (that's a shocker - I got Duracell ULTRA with mine), AC Adapter, and software. There is also a USB port as well - I'm going to look into this because serial transfer is SLOW....

DISADVANTAGES:

1) Slow downloads. I have a PII-400 w/ 128MB RAM. Still, I downloaded 15 1024x768 (Fine quality mode - read more about quality modes further down) pictures that I took, and it took almost a minute per picture.

2) There are 2 settings: 1024x768 (they call this XGA), and 640x480 (they call this VGA). Each of these settings also has 3 quality modes (SuperFine, Fine, and Normal). SuperFine is the only one worth taking pictures with. Other modes are grainy.

3) Battery Life. Actually, every digital camera on the face of the earth drains batteries almost instantly - so this really is just a disadvantage among ALL digital cameras. That's why I'm glad this thing came with an AC Adapter. Just be sure to use the AC Adapter whenever you can (especially when you are first playing with it and fooling around with the LCD - that thing REALLY drains batteries!).

4) I wish this thing came with a USB cable. It has a USB OUT on the camera, but it's a tiny little connector and I have no idea what type USB cable to buy for it. Yeah, it comes with a serial cable, but that is SLOW. USB has GOT to be faster.

5) As everyone else has said, NO documentation whatsoever. Just get on the Polaroid website and pull off the product manual - that. Strangely enough, the product manual doesn't come with the camera!

All in all, a GREAT camera. Buy it and you won't be disappointed.