Operation (continued):
Keeping in mind this is an entry level, basic camera I am very happy with the quality of the pictures it produces and the ease of use. My twelve year old son had the camera mastered in a matter of an hour or so without ever looking at the manual, and he was able to figure out all the controls and settings just by looking at the camera and menu screen.
In the video mode the C300 uses the QuickTime format and takes videos at a resolution of 320x240 and a frame rate of 15 fps. The videos are limited to 30 seconds and have no audio. Image quality is nothing to brag about, but here again the quality is acceptable for an entry level camera such as the C300.
In the "Night" mode the camera was able to capture pictures that were bright enough that you could not tell they were taken in the dark. No doubt this is done with a longer shutter time. The only problem with that is if you are not holding the camera very stable the longer shutter opening will give you a blurry picture. In the "Auto" mode during daylight hours, I don't think a single picture taken with the C300 has come out blurry from not holding the camera steady. Even pictures taken from a moving car have come out crisp and clear.
Battery Usage:
Battery life is always a concern with digital cameras and the C300 does pretty well in this department. On the two AA batteries that came with the C300 we got a total of 223 pictures, most of which were taken indoors and used the flash. On the second set of batteries, with most of the pictures taken outdoors and no flash, we got over 257 pictures before the C300 wore out the batteries. Compared to other digital cameras I have used that is pretty decent battery life.
Easy Share Software:
Maybe I am just too cynical or picky about photo editing software, but the Easy Share software included with the C300 was not to my liking at all. Anytime a piece of software takes over a system I just don't like it and that is exactly what the Easy Share software did. It took over the Windows "My Picture" folder and all JPEG files in the computer were tied to the Easy Share software once it was installed. Also, any pictures imported from the C300 into the Easy Share software can only be seen in the Easy Share software. I was unable to transfer pictures to any other software, or view them in any other software other than Easy Share.
The Easy Share software is pretty straight forward to use, but I was just more comfortable with letting Windows handle the pictures and doing any editing I needed in PhotoShop, so the Easy Share software was short lived and uninstalled.
