A review of the BenQ DC E600 digital camera
With many, many awards under their belt, BenQ are a successful company that manufacture great digital products ranging from projectors, to TV’s and cameras. The BenQ DC E600 has been highly recommended by Trusted Reviews.com so with that we decided that it’s just got be worth a butchers…… Design |
| The BenQ DC E600 belongs in the Slim & Luxurious range of BenQ cameras and it really does belong there. It is very sleek and has a really good solid feel to it. The silver finish appears to be scratch resistant, although there is a chrome edging all around it and with it being on the edge, this part could get pretty scuffed. The 2D rotating lens protrudes from the camera body, and rotates back inside to save on internal space. On the top of the camera is the power button and shutter release, with most of the action on the back. The 2.5” high resolution LCD LTPS screen dominates the rear with very minimal functions which are the zoom rocker at the top, playback and movie mode, menu and screen buttons. There is also the d-panel which is a bit difficult to press as there is a narrow square section that you need to depress in the corners and it is easy to accidentally choose the wrong function. The OK button in the middle is nice and big though. Nice and neat dimensions of 92mm (w) x 60mm (h) x 24.5mm (d) and a weight of 135g. |
| Features |
The BenQ DC E600 has 6.0 mega pixels and a 3x optical zoom which will assist you in achieving some really great results. Unfortunately, manual options are minimal, limited to flash, white balance and ISO. The flash options are red-eye reduction, slow sync, forced flash and flash off, in addition to the typical automatic setting. BenQ also mentions a trim and size feature that allows users to crop and resize a shot, as well as change an entire image’s resolution and size. The Ben Q DC E600 also includes a Movie mode in which users can capture MPEG-4 images at 30 fps in 640 x 480 VGA with continuous sound recording. The E600 takes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and is SD card compatible, which will boost the limited 24 MB of internal memory. There is also a USB 2.0 port for transferring images to PC. |
| Performance |
Disappointingly, there is not a great deal to report on the performance of the BenQ DC E600. The battery life was pretty average taking approximately 200 shots and start up time was quite average too taking around 2secs for the shutter lag and then another second for the first shot to be taken. The images printed using the PictBridge method were quite good with true colours and minimal digital noise and fringing. For a cheap and cheerful digital camera the results were of quite a high standard and at the end of the day that is the main reason we use a camera so it gets the thumbs up from us. |
| Overall Opinion |
| We did expect great things from the BenQ DC E600 but it was just a pretty average digital camera. It does have a reasonable price tag costing around £100-£120, so if your after value for money it’s not bad, but we would recommend a good shop around before you decide. |
| By Hayley Malyon |
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Pros + 6.0 mega pixels + 2D rotating lens + Good quality images + Reasonable price tag |
Cons - Limited manual settings - Average battery life |
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Picture Quality 8/10
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Battery Life 8/10
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Setup Simplicity 8/10
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Build Quality 8/10
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Ease of Use 8/10
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Overall Rating 
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