Introduction
Fuji are renowned for their cameras, and are one of the most popular choices for a digital camera for nearly any market. Most such "novelty" cameras like the @xia Slimshot are produced by a company who may not have much experience in digital cameras, and, in effect just re-brand a generic product. This camera, although based on technology from another company (SMaL Camera Technologies), is well and truly a Fuji creation.
The Fuji @xia Slimshot
This camera is actually the slimmest camera in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records 2002, measuring in at 85.6 x 54 x 6mm - the same surface area as a credit card, and only 6 times as thick - certainly easy enough to carry in your wallet. The camera is built from a pleasing aluminium casing with dark green rims around the ends of the case and lens. The overall built quality is superb and a falling out of a pocket or off a table should prove meaningless, as it is extremely robust.
Specifications
The camera features an internal lithium polymer battery, supposedly able to take from 600-1000 shots before recharge (via the USB cable). I never actually experienced a flat battery, even after only charging the unit twice and taking hundreds of photos. A battery like this should also have a large storage time, meaning that you will be able to come back to the unit after a month and still have some charge left in it. (albeit not quite full capacity).
Included Items
Contents of the Fuji @xia Slimshot
Fuji provide a standard bundle with the camera, the software, the manual and the standard pouch that come with most cameras. The pouch is just to protect the camera from scratches whilst carrying it in a bag, or putting it in your pocket.
Features
The @xia Slimshot is an extremely simple camera to operate, and comes with few flashy features. The rear of the camera consists of a small LCD which displays the camera resolution, and the amount of pictures remaining. There are also two simple buttons, one to mute the "beep" of the camera, and the other to delete the most recent photo, or the whole memory.
When the camera is not in use, the lens and view window are flush with the camera surface by means of a latching pop-up mechanism. This enables the camera to have the correct focal length whilst in use, but allow for easy and compact transport of the unit. This just reduces the size of the unit when not in use, and allows it to fit in your wallet when carrying it.
Pop-up mechanism
One of the main marketing points of this camera is the "Autobrite" technology - developed by SMaL Camera Technologies. In simple terms, this technology will improve picture quality in photos where there are dramatic lighting differences. An example of the technology can be seen on the Autobrite demonstration below:
@xia Slimshot Software
Performance
The @xia Slimshot camera is clearly marketed as more of a "handy camera" rather than one that is totally gadget, or for general use. I was initially sceptical about the quality of something of such a small size, expecting something along the lines of a webcam image.
This first photo is a demonstration of the Autobrite technology. The light coming through this window was extremely bright, and would normally render the grass as bright white. The Autobrite filter manages to salvage the grass, but the bottom of the vertical blinds are slightly obscured because of the large brightness gradient.
This photo demonstrates the surprising vividness that can be captured with this camera. "Gadget" cameras would render this scene with washed out colours. When looking at the enlarged image it is clear to see the limitations of the 0.31MP resolution, the picture just isn't as sharp enough to use for any high quality image.
In this next image the whole wooden fencing and chair are too saturated, a quick play round in an image editing application would fix this, getting the best result.
This last image was taken from an area in the shade, with a wide variation of brightness and distance in the shot. The camera copes reasonably well at rendering a realistic image, but the quality is nowhere near that of a general use digital camera, although a lot better than most "fun cameras".
Conclusions
My initial scepticisms of the camera were proved wrong after I had a chance to use it. The camera proved to have a reasonable image quality, certainly good enough to use for e-mails or uploading to a personal website. The main attraction to this camera, is of course its size. The camera had been carried around in my wallet for a couple of weeks whilst reviewing it, and it would fit in to one of the compartments with ease. Having a camera that you can carry round at all times without even noticing it can be very handy indeed, as you simply need to reach into your pocket, and voila!
This camera is certainly more useful than some novelty cameras available, as the quality is far superior, and it has more functionality than to be used for 10 minutes as a gadget and then discarded. If you are looking for an ultra-portable camera to take with you on the move, then you need to look no further - but beware that what you gain in portability you loose in getting high-quality shots.
Fuji are renowned for their cameras, and are one of the most popular choices for a digital camera for nearly any market. Most such "novelty" cameras like the @xia Slimshot are produced by a company who may not have much experience in digital cameras, and, in effect just re-brand a generic product. This camera, although based on technology from another company (SMaL Camera Technologies), is well and truly a Fuji creation.
The Fuji @xia Slimshot
This camera is actually the slimmest camera in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records 2002, measuring in at 85.6 x 54 x 6mm - the same surface area as a credit card, and only 6 times as thick - certainly easy enough to carry in your wallet. The camera is built from a pleasing aluminium casing with dark green rims around the ends of the case and lens. The overall built quality is superb and a falling out of a pocket or off a table should prove meaningless, as it is extremely robust.
Specifications
- Sensor : 0.31 Megapixels
- Resolution : 640x480, 320x240
- File Format : .jpg after software conversion
- Internal Memory : 8MB
- Focal Length : 6.87mm (equivalent to 47mm on a 35mm camera)
- Aperture : 3.8
- Shooting Distance : 60cm to infinity
- Focusing : Fixed
- Battery : Internal Lithium Polymer
- Weight 35g
- Dimensions : 85.6 x 54 x 6 mm
- Shutter Speed : Auto (1/30 - 1/15000)
The camera features an internal lithium polymer battery, supposedly able to take from 600-1000 shots before recharge (via the USB cable). I never actually experienced a flat battery, even after only charging the unit twice and taking hundreds of photos. A battery like this should also have a large storage time, meaning that you will be able to come back to the unit after a month and still have some charge left in it. (albeit not quite full capacity).
Included Items
- @xia Slimshot Camera
- Leather Pouch
- USB Cable
- Software/Drive CD
- Instruction Manual
- Quick Start Guide
Contents of the Fuji @xia Slimshot
Fuji provide a standard bundle with the camera, the software, the manual and the standard pouch that come with most cameras. The pouch is just to protect the camera from scratches whilst carrying it in a bag, or putting it in your pocket.
Features
The @xia Slimshot is an extremely simple camera to operate, and comes with few flashy features. The rear of the camera consists of a small LCD which displays the camera resolution, and the amount of pictures remaining. There are also two simple buttons, one to mute the "beep" of the camera, and the other to delete the most recent photo, or the whole memory.
Rear of the camera
When the camera is not in use, the lens and view window are flush with the camera surface by means of a latching pop-up mechanism. This enables the camera to have the correct focal length whilst in use, but allow for easy and compact transport of the unit. This just reduces the size of the unit when not in use, and allows it to fit in your wallet when carrying it.
Pop-up mechanism
One of the main marketing points of this camera is the "Autobrite" technology - developed by SMaL Camera Technologies. In simple terms, this technology will improve picture quality in photos where there are dramatic lighting differences. An example of the technology can be seen on the Autobrite demonstration below:
The software bundled with the camera is proprietary, and is needed to download any images from the camera. The software is easy to use and bug free, but it could have been made to look a little better. Functionality was placed well above aesthetics in this department.
@xia Slimshot Software
Performance
The @xia Slimshot camera is clearly marketed as more of a "handy camera" rather than one that is totally gadget, or for general use. I was initially sceptical about the quality of something of such a small size, expecting something along the lines of a webcam image.
This first photo is a demonstration of the Autobrite technology. The light coming through this window was extremely bright, and would normally render the grass as bright white. The Autobrite filter manages to salvage the grass, but the bottom of the vertical blinds are slightly obscured because of the large brightness gradient.
This photo demonstrates the surprising vividness that can be captured with this camera. "Gadget" cameras would render this scene with washed out colours. When looking at the enlarged image it is clear to see the limitations of the 0.31MP resolution, the picture just isn't as sharp enough to use for any high quality image.
In this next image the whole wooden fencing and chair are too saturated, a quick play round in an image editing application would fix this, getting the best result.
This last image was taken from an area in the shade, with a wide variation of brightness and distance in the shot. The camera copes reasonably well at rendering a realistic image, but the quality is nowhere near that of a general use digital camera, although a lot better than most "fun cameras".
Conclusions
My initial scepticisms of the camera were proved wrong after I had a chance to use it. The camera proved to have a reasonable image quality, certainly good enough to use for e-mails or uploading to a personal website. The main attraction to this camera, is of course its size. The camera had been carried around in my wallet for a couple of weeks whilst reviewing it, and it would fit in to one of the compartments with ease. Having a camera that you can carry round at all times without even noticing it can be very handy indeed, as you simply need to reach into your pocket, and voila!
This camera is certainly more useful than some novelty cameras available, as the quality is far superior, and it has more functionality than to be used for 10 minutes as a gadget and then discarded. If you are looking for an ultra-portable camera to take with you on the move, then you need to look no further - but beware that what you gain in portability you loose in getting high-quality shots.
