Kyocera Finecam SL300R

Kyocera Finecam SL300R

Editor Rating: Good (3.0)


Kyocera Finecam SL300R - Kyocera Finecam SL300R

For all their improvements during the past two years, digital cameras have still presented users with trade-offs compared with film point-and-shoots—namely, slow power-up, long shutter-delay times, and sluggish response when writing to a memory card. But the groundbreaking Kycoera Finecam SL300R does away with these irritants, while delivering good 3.2-megapixel images from a tiny, cleverly designed device.

Thanks to an innovative, parallel-tasking signal processor technology called RTUNE, the SL300R performs better than many high-end prosumer digital cameras in terms of speed. Power-on time is less than a second, and the shutter delay is barely perceptible. Most impressively, the SL300R can shoot continuously at 3.5 frames per second (or capture video at 30 fps) until the memory card is full—no stopping after a few frames to let the camera process the images.

When closed, the 5-ounce, all-metal chassis measures 2.5 by 3.9 inches and is just 0.6 inches thick. That makes it even smaller than the Minolta DiMage XT or the Pentax Optio S cameras. The folding body twists apart for shooting, and the lens and flash unit swivel independently of the camera half, making over-the-head and low-angle shots easy.

Outdoors, the SL300R is a pleasure to use. The fast power-on time and lag-free shutter release makes capturing moving subjects easy, and the 3.5-fps shooting rate is a joy. Image quality was very good for a 3MP camera. The 3X zoom lens provides a useful 38- to 115-mm (35-mm equivalent) range of focal lengths, and the 1.5-inch LCD screen is sharp and clear, even in full sunlight.

The SL300R isn't perfect, though. Its auto-focus system is below par, and the camera would occasionally refuse to focus in low light. The camera has no lens cap, and you can easily touch the front of the lens accidentally when slipping it in and out of your pocket. We found that even a slight fingerprint caused noticeable degradation of image quality, especially in bright light.

Also, the flash is located very close to the lens, resulting in some of the worst red-eye we've ever seen. And note that to enable continuous shooting, you'll need to use one of the new high-speed SD cards ($80 street for 256MB), not the 16MB card included in the bundle.

Still, there's no denying that the image processor in the SL300R advances the state of the art. If you've shied away from buying a digital camera because it simply didn't shoot like a film model, your wait is over.