By July 24, 2015

Polaroid iE826 Unboxing

vlcsnap-2015-07-23-08h18m33s991Picking a compact camera on a budget should be a simple task if there wasn’t such a huge number on the market. No matter your budget there is always a model for you however there is a slightly nicer feature included for a couple of pounds extra on a different model. Limiting yourself to a budget is a difficult thing as one can very easily see the line drawn becoming blurred when you try to get the best value for money.

The Polaroid iE826 has received some negative press of late with a couple on Honeymoon having dropped a whopping £80 on the snapper and expecting the world from the output. The outlet purchased from merely deflected the issue with a “you get what you pay for” excuse.

Oddly, in the case of the Polaroid iE826 we see a camera that obviously suffered from a price conscious feature set yet also a victim of shrewd pricing from some retailers. QVCuk sell the camera of £44.88, the couple claim the the camera was reduced from £80, you have to wonder if they are more annoyed that the camera was available cheaper elsewhere and if they would have kicked up quite a stink if the price had have been as low it is on QVC’s website.

The camera is however not as bad as the couple has made out. Certainly it won’t take home any prizes however if does take some workable images in the right light. Everything is almost good here. Not quite good, but getting there.

The camera looks nice, the colour array available is very attractive and that is the best thing it has going for it right now. The fascia is bright and popping. Aside from the colour scheme the setup is very much standard, the layout of these compact cameras is so tried and tested that it is impossible to get wrong.

The build is quite light and plastic. Whilst solid it would not survive a few night of brutality in a nightclub and a couple of drops would likely have a detrimental effect on something inside. This is a disposable camera, you won’t be dusting this off next summer to capture those treasured moments taking the kids to Disney.

The optics inside are where we are let down, the crucial part of the camera. Whilst serviceable in daylight the camera ISO of 400 really leads to less than acceptable low level light shots, the flash only adding to the disappointment. Just avoid using this indoors and forget about taking it to a nightclub.

Outdoors the images captured are pretty good, nothing pops but at the same time we have seen worse over the years. Setting everything to Auto isn’t the best idea, if you stay on top of the settings you might be able to salvage many of the shots and produce something quite commendable. Fast action also leads to disappointing results, sports days and skiing will become a blurry memory.

There is in built social networking tools allowing the user to share directly to YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. Yes, MySpace.

Perhaps because the battery was new the charge didn’t last too long. Having charged the camera for an hour before use the battery had dropped to three quarters taking the test pictures and video content for the unboxing video before. There is a lot of motor noise coming from the lens as the auto focus attempts to ‘lock on.’ This likely drains the battery quite a bit so ensure you have a spare or a charging solution before you go on a full day excursion.

It is amazing cameras at the bottom end aren’t improving like the modern Smartphone. For the very little extra you might be able to get a better camera built into a smartphone however this bleeds into the budgeting conundrum of not wanting to spend a penny more than £44.88.

I couldn’t recommend the Polaroid iE826 to anyone unless they are back into a corner, the Daily Mail may have covered the camera with a more negative light then the camera is due however that’s the modern media, it is bad but not THAT bad. 

Thanks to QVCuk for the review sample. When purchased from QVC an Essentials Kit is provided, we will be having a look at this tomorrow.

Technical specification: 

  • Camera type: Compact digital camera
  • Screen: 2.4″ LCD
  • Resolution: 18 megapixels
  • Sensor Type: CMOS
  • ISO sensitivity: AUTO, 100 – 400
  • Image stabiliser: Digital
  • Optical zoom: 8x
  • Digital zoom: 4x
  • Self-timer: 2 seconds / 5 seconds /10 seconds
  • Exposure modes: Auto, Landscape, Backlight, Portrait, Sports
  • Effects: Vivid, Sepia, Monochrome, Night Scene
  • White balance: Auto
  • Photo file formats: JPEG
  • Video file formats: AVI
  • Memory card: SDHC
  • Battery: Lithium-ion battery
  • Battery life: approx 90 – 110 shots
  • Camera (l x w x d): 6cm x 9cm x 2.5cm (2.4″ x 3.5″ x 1″)
  • Weight: 140g

About the Author:

Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
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