Aiptek Mini Pencam
The Aiptek Mini Pencam (still available on Amazon) was my very first digital camera, back in 2002, and it was a decent entry-level device. Image quality was excellent: 1.3 megapixels (1248 x 960 px), sharp lines and bright colors, as long as the lighting was good (the Pencam Mini has no flash). No color LCD, hence no preview, but there was a viewfinder.
The design of the camera — boxy and squarish — was not the most ergonomic, and I found I sometimes had to position my finger a bit awkwardly to press the trigger. I would also frequently block the lens with my forefinger. Friends borrowing the camera often assumed that it was meant to be held horizontally, but the camera’s standard position is supposed to be vertical. (No harm done, other than that friends’ photos tended to come out in portrait orientation.) Another drawback was that the buttons tended to get inadvertently pressed in the pocket, since the menu button was also a power button. (You power the Pencam off by simply waiting for the auto-shutoff.)
The Pencam Mini ran on 2 AA batteries, and I found that it drained alkalines quite quickly, as I was a very avid shutterbug, snapping away and transferring photos to my computer quite liberally. Rechargables, however, gave me a better energy curve.
I say this all in past tense because I lost my Pencam the winter after I bought it. It fell out of my pocket and into some snowdrift in Baltimore, and I never found it, even with digging. I miss that camera; we went through a lot together.
(Sample photo and more after the jump.)
Here’s a sample photo of the facade of First Baptist Church in Washington, DC:
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