Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse

I thought I’d look for an older digital camera for this week’s Gadget Warehouse Pick. I came up with the Konica's KD-400Z. To quote a review of times – back in 1992 – it had a whopping 4.13-megapixel CCD! And it was (most likely) the smallest 4-megapixel camera available. It, and is 3.2-megapixel cousin (the KD-310Z) were the first two digital cameras that could handle both MMC/SD and Memory Stick cards. It was also the first – and maybe only – non-Sony camera that could use the Memory Stick. Another feature of this camera was having to use less buttons because of the menu choices that could be accessed on the 1.5-inch color LCD screen. Yep, LCD screens sure were tiny a scant ten years ago. The Konica KD-400Z also featured a 3X optical zoom. The camera turned on when you slid the protective lens cover open. Like most digital cameras, pressing the shutter button down halfway activated the auto focus, but on this camera it also illuminated a blue light on the front so your subject knew the shutter was about to go off. The camera was largely automatic, with little manual control. Because the camera's flash was located right above the lens, I did read reviews complaining of red-eye, which the built in red-eye reduction did not remove. The camera shipped with a 16 MB SD memory card, and if that wasn’t enough it had 2B of memory on board. Wow! Video-wise this camera could record short 320 x 240-pixel 15-second videos. You could also capture pictures with 15-second sound bites using the integrated microphone. Yep, 15 seconds! And the price almost ten years ago? $399! Imagine what $400 can buy today!

See or hear this Netcast: http://twit.tv/dgw1338

This link usually goes live on Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.