Bell & Howell BH-21 PC Digital Camera

It doesn't have a flash. If it thinks there is not enough light it will refuse to take the picture. If you remember how many shots were saved you can tell that it did not take the picture because the counter did not decrement. Or if you listen very carefuly, the beep it makes is slightly different depending whether it decided to take the picture or not. The slowest setting it will shoot at is 1/15 sec.

It also does not have non-volatile memory. What this means is that if you turn it off or change batteries, or if the batteries run out before you reach your computer, your pictures will be gone. Although it claims the batteries last two weeks, it does not have a bettery level indicator, so if you don't know or remember how much juice is left, and you value your pictures, you will always need to buy new batteries (3 AAA) before each trip.

I also did not think the upload software was very intuitive.

On the positive side, it has VGA & QVGA video modes, and does not use battery power when connected to the USB port, and the picture quality seems good for the price.

So it makes a reasonable PC-CAM for video conferencing, but does not come close to satisfying the needs of even an amateur photographer like me.


Amazing camera for its price.   March 21, 2002
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

Although this camera is lacking so many features of a higher end digital camera, i think it's a great starter. At around 70 dollars, the amount of space and clarity of the hr (high resolution: 600x800) pictures are great! This would be perfect for sharing on a website or an email. The programs on the software included are so easy to use, and downloading pictures with the small USB is quick and simple. Small and lightweight -- but with all the very basics, this camera is wonderful for its price.


Don't let the low price turn you away - this one's a keeper!   December 30, 2001
 20 out of 21 found this review helpful

My young little daughter wanted a camera for Christmas this year and all I could think of was the high cost of film and film processing that I would have to come up with in the future. I remembered when my son was that age, of all the pictures he took, some good but mostly all bad! Luckily I came across this camera, it has so far saved me a bundle in film and developing costs. It's all ready paid for itself and she's only had the thing for three days! Yup, digital is the way to go. Quality you ask? Well, I was totally amazed at the quality of the pictures! It even comes with full versions of ULEAD software that lets you fix up pictures that you might have otherwise thrown out if it came from a regular film type camera. The only thing I wish it had is flash, but the neat thing about this camera is if the lighting condition was too low, it will tell you with a beep, and you will not be able to take the picture. We've found that you really don't need anymore than a turning on table lamp to take a picture indoors so not having a flash is not a big deal. What made me choose this camera over all the other lower priced digital cameras out there is the amount of memory it has for picture storage. This one's got a whopping 8 MB of SDRAM! That means 26 high resolution pictures or 99 low resolution pictures. And it's simple enough for a kid to use. I highly recommend this one, it's a keeper!