Camcorders Reviews Ratings - Customer reviews - Sharp VE-CG40U 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

The camera runs on 4 AA batteries, and this might be the camera's biggest drawback. I've already run through one whole set of batteries and am close to killing the second set. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I am definitely going to buy some NiMH rechargeable AA batteries - in the long run, it's going to save me a TON of money on batteries, I know that much.

The camera has an adjustable diopter (viewfinder) as well as a 1.8" CG Silicon LCD screen. The "CG Silicon" is supposedly a much sharper, less power-hungry LCD screen perfect for digicams. As for the former, I can definitely attest to that - it may be one of the sharpest looking LCD screen's I've ever seen. I of course can not compare power consumption, but it still seems to suck quite a bit of power out of the poor little AA batteries, but it is still a great screen.

The camera has a total of five buttons on the back, which is a very nice touch. Too many buttons begin to clutter the camera body up, and often times all of the functionality can be done in the menu system of the camera. The top of the camera has the power and shutter buttons, and a mode wheel that lets you select what function you want the camera in (Auto, Full Manual, Video, Playback, and a bunch of others).

You noticed above that I said there is a "Full Manual" mode available - let me tell you that this is one of the best things about this camera. It has a bunch of different automatic modes (i.e.: full automatic, selectable shutter speed and everything else auto, selectable exposure and everything else auto, etc...), but then it gives you a mode that allows you control over everything: exposure (+-2.0ev), shutter speed (16s to 1/1000s), f-stop (from F-2.0 to F-8.0), and focus (kind of). Being an amateur photo geek, I love being able to play with all of these things, and this camera has exactly what I was looking for in that particular area.

Also of particular interest in the special modes you can put the camera into: auto-bracketing, gamma bracketing, continuos exposure. The first does exposure bracketing: i.e., it takes three images, over a range of exposures (for example, it could take images at -1.5ev, 0ev, and 1.5ev) to ensure that you get at least one image that looks good. The second works on the same principal, expect with gamma ranges; and the third takes three images in quick succession, so you can get great action sequences (something that is normally impossible with a digital camera because of the amount of time needed to store the image to the media).

Speaking of media, the Sharp uses standard SD (secure digital) memory cards, some of the smallest cards on the market. I'm somewhat ambivalent on this issue: it was good because SD are some of the smallest and least-expensive (relatively) flash memory on the market, but it's also pretty damn slow, and storing a 4-megapixel image takes some time.

The menu system that the camera uses isn't the best ever designed - it's kinda clunky, takes a bit of getting used to, and has a couple annoying bugs too it. However, there are a ton of things you can do in the menu system, and it works well enough that you can get to whatever feature you want in probably about 5 or 6 steps max - not that great, but not bad either.

All the other important info you can find of the spec sheet if you really want to know: it has a Canon lens, which is nice because without a good lens, the camera is basically worthless; 3X zoom, which is also very nice (3X digital as well, but who uses digital zoom); an AC power slot for when you're transferring images to the computer via USB or when you have a plug handy, which is pretty cool; a video and mono-audio out port and a cable so that the camera can be hooked up to a TV for quick viewing.

The software that comes with it, in my opinion, is great. I read somewhere (the one review I did find on the net about this camera in fact) that someone was complaining because it didn't come with a program to create photo albums or edit the photos or what not. Every time I've ever bought a camera, the software [ ] anyway, and I ended up using PSP or Photoshop or something similar. What does come on the CD is a really cool little program that sits in your taskbar, completely unobtrusive. It waits for you to press the "Quick Sync" button on the camera, and when you do, it automatically transfers the images on the camera to a folder you've specified. I actually think that this particular transfer software may be some of the best I've seen, so this is just another plus to the camera.

All in all, the Sharp VE-CG40U is actually such a good camera that I would even consider buying it at a four- or five-hundred dollar price tag. However, at only three hundred bucks on Outpost, you really can't go wrong. 4-megapixels, total control over the manual aspects of the camera, a great lens and CCD, easy-to-use software; it really is a steal, and if you can get one, I would absolutely recommend it!

So, what would make the VE-CG40U better? (1) manual focus mode (autofocus is unreliable in low light), (2) a hot shoe for an external flash unit, (3) better battery life (NiMH rechargables are a "must," as Alkalines are drained very quickly), and (4) an eyepiece adapter for the LCD screen (easier than those reading glasses).

For [$] or less, this is probably as good as it's going to get for a little while. It's not quite in the SLR class, but it isn't far from it, either. I've used mine for scenery, people, flower close-ups at near-macro range, and commercial images for the web. You can get crisp (in 35mm terms) 8x10 prints, even with some cropping, provided that your printer is up to the task.