Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Polaroid PDC 5080 - Bottom of the Digital Camera Barrel
Posted by Chris Gohlke in "HARDWARE" @ 03:00 PM
"The singer/songwriter Paul Simon may have requested that his mama not take his Kodachrome away, but I bet you he would have gladly handed the Polaroid PDC 5080 ($90 street) over to her after about five minutes of shooting. We found the PDC 5080 at our local Target, not behind the counter with all the other digitals, but out in the open, dangling on a display near the disposable film cameras. That should have been our first clue about its quality and performance, but excited to come across a 5.1-megapixel camera at such a low price, we bought it and brought it in to PC Magazine Labs for tests. That's where our excitement turned to frustration. "
I can just hear the product pitch meeting at Polaroid now. Clearly they decided that the best way to reinvent themselves for the digital age was to associate themselves with crap, digital crap, but crap nonetheless. These probably do OK in sales because at their price point, they are the only recognizable brand in the bunch and most people don't realize they would probably do better with the no name brand or that spending an extra $50 would get them a much, much better camera.
I can just hear the product pitch meeting at Polaroid now. Clearly they decided that the best way to reinvent themselves for the digital age was to associate themselves with crap, digital crap, but crap nonetheless. These probably do OK in sales because at their price point, they are the only recognizable brand in the bunch and most people don't realize they would probably do better with the no name brand or that spending an extra $50 would get them a much, much better camera.
