Reviews
Epson P-2000 Photo Viewer
At last, quality comes to the little screen
MA XIMUMPC MARCH 200 5
C
onditions at movie theaters are quickly descending to a level prohibit-
ed by the Geneva Convention. Sticky floors, stale popcorn, intermina-
ble advertisements, and all too often: Sandra Bullock. But we still go,
don’t we? We still go because nothing beats a big, beautiful screen. That’s
why we’re comfortable recommending the Epson P-2000 Photo Viewer,
despite its expense and several flaws. We won’t beat around the bush: This
is the finest screen we’ve ever seen on a portable viewer.
Even the toniest digital cameras have LCDs of dubious quality, sufficient
only for determining that, yes, you did in fact take a photo. But using that
display to decide which pictures to discard when your memory card fills
up? Forget it. If your camera uses SD or CompactFlash cards (or even
Memory Stick, MMC, or xD cards, if you have a CF adapter), you can pop
them into the P-2000 and copy one, a few, or every single picture onto the
device’s internal 40GB hard drive. The P-2000 supports JPEG images up to
8.9 megapixels, and it even supports a limited number of RAW file formats.
You can then use the P-2000 to erase the media for you, so you’re ready to
continue shooting.
But first, why not troll through the day’s work? You can page through
your pictures manually or you can view them in slide-show fashion. The P-
2000 even includes a video-out jack (the cable’s not included) for displaying
the photographs on a TV screen. But why bother when you have a screen
as sharp, bright, and lush as this 3.8-inch beauty? Gazing at a picture of a
lemon slice on this thing made our lips pucker.
Epson demonstrated admirable marketing restraint by conspicuously
labeling the P-2000 as a “Photo Viewer.” Although it also plays MPEG-4Dazzling screen, above-average battery life, and
a roomy hard drive.MOVIE TRAILERSTRAILER PARKS
Expensive; audio/video playback is a cruel joke.$500, http://www.epson.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 8
Pardon the pun, but a picture can’t do this photo-
viewer’s screen justice.video and audio files in MP3 and AAC formats, it’s unacceptable for
either task. The device won’t play any video encoded at a resolution
higher than 640x480, MP3s can
take as much as 30 seconds
to load, and fast-forwarding
causes playback to pause for
several seconds.
But you don’t go to the mov-
ies just to enjoy the arcade
room, right? You’re there for the
screen, and in this respect, the
Epson P-2000 excels.
—LOGAN DECKERFuji S5100
Don’t let the 4MP rating fool you–this little
camera is crammed full o’ featuresW
ith seemingly everyone racing to debut new cameras boasting
more and more megapixels, we were surprised to see Fuji’s lat-
est pseudo-SLR debut with just 4MP. But we applaud Fuji’s move,
because as this small-but-mighty product demonstrates, a digital camera’s
most important feature is the quality of its output, not the number of pixels
in its image sensor.
The FinePix S5100’s 1/2.7-inch CCD shoots clean, crisp, vibrant images at
up to 2272x1704 resolution (4MP) in JPEG and RAW format, which translates
into nice prints up to 8x10 inches. As an added bonus, the camera’s MPEG
movie mode is not a gimmick—it’s capable of shooting 640x480 flicks, with
audio, that won’t hurt your eyes or ears.
So, the S5100 accomplishes its most basic mission: It takes very good
pictures. But then it goes above and beyond the call of duty by delivering
one of the most impressive feature sets we’ve seen at this price point. For
starters, there’s the 10x optical zoom lens (37-370mm, 35mm equivalent),
which delivers a great deal of flexibility in the field without negatively
impacting the body’s weight, size, or portability. The 1.5-inch LCD viewfinder
is a bit small, but its high resolution delivers crisp, bright still and video
playback (although it is hard to view in low light).
The two most useful features, however, are the continuous shooting
mode (which snaps three pics per second until the memory card is full) and
an effective Autofocus Assist Lamp that helps the camera focus in low-light
situations. An included lens adapter allows you to use any 55mm filters, as
well as accessory lenses.
On the negative side, the 5100’s overall response times—boot, shut-
down, zoom, and shutter response—are all a bit sluggish. The continu-If you’re
looking for a
does-everything
point-and-shoot
at a reasonable
price, Fuji’s
S5100 is tough
to beat.ous shoot modes
are pretty useless
with fast-moving sub-
jects. And you must use
xD Picture cards (a tiny 16MB card
is included), which are more expensive than SD cards. The S5100
also doesn’t incorporate auto-
matic image stabilization (so
hold ‘er steady or use a tripod
while taking advantage of that
10x zoom). There’s no remote
control, either.
But when you consider the
S5100’s considerable bang-for-
the-buck upsides, these minor
niggles are easy to forgive.
—STEVE KLETTTons of features, excellent zoom, crisp and
colorful images.MEGA-LICIOUSMEGA-IFISH
Sluggish performance, no remote, and lacks
image stabilization.$400, http://www.fujifilm.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 8
5.8“3.3“