Overview:
In the future, when we all have electronic eyes, we will be able to record all we do through the sensor in the pupil, and directly into our positronic brains. From there, we will put our interface finger into the computer, and upload all we know. For now the Swann MDV-450 Action Camera will have to do. This 90mm long cylindrical camera is a tough and light, and made for those without bionic eyes to record their action sports adventures. With a RRP of £89.99, would it be cheaper to become Steve Austin?
Review:
lets look at some of the specs of this camera, and see what we get for our money? It’s not mentioned what the MDV-450’s sensor technology is, but you can take both stills and video. The camera will take video at a 640 x 480 resolution, and at 24fps, that works out at 4710kbps. The finished article will end up as an .AVI file and 30 minutes worth of recording will give you a file size of approximately 1GB. You can shoehorn MicroSD cards in of 8GB, but the camera will only last 90 minutes on a single charge of the Lithium-Ion 490mAH built in battery. Plenty for most people I would have thought. The camera will also take stills. Each photo will be roughly 700KB at a 2048 x 1536 resolution in the common .JPEG format.
Turning to the camera, it looks like a LED torch. The model I have is silver, and no other colours seem to be available. The literature says that the camera has a, “weather resistant anti-corrosive casing” so I am not sure exactly what metal it is made from, but due to how light it is, and the feel, I would guess at aluminium, but don’t quote me on that. There is a plastic panel halfway down the camera, that has four LED’s, one at each corner, and a REC/PAUSE button. There is also a small hole for the microphone on the panel as well. At the back of the camera is a screw top, that can be removed to expose the MicroSD card slot, Mini USB port, and on off switch. When the cap is on, the camera is a sealed unit. How sealed, I don’t know, but it won’t be waterproof. Splash-proof, and dirt-proof certainly though. Perfect for muddy use, but don’t take it scuba diving.
As well as the camera, you will also be in reciept of various bits and bobs that look a bit S&M, but in reality, help you to attach your camera to either your person, or extreme sports kit. One attachment will clasp your camera to the handlebars of a bike, one to attach the camera to a helmet via various straps that look fairly unfathomable. On top of this, you will get a suction cup and stick, allowing you to attach the camera to any flat, shiny surface, think car windscreen, inside or out! You also get a small viewfinder that attaches to the back of your camera, and allows you to peer through, and judge roughly, what your filming. I have to say, the viewfinder is tacky. Christmas cracker tacky. I could see it flying off when you go over a bump on your bike or any time a strong wind blew. And as your camera is going to be attached to your head, why have it?
To get going, unscrew the back of the camera, and flick the on switch. The blue and orange LED’s should come on. The orange LED lets you know that you are in video mode, and to start recording press the REC/PAUSE button. A green light should start flashing to give you some feedback that the recording happening. To switch to the photographic mode, hold the REC/PAUSE button down for three seconds. The orange light should turn off, leaving just the blue light on. This lets you know that you are ready to take stills. Press the REC/PAUSE button once, and viola, one photo. And that’s about it for the operation of the camera. It’s very simple. Perfect for those with gloves on, or not much time to fiddle with cameras, even the technophobe should have no problems.
Once you have done throwing yourself from a mountain or dangling from a bungee chord, you will most likely want to download the images to your computer. Thankfully this is very simple. The camera is plug and play in terms of storage, and my Windows 7 computer picked it up as a flash drive right away. Exploring the drive, you have two folders, AVI and JPEG. All your media should be stored in these two folders. Simply drag and drop the files to your computer. Using the camera as a webcam is slightly more complex. The camera comes with a driver that you first install on your computer, when you want to use it, you switch the ON/OFF switch to the OFF position, then, holding down the REC/PAUSE button, insert the USB cable into the back of the camera. All a bit fiddly, and not particularly intuitive, however it does work.
Here, I have to admit that my skateboarding days are over, so the chances of catching me attempting a 180 kickflip to noseblunt slide down the local handrail are over, however I did take the camera out in someone’s garden. The camera does on the whole produce reasonable results. In broad daylight the video that it takes looks sharp and clear enough. My only slight reservation is the frame speed, at 24fps, it still has a tendency to look a bit jerky, especially when the camera is moved quickly. Unfortunately for this camera, it will be doing just that. As the light levels decrease so does the quality, though even in low light the picture never becomes unacceptable. Head over to YouTube to take a look at a sample recording. The sound that is captured is OK inside, but outside, it suffers from wind noise, and whizzing down a hill is only going to exacerbate the situation.
The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design: 8/10
Usability: 7/10
Features: 6/10
Value: 7/10
We Say:
A capable and well designed camera, but perhaps a little lacking in the video quality department. The wind noise is also slightly concerning. However, taking into account all the various additions that you get, and how easy it is to use, well worth considering if you want to record your next action adventure!
Sample images:
