Umax AstraPix 650 Digital Camera

I bought this camera as my first digital camera three years ago as it looked compact and flashy... what a mistake it was!

Although it has an attractive design and intuitive user menus, an SD card slot and a max 6.6 megapixel rating, it is not very good for taking pictures.

Firstly this camera is very poor at taking pictures indoors, even with agreeable lighting, the LCD screen looked very dark... I thought this was a problem with the LCD screen until the pictures came out dark as well. Therefore, this camera is only good for taking pictures outdoor on a sunny day.

Secondly, the camera takes long to respond upon user's input. When I take a picture, it takes about 6-10 seconds to save. When flash is enabled, it takes another 10 seconds to charge up. During that time, the "busy" lamp flashes and you can’t do anything to the camera at all.

Thirdly, this camera is useless for videos, as well as the darkness problem described before, it lacks a mic, meaning that your videos will be silent.

Overall, I give this camera a 3/10. I don’t recommend this at all. I now have a Panasonic dmc fx9 and its way better. I recommend that you shop around and look at other models with a CCD sensor, not a CMOS sensor as with this camera. AVOID THE UMAX ASTRAPIX 650 BY ALL MEANS!