Aiptek DV5900 5 Megapixel Pocket Digital Camcorder

I have enjoyed using this camcorder. It is fun and easy to use and doesn't take up a lot of space.

OK

I have had this thing now for two years. I got it a C.City on sale. It had a mail in rebate so the total cost came to 50 dollars.

Pros: It is cheap and it works. It fits into your pocket and you do not worry about wasting DVD disks. It is fun and for the price you could care less if it breaks on not. It has yet to break and i have two boys that grab it and shoot there own videos. What do I care. We shoot all the time on it and they love watching themselves. IT is fun. It does what it says it does. Had a removable disk card.

Cons. Well remember we are talking about a cheap plastic peice of electronics. Pic quality is poor. So dont expect to win at cannes film festival. The software that came with this device does not work on vista but I emailed the manufatuer and they sent me a web site for a free video download and it fixed everything. Battery life ... make sure you get rechargable.

This is a fun cheap peice of equipment. I take it to the zoo and sometimes i just shoot at home. If you want something that is easy to use and fun and cheap. This is a good choice. I have no regrets . When i upgrade i am going to give it to my boys and let them have at it.

I wanted to give it a five for the price but i had to take off a few for the fact that by now there is probably something better for the money out there .. probably from the same company... with better quality. But as of two years ownership it has performed beyond my expectations .. It is just not for serious video making.

Got two of these last christmas for my kids. Ended up paying around $50 each with discounts I had. For my kids age 8 and 14 these have been great. They love to make stop motion movies. It was well worth the money. And they've used them almost everday since christmas.Only had one problem and that was a knob fell off after my son dropped his but it still works. They may drop the price on them like they did last christmas, if they do snap one up for your kid.

I got this camera about 4 mos. ago, and have waited until I fully used the camera a lot to write this review. So here we go:

The Pros:

1. This is a cheap camera, and won't hurt your budget.

2. This is a great camcorder for vacations, where optimum picture quality isn't your number one concern.

3. This camcorder is small and very easy to operate.

4. The camcorder comes with a USB cable and it is easy to post videos and pictures onto your computer.

5. It's a camera and camcorder all in one.

The CONS:

1. This camcorder ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS VISTA. I found this out the hard way, when I couldn't even so much as play my videos on my computer, unless I uploaded them on Youtube, then watched them. I watched the videos on my brother's computer, which has XP, and it was fine. So watch out.

2. This camera comes with features that actually take away from the quality: For example, there is a built-in microphone that sounds like you're talking into a tin can. Also, the camera is only battery powered (2 AA batteries), with no AC adapter. If you even wanted an AC adapter, there is no jack on the camcorder to use one.

3. The product eats your batteries if you happen to film anything over an hour in length. Duracell usually lasts longer, but I'd recommend lithium batteries so they last. Cheap, dollar store batteries take about five minutes to die. Also, the flash on the camera will drain fully powered batteries.

4. Whenever you record a video and stop, that is the end of the video and you cannot continue the same recording on the same file. For example, if you were making a movie just for fun, and you stopped the recording to cut a scene, you'd have to start another video file to do that. It's irritating if you're trying to make a movie.

5. The picture quality suffers drastically unless the lighting is really bright.

6. The zoom is worthless, and when you zoom something, it is just blurry.

Well, that's about it. If you want a camera to kind of fool around with, here you go. If you want a camera to do anything semi-serious with, you should just pay a hundred more and get a better one.

If you want to see examples of the camera in use, check out my youtube page: www.youtube.com/user/fillingthevoidreview

Good luck.

After maybe two or three videos with this product, it gave out on me. I pressed the button, it stuck and never worked again. No damage or misuse. I didn't expect much, but I was at least expecting it to last a little longer.

I bought this camera with the undrestanding that it was small and the price gave away the fact that you may not get much. But I never would have thought one could box such a peice of poo and let/allow others to purchas it. My story of "Joy, to This isnt even a good toy" I wanted something compact that my wife could purse away until our children did somethig cute or fun. We were able to use it twice with the children and then the dial on the sidr containing features fell off...and i mean not just the knob but even the switch attached to the curcuit board...so after two grainy videos that made my kids heads look like MAX HEADROOM it was finished...I should have and now can suggest to everyone that you should save a few more $99 and get something way better

The camera and video work, but neither are the best quality. I bought it for my 17 yr old though and she loves it and uses it all the time. I guess it depends on what you are using it for. If you want good quality pics this is not the best choice in a camera.

This is my first camera and I use it for still photos and for video. The flash drains the batteries, so try not to use it too often. The sound for the video almost sounds like talking in a can. If the camera is held very still the picture is fine. If room is slightly dark, the camera will not pick up anything in the room. The camera is handy when traveling, but is hard to hold when filming.

The AIPTEK DV5900 seems to be a nice little camera. I have only had it for a couple of days but within minutes (without reading instructions) was using it. I would agree with other reviews of this camera that the video isn't the best. But really what do you expect with such a small inexpensive camera??? My wife and I are going to London and Paris later this year and I wanted a small camera that I could just carry in my pocket or in her purse that would take decent video and some pictures. We have a Sony Cybershot that we take most of our still pictures with anyway that works good. The Aiptek video is about equal to a VHS quality video which is exactly what the camera says on its packaging. I would say it is well worth the money if all you want is something simple and easy to carry around and take short little videos. Also it is extremely easy to transfer pictures and video from the camera to my computer. My computer has a dock that the SD card just plugs in to and WHAM there are my picture and videos on the computer. I can then just take them from there over to a video editing program.

I am a person that doesn't take lengthy videos on vacations or at holidays. I might record 30-40 minutes of footage and take lots of pictures then put them all together in a video editing program with music and put it on a DVD. (By the way Sony Vegas Movie Studio is a great program to do that) The AIPTEK seems to work just fine for that application.

Be sure to order a SD card with your camera. Hope this helped a little.

This was a great video camera until my friend dropped it and the electric circut powering this thing was disconnected. If my friend had not dropped it, I would definetly reccomend buying it because it can take good photos and record videos, altough the resolution isn't the best, but great for the price.

I really wanted the little guy to work, but in the end, it went back. A Flip that I returned had a much better picture than this device, but couldn't get the data off of it making it useless, no matter how good the picture was. With this one, it made a clicking sounding while recording with the camcorder aspect of it. So all you heard during play back was a clicking sound along with a VERY poor picture. I didn't expect much for $85 but wasn't worth $20... Someday someone is going to come up with a little camera that works for an affordable price.

Got this for my daughter (9 yrs old) for Christmas and it was favorite gift. Easy and fun to use--good quality, especially for the price.

nice little camera. I bought for my son and he loves it. only wish it had power besides batteries.

I purchased this for my 9 year old for Christmas. She opened it Christmas morning and took out the tripod - which broke when unfolding it. It is easy to use and makes decent videos, but without purchasing a separate memory card, it is very limited. She uses primarily to create You Tube videos of her stuffed animals, so it works well for that, but I would not recommend it for anyone looking for a quality video camera - good for kids though!

I have two pre-teens and they love using my very basic camcorder feature on my digital camera. For Christmas their G'parents got each one of them one of these great little video camcorders. These things are surprisingly great for the price and they have used them non-stop since Christmas day. They also take pretty good digital stills. Don't expect to film an award winning movie with them, but they are a great value for kids to have fun with. I recommend a 1gig card to go with them.

So far, so good. The boys both got one for Christmas and have just loved it. No problems so far and now we just have to teach them that certain things cannot get filmed.

I bought this for my son for Christmas last year. He wanted a camera and a way to make videos so I thought it would be a perfect combo. The video capabilities were perfect for him. He was able to easily shoot video and play it back on the Aiptek, the tv, or a computer. The camera, however, is not worth it. The photos are blurry and grainy. He was disappointed. While on vacation he accidentally dropped the camera from thigh height (he's 4'7") onto a stone surface and it broke beyond repair. We purchased the FLIP recorder for him this year and it works even better for his video.

My son (12) is enjoying this camera. I would suggest it for a beginner. Directions are pretty easy to understand. Picture and sound are clear but we have not used the camera portion yet. He is happy so far!

This is not a Sony but it sure is cool and a really great value. I bought it for my hubby's birthday. It takes better video than photos.

Aiptek DV5900 5MP Pocket Digital Camcorder

good product for the price, how ever because of it's size it is hard to tell what button does what without manual... Over all was exactley what was described on line...Shipping time was great

Pros:This is a great beginning camcorder for kids. My 10 yr old,it was her gift, immediately figured out how to use it and off she went! It did a decent job filming the kids christmas program and I am pleased with the overall quality.

Cons: tripod that came with it was broken, we just used a large one we had. When we tried to load the CD of software on our Vista computer it messed up!

Overall it was a good price for what we wanted - a learning camcorder without a big price.

I bought this as a replacement for one I had for two and a half years, purchased used. I love the size and handiness, along with the fact that it is powered by two AA batteries, replacements as close as the nearest store for a couple of dollars. With the 1GB card I have been able to record video for more than an hour with one set of batteries. Video can be played directly on the TV. For the price quality is acceptable. I also record church sermons (they save as .wav files)that can be burned to cd. I needed a replacement because the power button was damaged. I still use that unit as a web cam, powered by the usb cable. All other functions till work as long as it is plugged in.

You get what you pay for- maybe even less. I got it out of the box and the viewing screen is about half of what I expected. *******IT IS NOT WINDOWS VISTA COMPATIBLE!!!!!!!***********The video and picture quality are not anything to boast about. I got this to take pictures of products, but would be embarrassed to post the pictures I got from it. PLUS!!! I had pics stored on the phone itself, but I am unable to use/view them with an SD card on the phone. Glad I paid for most of it with gift cards, but regret the purchase completely.

Purchased this for my 13 YO son to use to make RC videos. He duct tapes it to his trucks and sends them climbing. So far it's held up fine. Two weak areas are low light and fast motion.It takes a bit of time to refocus. Still shots are rather good. This is nowhere near the quality of my Panasonic digital, but it's great for the amount invested. User friendly.

My 8 year old wanted a camera and the ability to take video. This was a great pick for him. I highly recommend getting the memory card. (It only holds 3 songs and not much video without it.) He is looking forward to taping the neighbor kids and making his own home videos. Great price for who and what we'll be doing with it!

I was not all that impressed with this little guy, but I guess you get what you pay for. Buy this for your 10 year old kid, but do not use it yourself or you will not be happy.

Camera as described, a little more complex that I think I anticipated but a good little cam for the price. Seller was timely and fast.

and the list goes on... This is a cool reliable camera and it shipped to me very quickly, so that was good times as well...I think that they should probably tell you its no commercial use camera and there is no internal memory in the camera but it does use sd cards... Other than that it seems like a cool litte gadget and a great gift...

I'm a real outdoors kinda guy. Went on a looooong (565-mile) bike ride and wanted to document as much as I could on video, but didn't want to pay a bunch of money. I knew the camera would take a beating. For the price - it's great. Don't shoot anything in low-light though. For outdoors and inside with lots of light - it's pretty good. I've played it on large TV's and the picture/sound quality is great. The 5MP camera is good too, just has a bit of a slow shutter. So keep the camera really still when taking those shots. I never even read the instructions. Right out of the box I'd say it's pretty simple to use. The view finder doesn't adjust, just open and close. And it's a cheap plastic mirror looking at you to see when your shooting yourself. But hey - for the price, I'm not complaining. I like that it runs on batteries, so I can charge it if I'm away from electricity. I'll probably buy the more expensive Xacti at some point. But for now, for a toss around digital video camera/camcorder (I haven't used any of the other features at all...haven't even tried though) - it ain't bad.

Lots of great features, great camera for kids.... But after four months of use, this Aipek camera decided that it was done. No damage, never dropped, great condition on the exterior. But something inside is rotten. Buyer beware, you get what you pay for.

I got this for my 12 year old son. He took right to it and uses it almost every day, he uses it indoors and out and it is holding up well to his skateboarding antics. It was very easy for him to learn to use and he also showed his friends how to use it. He is having a lot of fun with it. We use the lithium batteries and after about a month they havent run down yet.

I bought this for my 14 year old son. He wanted a camera that also took decent video. After researching lots of brands, I purchased this small camera/camcorder (it fits in the palm of your hand). He loves it. The pictures are better than my Hp camera and he recently was in Godspell and my video camera wasn't working, so I recorded an one hour+ performance (we bought a bigger memory card)with no problem. Some of the video was blurry, but that was because I was over 100 feet from the stage and using the zoom with no tripod - but overall, great. It really is very easy to use, and takes great pictures. My son is looking forward to recording our trip to Rome this Summer with his new camera. I highly recommend this for beginners!

Well, I bought this thinking I had read that it had Audio/Video in capability. It doesn't! Anyway, I've not used it much because of that. It does seem to have many features for such an inexpensive unit.
I would say it's perfect for a child's gift, however it probably isn't especially durable.

Very happy with our camera! Perfect condition and quick arrival!

I bought this for my 8 year old and she loves it. Its easy to use. She and her friends take pictures with it all the time. She has even dropped it a few times and it still works no problem. The pictures and movies aren't great but good enough. I wouldn't get it for my main camera though. Its really more of a toy.

the only problem with this video camera (and I do mean only problem) is that it wasn't the color I was expecting (grey all over instead of black accents). Other than that it is amazing. Granted, it doesn't take the greatest quality video, nor does it take night shots at all, but if you're going to buy a video camera for this price, you better not expect those things anyway. This camera is perfect for catching moments in your life and making fun little videos for fun.

I purchased two of these cameras at the same time with the intentions of making anaglyph (Red/Blue 3D) movies. While I will agree that the picture quality leaves a bit to be desired, these cameras are just too much fun. The ease of use is great, and having a dual-camera rig for 3D movies at $200 is great.

The picture quality is akin to about 3MP, so don't let the advertisement fool you. Even still, I've printed off a few of these pictures on photo paper and I found the results more than satisfactory.

The audio quality is subpar to my ears. However, this wasn't a factor for me, since I'm using my audio studio to capture all of my audio tracks. I later combine the audio with the video through editing software.

If you're serious about your film projects, you're probably going to want to get something with a higher quality, as this product's quality is like a digital version of VHS (ie it's pixelated and is a little bit blurry on fast movements). However, if you're looking for a fun video camera for making your own home video or amateur project, this thing is fine. Plugged straight from the camera to the TV, a semi-stationary video will turn out just fine.

I would recommend getting a good tripod for most applications. The quality of picture is directly affected by how much the camera moves, so a good, smooth tripod will eliminate a lot of that.

what amazed me as soon as i opened the box was how small this camcorder is about the size of a woman's hand. it came complete with tripod stand, carrying strap, carrying case, software CD, cables and even batteries.

The software is easy to install and has all you will need for viewing and editing your pictures or video.

the viewing area for this camcorder is small(like the product itself) but is surprisingly easy to view. it comes with a 4x zoom that you have to see to believe. there both manual and auto focus on the camera as well as settings for indoors, outdoors and low light. the cam comes with a built in light that does a remarkable job for such a small cam.

the pictures and video are great and with a 1 gig card you have all the room you could possibly need. the features on this are so numerous that i can not list them all. following along with the instruction manual is the best way to learn how to use this cam properly. it comes with both a full manual and quick use guide. trying to "wing" it is possible because this camera is so easy to use but you will likely miss out on many of the great functions that are available.

everyone that i have shown this product to was amazed at the quality of the cam and the low price. this is one great deal and i suggest impossible to pass up.

many digital camera's that are much more money only take clips and do not capture better pictures than this cam.

in summary i highly recommend this camcorder, you can not go wrong with it :)

My daughter had wanted one of these forever. But this gift didn't get the reaction I had hoped. She immediately realized that it could only record for about 30 seconds without an additional memory card, and, although I've since purchased that, I've only seen her play with this once or twice. The camcorder itself is realively decent given the low price point compared with purchasing a high end camcorder.

great first camcorder/camera for our daughters bday, eats batteries like crazy, sugguest a rechargeable battery set up. But very satisfied, and good price too

This camera is perfectly alright if you consider the old saying, "...you get what you pay for..."

I bought this for my teenage son and he loves it. We had none of the incompatibility problems I read about and, while it gives jumpy frame rates during quick motion captures, I am surprised at how good the quality is for an item you can buy for $50 at Circuit City.

Parents...unless your kids are unappreciative, professional photographers, this thing is FINE for them.

When I sow this in Amazon and read the spec. and everything on it I knew this is exactly what I'm looking for. It's portable, handy, and it's easy to use. The video has a great picture on it as well as the picture too. You can even download MP3 Music and use it to make music video, or any music of your own. Here's what you do, Output the audio to a power Amp/ speaker so the performer will hear the music let the performer lipsink the music and start shooting the video. shoot different location at the same music and edit it whala you have just made the MTV Music Video.

I like to take pictures, and my husband wanted a camcorder, so when we saw this at Wal*Mart for under $100 we thought we'd give it a try. I've been using it as my main camera for a little over a year and it isn't too bad for just family photos. The camcorder is fun to play with, and I sometimes use the MP3 player. It was worth the money.

However, eventually you are going to want a better camera. Indoor shots all come out slightly dark and yellow. But don't expect to get a better camera for this price. I am looking at $300-500 for the quality I really want.

I am trying to decide if I will give this camera to my 8yo daughter when I am done with it. She's a budding photographer and she will enjoy taking videos, but honestly I think the camera she has now is better quality than this one!

I got this for my 12 year old and she loves it.
It works good and does exactly what it says it will do.
Easy to handle and priced right for a beginner or a older child.

This is a fun little camera, not just for children but for all who just want to have a bit of fun. Just don't expect too much outa it! For an under-$100 camera, it's awesome. I have yet to use most of the features, but those I have used I'll review now.

Camera: okay, I haven't found the flash (don't think there is one) so the dark pictures are WAY DARK. But if there's enough light, generally medium to well-lit, it's pretty good. Just have to be careful to hold the camera still so it wont blur.

Camcorder: I had fun with it. The voice doesn't always pick up the greatest, but it picks up pretty well. It wont hold much video without the 1g card, but with it, I am quite satisfied. The videos do not play very large on the computer screne, but I'm just going for recording memories, not motion picture. If I wanted to edit a movie, I'm sure I could, though. It has a very jerky, zoom, but I'm okay with that. This is a good camera, but any pro will be very disapointed. Amatures like me, well, we're happy as clams.

Size: best part. I took this camera on a trek around europe this winter. I always had it on me, either in my purse or in my coat pocket. I got all the great moments of my trip on film!

Battery: some other reviewers get the camera on this, but I didn't notice a problem. I'm still on the first set of batteries!

Problem: the screne sometimes has a problem communicating with the rest of the little camera, so that all that shows is white, or white lines. Rest assured, your camera isn't broken, its just cheap, but hey, that's probably why you are buying it. Just play with the screen and it will make up with the rest of the camera and communication will go fine and you'll see your picture. Just be gentle.

I first bought one of these for my 15 yr old daughter as a Christmas gift. She asked for a video camera and also wanted an MP3 player. I saw this online and thought I'd give it a try after reading online reviews. My 16 yr old daughter wanted an MP3 player so I ordered her a SanDisk. Come Christmas morning I was surprised when my 16 yr old asked if I could return the MP3 player and she wanted the DV5900 Camcorder. After seeing how good the pictures it took and the video it could record and still be an MP3 player, she wanted one.
It's not a $300. camcorder by any stretch but for the money it's as good as it gets. Make sure you get SecureDigital Memory card 1GB to be able to store photos, play your music, record videos.

I bought this camera for my 15 year old daughter and she says that the camera is easy to use, compact enough to take anywhere and takes great pictures. The video recorder works great, the sound is good and the battery also last for quite a while. It's a cool way to get the video recorder and camera in one product. Overall, a good choice for the value.

My 10 yr old daughter wanted a camcorder for Christmas. After much research, I chose this model based on price and complexity appropriate for a 10 year old. I was pleasantly suprised. My daughter is thrilled with it, and uses it proficiently and frequently. An external memory card (not included) would probably be appropriate since the internal memory is limited, but in all, it was perfect for the price. I recommend it.

I bought this Camcorder/Digital Camera for my husband for a Christmas Gift.
He used it at his family's Christmas Party and was very excited at the clarity of the pictures. The Camcorder recording was slightly on the dark side. May have been the environment. The review is still out on that aspect. Overall a 4 Star. Cute little produc

I bought this for my kid who is 19 for Christmas.She really likes it!
She didn't have any trouble using it and carry's it in her purse!
thanks!