Panasonic's PalmCam: Shoot Until You Drop

Digital cameras have much to gain from using removable, inexpensive, and familiar media for image storage. Underscoring that notion is the success of Sony's top-selling Digital Mavica cameras, which each feature a built-in floppy drive that makes transferring images from the camera to your computer a snap. With the 1.3-megapixel PalmCam PV-SD4090 ($840 street), Panasonic becomes the only other manufacturer to incorporate a floppy drive with its cameras. But Panasonic one-ups Sony by integrating the PalmCam with an LS-120 drive, which can write to both standard 1.44MB floppies and to high-density 120MB SuperDisks. The obvious advantages: With the LS-120, you can store many more photos than you can on the floppy-equipped Mavica cameras (which cost $150 to $200 less), and you don't have to worry about eating up storage space with high-resolution shots.

It's All About Design

The PalmCam sacrifices aesthetics to accommodate the SuperDisk drive. The silver-colored digital camera is big, heavy, and box-shaped, and is about the size and shape of a typical Hi8 camcorder. What the camera lacks in aesthetic design, though, it makes up for in ergonomics: The buttons and dials are kept to the bare minimum, and the liberal use of rubberized trim makes the unit surprisingly easy to hold.

The camera is also easy to operate, with a clear and uncomplicated user interface. Most operations and modes are controlled via the bright (even in sunlight), high-resolution, 2.5-inch LCD screen on the back of the camera. The screen doubles as a viewfinder, as well. The PalmCam lacks an optical viewfinder--a convenience when you want to conserve battery power--but it does use an oversized lithium-ion rechargeable battery to compensate for the greater power draw that a full-time LCD requires. The battery has power for about 175 to 200 shots, assuming about 50 percent of the images are captured while the built-in flash is in use.

The 3X optical zoom lens is protected by an external shutter that must be manually opened and closed. The PalmCam also features a speaker and a built-in microphone (for recording up to 5 seconds of audio), a time-lapse capability, and a semi-manual operating mode that allows for adjusting the brightness of the shot and white-balance, but nothing more.

On the camera's side is the slot for a floppy disk. A standard disk or a SuperDisk may be inserted at any time, but the power must be turned on for the eject mechanism to work properly. Disks must be formatted for PCs--otherwise, the camera won't recognize the disk.