Alan Stafford

Toshiba PDR-4300

The PDR-4300 costs less than any other 4-megapixel digital camera we've tested (or seen on the market); for the price of a Canon PowerShot G3, you can buy two PDR-4300s. Settings are easy to choose, thanks to a small but comfortable thumbwheel and two separate menu systems--one for seldom-accessed settings, and another for controls like macro shooting and scene modes. The latter menu appears in the LCD display all the time; push the thumbwheel and it extends from the edge of the viewfinder. One uncommon extra: a tiny remote-control unit that releases the shutter.
Toshiba makes a couple of attractive cameras, but this isn't one of them. The big, heavy body looks cheap compared to more-expensive models, and it won't fit in many pockets. The manual weighs even more than the camera, not because it has so much to explain, but because it binds five languages into its 680 pages.To turn the camera on, you must first manually open the lens cover, then manipulate another switch to power it up (most cameras combine those operations in one step). The camera is slow to start up, slow when zooming, and slow when focusing; an LED right next to the optical viewfinder flashes glaringly to confirm that the focus is locked or to alert you that it's not, or to warn about camera shake. The zoom button on our test unit required a hard press to get the zoom lens moving, and the shutter release button is flush with the top of the body, making it hard to locate without looking. Despite the large body, the LCD is smaller than average, measuring 1.6 inches diagonally.The PDR-4300 does not include rechargeable batteries; with a set of four alkaline AAs, the camera lasted for only 184 shots, or just over an hour of shooting time--tied for second-least among the cameras vying for our charts. A set of rechargeable batteries and a charger cost about $30.
In our image-quality tests, the PDR-4300 scored a hair below average overall compared to other under-$500 cameras. Shots looked adequately exposed, with good depth of field, but colors looked dull. You can choose from aperture- or shutter-priority modes or full manual control, or you can rely on a handful of scene modes (all easily called up from the quick-view menu). The cameras can capture AVI movies (albeit without sound).
Like several Toshiba models we've seen, the PDR-4300 emphasizes a low price over exotic construction or cutting-edge features. That's often a winning strategy for a low-end camera, and a compromise many people are willing to accept. However, a lower price doesn't justify the ungainly camera body and lack of sophistication.