The ePhoto 307 is about as easy to operate as a disposable camera. I was snapping pics seconds after pulling it out of the box. Powered by four AA batteries, the 307 powers up when you open the camera lens door. An LCD display on the camera's top gives you the resolution setting (640 x 480 or 320 x 240), number of shots left in memory (36 hi res or 72 standard), battery level, flash setting, etc. Four buttons around the display allow you to change settings (though you rarely need to do so). After making your selections, you point and shoot like any conventional camera. If the camera is set in Auto-Flash mode, the flash will be used only when lighting conditions warrant it. Once you've finished your shots, you hook the camera up to the computer via a serial cable port located under a sliding panel on the side. There's also an AC port to plug in an optional AC adapter.

Gar's wife Pam multitasking (cooking, paying bills and posing
for test photo). Taken seconds after pulling camera from box.

The ePhoto 307 comes with very good software. Agfa's PhotoWise is the software interface with the camera. You can view the pictures stored in the camera (in either a filmstrip or slide mode), edit images using the photo editing tools, save them into photo albums (OK, so they're really only regular folders, but "albums" sounds so much cooler), and delete them from the camera. The editing tools are excellent (as good or better than those found in more expensive cameras) and are useful in overcoming some of the weaknesses the 307 has in getting certain shots (e.g. outside and overcast). Each correction you wish to make (brightness, color, saturation, hue) is done via slider controls and you get to see a before and after version before committing to changes. PhotoWise also lets you drag and drop images into any OLE-compliant applications (read: Microsoft products) without ever having to leave the application. Windows users can also access photo albums (snicker, snicker) from a special QuickLink photo browser while in other applications. Adobe's popular PhotoDeluxe software is included on the CD. This package lets you turn photos into calendars, greeting cards, posters, etc. and apply various special effects (posterize, tint, coloring book outline, and so forth) I thought this program was fluffware when I first saw it, but my son's fallen in love with it and produced some very cool projects using it.

One of the positive benefits of not having an LCD viewer is that the 307 doesn't eat batteries by the 4-pack like other expensive digitals cameras we've tried. Its larger-than-others size was a bit of a turn-off at first, but it's no larger than analog 35mm cameras and fits comfortably in the hands (tho I admit my hands are freakishly large). We weren't able to get the quality of images that were shown in the promo materials Agfa provided, but a quick peek at other reviews with images convinced us that it's Gareth's bumbling photographic skills and not a limitation of the camera. Unlike other digital cameras, Agfa does not offer free technical support, but given the ease of use for both software and hardware, this shouldn't be a big drawback. The camera comes with a standard 1-year warranty.

Ever since the first generation of digital cameras, I've lusted in my heart for one; I even thought I could justify it as a business expense, but the $600+ price was just too hefty for something that I'd only use periodically. With ePhoto's point and shoot ease, decent pics, and lower price, Web designers, amateur publishers, frugal businesspeople and home users can afford a digital camera in their multimedia toolbox.

- Gareth Branwyn [11/5/97]