Agfa CL34

Agfa's newest addition to its digital camera range is an excellent budget option and the LCD screen justifies the extra expense.

The CL34 follows hot on the heels of its cousin, the CL20, which received a Buy It stamp of approval from Computeractive. Both cameras are remarkably similar, too. Indeed, at face value, the biggest difference seems to be the price, which is about 25 per cent higher for this model.

Like its predecessor, the CL34 is fairly easy to use in conjunction with a PC, although it can't match the Kodak DX3500's ease of use. Once you've installed the software, open the Photowise image editing application, make sure the camera is connected to the PC via the USB cable that's supplied and just click and drag pictures to the application.

The camera works at three resolutions, the highest being 1280 x 960 pixels. While more expensive cameras can certainly do better than this, it's adequate enough for most purposes, although full-page, high-resolution A4 prints may result in some loss of quality.

Even though this is double the capacity of the CL20, we were expecting a jump to at least 8Mb. True, there is a CompactFlash slot for adding cards to extend memory capacity but, rather than being an optional extra, the paltry onboard memory makes an investment in at least a 16Mb CompactFlash card nigh on a necessity.

The CL34 also has an LCD screen - the only significant improvement on the CL20. It is a welcome boost as it allows you to check pictures immediately after you've taken them, without transferring them to the PC. The screen brings with it a four-way button that allows you to navigate intuitively around various options on the screen.

Contact: Agfa
020 8231 4903
www.agfa.com

ALSO CONSIDER: AGFA CL20 £152

An excellent camera at a startlingly low price.