The D-Link DSC-350 NetCam is a multi-purpose digital camera with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface that makes it easy to connect the camera to a PC to download stored images or video for editing. The user can switch to webcam mode and capture images, create video emails and videoconference directly from a PC.

The camera is ultra-portable, measuring only 96mm x 58mm x 31mm, and weighs 110gm without batteries. The unit features a 350K pixels CMOS sensor capable of capturing up to 1024x760 at 24 bits of true colour. The 1024x768 resolution is obtained by interpolation.

There is a choice of three different resolutions, keeping the picture in the 8Mb of storage it comes with.

The camera uses the QVGA format at 320x240 for up to five minutes of video at four frames per second, or at 160x120 for up to five minutes of video at 20 frames per second. The output files are saved as AVI files (Video for Windows), and for the price, we rated the quality as just about acceptable.

We were disappointed to find no flash. Inside and out, the picture quality wasn't up to much, and only in hi-res mode did the pictures approach acceptable quality.

The top of the unit has a shutter button and two extra configuration buttons. One is the mode/power button, giving a choice of four photo modes. The second is delete, which allows users to remove pictures one by one or format the disk.

It also comes with a large LCD screen which shows battery life and shots taken. The pictures are not visible until downloaded to a PC, however.

The DSC-350 comes bundled with MGI PhotoSuite III SE software for editing and modification of digital photos. Motion video editing software is also included. PRODUCT INFO D-LINK DSC-350NETCAM - #93 What does it do? Digital still and web camera with USB link PROs: Very light and easy to use; choice of three resolutions CONs: Picture quality is poor even in hi-res mode Availability: D-Link (020) 8731 5555 www. dlink.com.