Digital Trends

GE E850

October 16th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Testing and Use

The GE E850 starts a bit slower than other digicams but it’s nothing too wring your hands about. Other things will get your hands wringing so read on. In about three seconds you’re good to go. This 8MP camera takes 3264 x 2448 pixel images at three compression levels. I set it to maximum resolution with least compression, started in Auto then moved to various scene and manual modes.

You certainly can’t call this one a speed demon as it takes time to save the 8MP files to the card. Putting it into continuous mode to give it a little more juice (5 shot maximum) the poor thing labored like a geriatric running a marathon. There was a delay of about 5 seconds as the camera attempted to recharge. To give it a break, I disabled the flash and it still choked. Folks, this is the difference between good cameras and bad. What this delay means is you’ll miss the shot of your child smiling, running or whatever. The bad ones simply don’t have enough processing power to function quickly. By buying off-the-shelf components from those nameless factories in China, companies can hit a low price. This makes cameras seem attractive on the surface but in the real world, it’s like tossing your money away. Phooey.

Image Courtesy of GE

Although I knew where this review was headed, I still had to put the camera through the rest of its paces—no matter how slow. Overall the camera is easy to use as the main mode dial switches from the various options. I found the zoom scroll wheel to be a pain as you had to develop a fine touch to make small adjustments in focal length. As mentioned earlier, the E850 has a 28mm setting, a favorite of mine for portraits and landscape vistas. Taking shots indoors and out—of some vibrant fall foliage and mums—it was time to make 8.5x11 prints with no tweaking whatsoever, either from editing software or the printer itself.

The photographic results of the GE E850 were as plain as the prints I held in my hand. They were really bad. Indoor shots taken in available light were so noisy that I found it hard to believe. This was with the flash off. I took some additional shots and the results were the same. Turning the flash on, the images were a little better but the flash cast an uneven light. Photos taken outdoors were O.K. but they were noisy as well. To its credit, colors of the outdoor foliage were accurate but again, loaded with noise. The focus tended to grab outdoors in bright sunshine too. On the plus side, the LCD screen held up in direct sunshine, so it wasn’t a complete disaster. Still…

Conclusion

There are many reasons I recommend Canon cameras when anyone asks which point-and-shoot camera they should buy. Competition like the GE E850 is one of them. Sure you can buy it on the cheap but since it’s slow, takes bad photos and filled with more noise than the New York City subway system, you can do much, much better. Avoid this one just like Lindsay Lohan should shun LA nightlife and Cosmopolitans. Note: this 5 rating is the lowest I’ve ever given a digicam. At least that’s a point of distinction.


Pros:

• Cheap
• Nice-looking case
• That’s about it

Cons:

• Takes poor, noisy photos
• Sluggish
• Poor battery life