Oregon Scientific ATC5K Action Camera- The One & Only One

The Sum ‘n’ Substance

Thumbs up: The ATC5K has good shockproof & water – resistibility. The color LCD is an added plus point which is enhanced by the webcam and live monitor functions.

Thumbs down: Picture & video quality aren’t that good. The design is such that it makes the front end heavy and that makes it unstable when mounted.

Inside the trunk: In-built camera flash, a CMOS optical sensor, Infrared remote control, video capture AVI 640 x 480, AVI – 320 x 240, supported flash memory –SD memory card and an integrated memory of 32MB.

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS:
In the world of extreme, capturing the event on a camcorder is always a daunting task. The existing camcorders are all rugged and durable but have to put their hands up in surrender when it comes to certain features such as LCD Viewfinders. Now, there is a new one and you might have guessed it by now, that this one the ATC5K is equipped with a colour LCD. What you do not know is that Oregon has made a compromise in the department that should only improved, the photo sensor. Although it capture shots in the most extreme conditions, its image quality is not that great.

Razzle-Dazzle: The Oregon Scientific ATC5K Action Camera is pretty small in size. It is tapered towards the front-end where it is at its thickest. It is well- padded with rubber at its ends which adds to its ruggedness.

A small lens is neatly tucked behind a rubber ridge & a plastic cover and just above the lens is the activity indicator. Two rubberized buttons are present at the top edge: one for video and the other for still photography. To prevent any accidental presses, the buttons must be held for 2 seconds to start or stop video recording or to capture a still shot. At the back end of the camera the 1.5 inch LCD screen which takes up most of the space is placed. This screen is held in place by a hinge with a locking closure along its top edge. Unlocking and swinging down the screen reveals the battery door for the two AA batteries that power the device live, as well as the SD card slot, video out port, and Mini-USB port.

Inside dope:

Right at the top of the goodies list, the ATC5K has the capability to record videos up to 640×480 pixels and at 30 frames per second which can be triggered with the button on top or the RF control. It is also able to capture still photographs at 640×480 pixels using the still capture button.

A 32MB internal memory will hold up to 47 seconds of VGA video, 1.5 minutes of QVGA video or 175 VGA still photos. This can be extended up to 4GB SD card.

The menu system of the ATC5K allow its users to adjust capture resolution; preview captured media; delete unwanted files; enable/disable audible button confirmation (beeping); adjust the audio recording level between low, high, and off; and set the date and time for file time stamps.

The ATC5K comes packed with RCA cables to connect for live feeds to the TV sets. It also has functionality as a webcam. But there is a hitch; the webcam function only works on machines running 32-bit versions of Windows, leaving 64-bit users and MAC users out of luck.

Due to the poor photo sensor, adjusting to the change in lighting conditions, the images captured seem over exposed and slightly blown out of proportion.

Another issue to deal with was the transfer of data from the cam’s SD card to the USB which took a staggering 30 minutes, during which the 5K needed to be powered using its batteries.

Nitty-gritty: The ATC5K has a lot to offer in terms of functionality. It’s also very reliable as far as the water-proofing and shock- resistance are concerned, but it looses points on the image quality. To add more salt to the wounds its tapered design makes mounting it on handlebars of bikes a real challenge.

The ATC5K is priced at $229 which makes it more expensive for models in its range but if you are hell-bent on camcorder with a LCD viewfinder for capturing your extreme moments, you’ve got only one place to go.

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