BenQ DC E1000 review

Proof that looks aren't everything

A quick glance at the BenQ website will show you that the brand is marketing the E1000 as ‘Pure masculinity’. Presumably that means that it talks a good game but isn’t quite as professional on the pitch as it would like to make out.

That’s a good analogy to describe the performance of the BenQ DC E1000 overall, in fact. Boasting 10 megapixels and a maximum image resolution of 3584 x 2688, it’ll be quick to tell you that it’s distinctly above average. Unfortunately, given the slew of 12 megapixel models that hit the market in 2007, these kind of stats are what we’d expect from an ordinary, common or garden budget compact these days. Despite this, it certainly offers you the capability to produce large poster-sized prints. But size isn’t everything.

A 3x optical zoom is decidedly average too, and a digital zoom of 4x not much better. Whilst we’re not big fans of digital zoom anyway as it often results in a loss of clarity and detail when overused, we can’t escape the fact that many other models in the E1000’s price and performance range offer much higher digital zoom capabilities, which when combined with a camera’s optical rating give you the option to push zoomed shots in that much closer. It’s not an essential, and it can be got around fairly easily if a camera has a good wide angle or macro mode – but we’ll come to that.

Featuring a focal range equivalent to 35.1 – 105.3mm the E1000’s lens capability is pretty average too, and with a 10cm macro you can be assured that you’re not going to be getting spectacularly up close and personal with this camera any time soon. One real gripe we had, in fact, was the macro mode – even at a 10cm distance, subjects were blurred and out of focus, whilst objects behind them were clear and well defined. This made for a lot of needlessly throwaway shots, because out of the three compositions we photographed in macro mode, only one was of good quality whilst the others could only be described as presentable at best. Having said that, the one good one was reasonably detailed for a 10cm macro, with well defined, rich colour. Wide shots, unfortunately, aren’t much better. You won’t be fitting any panoramic views in, and the camera has a tendency to silhouette distant subjects, especially if you’re photographing them against the skyline. A shot combining red-leaved and evergreen trees against a bright blue winter sky was reproduced almost in monochrome, and whilst this can be an interesting effect to play with for experienced photographers, it’s not really the province of an average compact, which should produce more true-to-life memories.

As the E1000 is looking more and more like an average compact, then, the next thing to examine is its scene modes menu, as these are the most oft-used settings for many home photographers. There are 17 scene modes in all, although you’ll find the menu screen itself padded out with video and programming options, as well as onboard editing facilities. Again, it looks a bit like the E1000 is trying to talk up its assets. Of the E1000’s scene modes, ‘Soft Flowing Water’ is our favourite, even though we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that BenQ nicked this particular setting from Casio. Nonetheless, our shots of a goldfish in a pond, taken from directly above, are smooth and tonally correct. Underwater plants, trailing ivy and floating leaves are all reasonably well defined, water is clear, well-lit and silky-smooth, whilst the goldfish itself is a bright pop of colour. It’s a difficult scene mode to pull off and the E1000 has done it well. Showing off? Well, maybe.

The other scene modes are more of a mixed bag. ‘Kids’ is reasonable. Designed for photographing fast-moving children, it managed to capture a cat pouncing around at high speed in good detail, although the image is rather static in appearance. Amusingly, the E1000’s much-vaunted face recognition system even had a brief go at framing this shot for us, before obviously realising that we weren’t photographing a human, and quietly slinking off instead. ‘Sunset’ mode isn’t fantastic, and chiefly consists of washing images with an orangeade-coloured cast rather than picking up intriguing tones of light and shade. The ‘Soft Skin’ portrait mode leaves a lot to be desired as well – though as this kind of face-flattering, spot and shadow-skimming scene mode is immensely popular with the ladies, the E1000 had to include it. The camera’s other scene modes consist of the usual suspects – landscape, portrait, night portrait and so on. A small range of onboard image filters such as Sketch are fun to play with, and see the E1000 showcasing its arty side, but we’re old-fashioned and prefer to apply such effects post-shooting, in the digital darkroom of our favourite software, where we have more control.

With a heavy, plasticised black shell with flashes of chrome and red, the E100 certainly looks ruggedly attractive, but its winsome looks aren’t enough to make this camera anything other than what it is – decidedly average.