Mustek DV520T Camera Review

by Luis Burns
(United States)

The camera I have now is a Mustek DV520T, bought from J&R's online store. As an all-in-one device with both digital video and still-picture, it's not a bad offer.

It has 32MB of memory, so you can film about 2 minutes of video and take about 43 pictures before you make some hard choices and delete what you have; this particular model can take up to 4MB flash cards to increase the memory.

The voice recorder on the Mustek DV520T is more than adequate for anyone not doing professional work, and it's loud enough that you can easily hear yourself on the camera, before uploading to the computer. The swivel screen is 2 inches wide and the battery is rechargeable. A dock and USB cable are, of course, included.

Indoors, the camera is pretty atrocious. It does not do a good job of accurately showing colors unless the lighting is very bright. (Browns can appear bright red; eek!) Although it's possible to adjust the lighting options, the flash is abnormally bright, and therefore only recommended when someone else is taking the picture for you, at a reasonable distance. Outdoor shots fare much better, since they are crisp and the colors are vibrant.

The camera has a zoom feature, but shots that are very close-up will turn out blurry, and it also has a macro feature that is a little bit useful for taking pictures of small items like headphones. Action shots are not recommended.

I would not offer the Mustek DV520T digital camera to someone who wants a high-quality or even a medium-quality still camera. It has enough quality features as a bundle package, but otherwise it may disappoint.