I’m not planning to make a habit of reviewing random items unless they really catch my attention somehow. In this particular case, the review is mostly due to the company’s odd behavior. I bought this camera because it was a small $85 point-and-shoot that I could abuse and not care about. The first day I actually took it somewhere, I did just that, propping it up to take a timed photograph from a 12th floor rooftop on a windy day. It took the intended photo and promptly fell lens-first on some concrete.
Indoor and outdoor shots using the DCS-860
I took a blind stab and called Norcent, giving them a straight up “hi I just bought a DCS-860 and dropped it lens-first on some concrete and broke it.”
The Norcent guy’s speech had a low, drawled, semi-annoyed cadence, as though he’d recently dismounted a tractor and was squinting at a sunset, thinking about his farm or whether his family would have enough to eat this winter, while some jackass whined at him about how he dropped his new digital camera on some concrete and it broke.
“Did you crack the rear display?”
Seeing as the camera’s failure was 100% my fault, I admit I was a little surprised by this question, or for that matter that there were any responses from Norcent other than those ending with the word “a**f***”. “Why don’t you quit dropping digital cameras on concrete, a**f***?” or “What the f*** are you wasting my f***ing time for, a**f***?” or “They’re f***ing $85. Buy a f***ing new f***, a**f***.” So I began to reiterate my dumbassery as I spoke.
“No, I just wrecked the motor. Yeah, it probably got wrecked by the concrete that I dropped it on lens-first. You know, back when I dropped it on some concrete.”
“Well, gimme yer email and I’ll send you some forms.”
He did sound genuinely annoyed, which was fine because genuinely annoyed made sense, considering the waning state of his farm and his wife’s inevitable cheating with the pizza guy. But literally a minute later, I received the first email from him, written to me with a substantially contrasting tone involving (among other things) a liberal application of exclamation points. In total there were about 10 or 15 minor emails back and forth as I asked about various details and he asked for more information. No matter how mundane or small his replies were, though, they always ended with something like
Have a great blessed thankful thoughtful peaceful blessed day & great blessing evening!!!
Yes. 3 instances of the word “bless”, two of which applied to my day. For example,
Let me check the fax & you have a great blessed thankful thoughtful peaceful blessed day & great blessing evening!!!
Or, as the conversation progressed, all in caps, and a variety of pastel colors:
PLEASE EMAIL IT TOO ME OR FAX IT BACK OVER TOO ME, I THOUGHT YOU HAD ALREADY FAXED IF SO DIDN’T RECEIVE NOTHING, HAVE A GREAT BLESSED DAY!!!
Occasionally my family was also implicated:
OKAY, JUST LET ME KNOW, HAVE A GREAT BLESSED THANKFUL THOUGHTFUL PEACEFUL BLESSED EVENING, KINDLY THOUGHTS GO OUT 2 YOU & YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY IN A KINDLY BLESSED MANNER
At first I thought he had a script adding it to his emails like a signature, but then it happened in the middle of a thought:
Even easier so now I know too look out for this box on Thursday morning or evening, have a great blessed day, the reason why is because normally the mail comes in the evening like 3pm pacific time!!!
It was like he had a case of the sneezes, except instead of snot spraying everywhere, out came thoughts and blessings for me, my day, and my entire family. I was glad to see some lower case letters at this point, as it soothed my fears that his intensity was escalating and I really hate being chopped up in the woods.
This experience alone made me happy I chose Norcent before they even looked at my camera, which I had not only broken, but leaned my weight on (attempting to realign the motor threads), and even tried to pry apart with a screwdriver, leaving noticeable gashes in the shiny exterior. I was in charge of shipping from here to Norcent ($7), but I only had to send the camera. No batteries, no charger, no cables. I didn’t expect them to do much–maybe loosen / re-thread the motor so it would would work again (crappily), tops.
Instead, they sent me an entirely new camera, in a new box, with new cables, a charger, etc. So now I have double of everything and a backup battery. Once again, as should always be the case for citizens of this great nation, I am rewarded for being a total dumbshit. I was so overwhelmed with national pride that I suddenly felt a powerful urge to sue Norcent. And Manhattan. And the weather.
The camera itself is pretty sweet, exceeding my expectations. It’s 8-megapixels, with Pentax optics nice enough that the blur is comparable to the pixel size and the images are less distorted than my old Canon Powershot S100, even when it was new. It takes great outdoor pictures, reasonable indoor pictures, and is quite configurable, with a lot of neat features I won’t bore you with. It is also smaller, has fewer sharp corners, and is far lighter than the S100, and I don’t really notice it in my pocket. Battery life seems good too.
It is, however, missing a significant feature that my S100 had. When you push the shoot button on the DCS-860, it will not wait for everyone to look at each other, shrug, and start walking away before it finally takes the damn picture. Seriously, Canon. You’ve had seven years and I still see this behavior in your new cameras. Oh well, at least they cost a shit-ton.
Finally, I should also mention that for some reason when I tell people the brand name “Norcent”, roughly 50% of the time they giggle. I could not tell you why, but it is a definite bonus.
Anyway, the camera is good, cheap, and the company is entertaining. I would certainly recommend it to people and / or buy another one. I took off a half star primarily for nerd reasons; it doesn’t charge via USB, which is very basic / cheap technology these days and makes camera life a lot easier.
Oh well. I have two chargers now anyway.