Labs

Toshiba makes two parallel ranges of 'fun' and more serious cameras. The PDR-2300 falls into the latter category, with a chunky no-nonsense design and some pretty impressive specifications for the money. You get an optical zoom, for example, at a price where rival cameras offer only fixed focal length lenses.

Image quality

The Toshiba's image quality is hard to fault. Again, it's hard to separate the 2-megapixel cameras on test in this respect. All our test shots were taken without exposure or white balance correction, and the

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Toshiba did a terrific job in each case. The images could be a tad sharper, but all cameras here suffered slightly in this respect.

Features

We've mentioned the Toshiba's optical zoom already, and this, together with the camera's sheer size, lead you to expect more goodies amongst the menus and buttons. Alas, there aren't many. Yes, you do get exposure compensation and white balance control, but no scene modes or spot metering.

Design

Is there a particular reason why the Toshiba has to be this big? You get a lot of hardware for the money, but almost too much - and it takes no fewer than 4 AAs, where its rivals take only two. The controls are pretty good for the most part, though the little buttons on the top plate for the flash mode, quality setting and menu activation aren't so easy to use.

Overall

The Toshiba deserves to be rated highly for sheer value alone, though this will depend on availability and pricing when you shop - it's not as widely available as many of its rivals. But even if you don't mind your cameras chunky, it's surely just too bulky and cumbersome for what it does.