Low ISO Range

On paper, the BenQ DC C1000 is an attractive proposition as it seems to offer everything you might want from a point and shoot camera – a 10MP sensor, all the shooting modes you could possibly use, and a 3x zoom (36-108mm equivalent) to cover all eventualities. But there is a trade-off in terms of the flexibility of the ISO settings.

The limited range of ISO 50 to 200 means that the C1000 needs to use the flash a lot of the time to get reasonable exposures. The flash is small and therefore has a limited range and when used continuously (or in low light) the batteries run down quickly. We used two sets of AA batteries to achieve just 60 shots.

Design

The design is simple and user-friendly – the body is plastic, but not unattractive, although as there’s no viewfinder, it relies heavily on the 2.4in LCD screen, which again drains the power. Eleven Scene modes plus Manual, Aperture priority and Shutter priority settings offer a wide range of control and the camera also boasts a macro option. A range of flash and metering modes, video and voice memo recordings round it all off at a very competitive price.

Image Quality

There are some variations in exposure, but overall the DC C1000 copes well with a wide range of lighting situations. However, while the C1000’s 10MP sensor delivers good results, with enlarged images showing good detail throughout and acceptable noise levels, purple fringing is quite severe at times. Overall, the C1000 produces good results, but not great ones.