The Nisis Pocket DV5 is a budget camera aimed at those wanting to take their first steps into digital video. The first thing we noticed was its rather unwieldy design. The buttons are located in the most inconvenient locations, so you'll need to use two hands to avoid dropping it when using the zoom or record buttons.

To its credit, Nisis has fitted the DV5 with a rotating 1.8in screen. This comes in handy when shooting self-portraits, but there is no manual viewfinder. This would have been a useful feature, particularly for conserving power.

Surprisingly, the DV5's 3.1-megapixel lens failed to impress in any area. It captures MPEG 4 videos at 640 x 480 at up to 24 frames per second, which on paper is quite good. However, the actual results are equivalent to those from a cheap webcam. Still images were slightly better, but this is hardly a redeeming feature.

For recording and sending small video emails, the DV5 will just about manage. For anything else, don't bother.

Contact: Nisis (no UK number)
www.nisis.com