GOkinaka's Full Review: Kodak EasyShare C360 Digital Camera
Well, with technology there is always something better out there and more and more affordable. So, I decided to sell my 2nd Kodak digital camera the Kodak CX7430 to a friend (for $100), and look for another one.
I've been very pleased with the quality and ease of use with the Kodak digital cameras that I've had thus far (my first one was the Kodak DX4330), so I decided to stay true to the brand and look for another Kodak.
Well, after researching the available Kodak cameras out there on their website and checking out the prices at Best Buy, I picked the Kodak C360.
Here are my thoughts so far.....
FEATURES
So, how much of an upgrade was the Kodak C360 over the Kodak CX7430? Well, here is what the C360 offers:
5.0 Megapixel (2569 x 1929 pixels)
As you know, more megapixels mean higher resolution for your photos and the ability to print larger and larger photos without a degradation in the picture quality. In my opinion, 5.0 megapixels is more than enough for my needs (although I'm sure that someday I'll fork over the money for a 6.0 or 7.0 megapixel especially as prices get more affordable). This is a nice upgrade from the 4.0 megapixels from the Kodak CX7430. You can modify the megapixels that you want this camera to use including: 5.0, 4.4, 4.0, 3.1, and 1.8. Now, why would you purposely reduce the megapixels for your camera, you ask? Well, when you reduce the megapixels for your photos, you can fit more and more photos on your memory card. It all depends on the quality of the photos that you want for a given photo.
15X Total Zoom (3x Optical, 5x Digital)
This is a minor improvement over the Kodak CX7430 as that camera had 3x Optical Zoom and 4x Digital Zoom. But the optical zoom is the real zoom that you should be concerned about.....as the digital zoom crops the photos and zooms in to make things larger.
2.0" Review/Preview Color LCD
This is a good improvement over the Kodak CX7430 as this camera increases that from 1.6" to 2.0" for the LCD. It's really nice to use the LCD instead of the viewfinder as it just makes picture taking a whole lot easier.
Video/Audio Capture and Playback
Now, this is the reason why I really wanted to upgrade my digital camera, as the C360 upgrades the frames per second (fps) of the camera. Here is a comparison from the CX7430:
C360
1. VGA (640 x 480 pixels) at 24 fps (MPEG-4)
2. QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) at 24 fps (MPEG-4)
CX7430
1. VGA (640 x 480 pixels) at 13 fps (MPEG-4)
2. QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) at 20 fps (MPEG-4)
Trust me, that 11 fps difference in VGA quality makes a big difference. I never use the QVGA setting as I don't want a video that is half the size of the VGA setting. Sure, it's still not the quality that you would want for a wedding video, but it's great for capturing those other great family moments.
You need to make sure that you have the latest version of Quicktime installed on your computer if you want to view them there. Otherwise, you can view them on the camera (which includes a speaker) or connect your camera to your television (with the included cables).
32 MB Internal Memory
Now, having 32 MB of internal memory is great, although you'll still want to purchase a SD or MMC card for your camera which is great that it takes both formats. With just the internal memory, you can store about 17 photos at the 5.0 MP setting or take 52 seconds worth of video at the VGA setting. Also, 32 MB is double what the CX7430 has at just 16 MB.
Size
The size of this camera is only 3.3 inches in width, 2.5 inches in height and 1.4 inches in depth. So, this camera can easily fit in a purse or a pocket.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Some of the other features of this camera include:
- Still capture modes: Auto, scene, portrait, sport, landscape and close-up.
- Scene modes: Night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text/document, fireworks, flower, museum/manner, self-portrait, party, children and backlight.
- Color modes: High color, natural color, low color, sepia and black & white.
- Burst mode: 2.4 fps, a maximum of 5 images in any quality mode and 4 images at ISO 400/800.
- Click to capture: 0.5 seconds (preview on), 0.7 seconds (preview off).
- Shot to shot: 1.5 seconds (wide preview on & buffer not full), 6.0 seconds (wide preview on & buffer full).
- Auto focus: TTL-AF, continuous AF and single AF.
- Auto focus selection: Multi-zone and center zone.
- White balance: Auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent and open shade.
- Built-in flash: Auto, digitally enhanced red-eye reduction, fill and off.
- Favorites: Slide show, multi-up, remove favorites and setup menu.
- Dedicated buttons: Back: menu, review, Share, dedicated delete, zoom, 5-way controller, LCD on and off/info
top: self-timer/burst, flash, shutter and mode dial.
- Self Timer: 10 seconds or 2 seconds.
CONTENTS
The Kodak C360 comes with the following in the box:
1. Kodak C360 Digital Camera
2. Wrist Strap
3. Getting Started Kit with Software
4. Kodak CRV3 lithium battery
5. USB & Video Cables
6. Insert for optional Kodak EasyShare docks
DRAWBACKS
Nothing is perfect, so here are a couple of drawbacks that I'd like to mention.
1. Power: Once you've used up the included CRV3 lithium battery, you have to buy some new batteries. Using regular AA or rechargeable batteries do not last as long as you would like. My suggestion is to look on eBay and buy up a lot of Kodak CRV3 batteries as they will last you a lot longer and buying on eBay will be a lot cheaper than buying at retail prices. Also, you can buy an AC adapter for this camera at the Kodak website, but why don't they just include it with the camera?
2. Flash: Okay, I'm sure that I need to tinker around a lot more with the flash settings on the camera, but it seems as if the flash isn't as idiot friendly as the CX7430 was. Some photos just have too much flash or not enough.
THE COST
When I bought this camera last year, it cost me just under $200. Now, after looking at a price comparison website, I found prices anywhere from $139.99 to $234.99.....so be sure to shop around!
OVERALL
Even with the couple of drawbacks shown above, I am still very impressed and happy with this camera.
5.0-megapixel digital camera produces amazing-quality prints up to 13 x 17 inches 3x optical zoom, 5x advanced digital zoom 17 easy-to-access scene mo...More at Amazon Marketplace
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