Kodak EasyShare Z760 6.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Mostly Slow, But Mostly Good
Written: Dec 05 '05 (Updated Dec 20 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, easy to use, resolution, manual controls, image quality, large LCD, fast focusing, battery
Cons: Manual lens cap, joystick, slow startup and shutdown, unresponsive zooming
The Bottom Line: With a couple of reservations, I recommend the Z760. It is easy to use, produces good pictures, has high resolution and is a good value.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Kodak EasyShare Z760 Battery Charger |
I have bought the Kodak EasyShare Z760 for $221, including the docking station (Dock series 3). The camera arrived in a large white/yellow box several days later. The 6.1-Megapixel Kodak Z760 with 3x optical zoom and 2.2-inch LCD screen seems to be a good value at this price.
Pictures
The pictures of the Kodak EasyShare Z760 and the sample photos taken with it are available at the address below:
http://www.review-shop.com/Kodak_Z760/Kodak_Z760_Samples_1.html
You can copy and paste the above address into your browser's address area.
What Is Kodak Z760?
The Kodak EasyShare Z760 is a 6.1-Megapixel digital camera with 3x optical zoom (39-117mm equivalent), SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON zoom optics, a 2.2-inch LCD screen, an optical zooming viewfinder, automatic, scene and manual modes, powered by a supplied rechargeable battery.
The camera stores images and short video clips on its internal memory (32 MB) or on Secure Digital (SD) memory cards. My camera came with a dock that charges the supplied rechargeable battery pack in 3.5 hours.
The camera has real adjustable aperture of f/2.8-8.0 at wide angle, f/4.8-8.0 at telephoto. The shutter speed range is 1/8-1/1,400 sec in automatic mode, 64-1/1,000 sec in manual modes.
The camera has an ISO range of 100-200 in auto mode or 100,200,400 and 800 in manual modes (ISO 800 is only available at 1.7 MP resolution).
Getting Started
The camera came in a large box, most volume of which was filled with cardboard padding. The camera itself is rather compact and the accessories fit in two small cardboard boxes (one of which was taken by the camera dock).
I did not even have to charge the supplied battery pack as it was charged. I inserted the battery and attached the lens cap and was ready to shoot using the internal memory of the camera. Since I did not want to deal with establishing a USB connection between the camera and my computer, I decided to forego the internal memory in favor of an SD card that I had.
I have to say that I was surprised that the camera this small requires a removable lens cap. Although the camera belongs to the Kodak High Zoom line, the optical zoom of its lens is only 3x, which I do not consider High. Most of the cameras I have seen (if not all of them) that have 3x optical zoom or less, have integrated automatic lens lids. The Z760 uses a manual lens lid, which you have to remember to remove and reattach. This is something I do not like.
In fact, I was very surprised when I first saw the camera. It seemed that the automatic lens lid was stuck in open position. I was about to return the camera to the store before I discovered that there was a manual lens lid supplied. Obviously, reading the manual would help also.
Usage
Unlike many other compact cameras, you have to remember to open the lens lid before turning the camera on. I forgot on a couple of occasions. No big deal - the camera just failed to power-up, until the lens cap was removed.
You turn the camera on by rotating the mode disc on its back panel from the OFF position to something else. E.g. AUTO mode for those who just want to point and shoot. Or A for Aperture Priority. This system is pretty easy and the current icon is back-lit. The zooming is by means of a zoom control in front of the handgrip. The shutter release button is on top of it. Both have conventional locations and usage.
In manual modes, you adjust parameters (aperture or shutter speed) by rotating the thumbwheel located in the back part of the handgrip. It works rather well.
As with other cameras, you pre-focus by pushing the shutter release button halfway, then push it all the way to take the picture.
LCD
The camera has a, relatively large, 2.2-inch LCD screen with good resolution and brightness. The screen increases brightness in the dark (gains up), but that increases the amount of video noise on the screen. The screen is rather fluid.
The camera also has an optical zooming viewfinder with coverage less than that of the LCD.
Ergonomics and Ease of Use
The camera is rather easy to use. It employs typical Kodak menus with large icons and easy to understand descriptions. The menu navigation is slow, however, but that is because the speed was sacrificed in favor of the ease of use.
The camera has a good feel in your hand and its controls are mostly within easy reach. I really dislike the manual lens cap, however.
Also, the menus are controlled by the little joystick in the middle of the mode dial. I really dislike them.
Performance
The camera extends or contracts its lens pretty slowly. This translates to a startup time of 3-4 seconds. Ditto the shutdown. The zooming has average speed but the zoom mechanism has a lot of inertia: you stopped pushing the zoom control, but the lens takes some time to stop zooming. Precision of framing suffers as a result.
The camera focuses fast - under a second, even in relatively dark areas. But sometimes (dim indoors, rarely) it fails to focus at all.
The shutter lag is very short (well under a second). The camera can take pictures at about 1.5-2 second intervals. I find this sufficient.
The burst mode lets you capture 4 photos in 2 seconds (2 fps).
Overall, the camera is not the fastest, especially at startup, but works OK once the lens is extended.
Battery Life
The supplied battery pack is charged in the camera using either the supplied AC adaptor or the camera dock. I took about 70 pictures and the battery has not shown any signs of depletion.
Picture Quality
The camera has a good automatic white balance system and has usable presets for manual white balance.
The camera produces very good pictures with richly-saturated colors, sharp edges of objects and low noise at lower ISO settings. I have not noticed much chromatic aberration (purple fringing) or softening in the corners. The noise level is very low at ISO 100 (virtually unnoticeable), low at ISO 200 but ISO 400 is only good for 6x4 and 5x7 prints.
The camera allows you to use ISO 800, but only at 1.7-Megapixel resolution, which renders it only usable for 6x4 prints or semi-decent quality. The ISO 100 prints are good up to 13x19, however (at 6.1-Megapixel resolution of 2856x2142).
Computer Connectivity
I removed the SD card and used my memory card reader for transferring pictures to my computer. The camera stores images in JPEG format and videos in QUICKTIME format. The still photos can be taken/stored at 6.1MP, 5.4MP (3:2 aspect ratio), 4MP, 3.1MP and 1.7MP. There are two levels of compression: standard and fine.
The Good
The camera is inexpensive, easy to use, has high resolution, manual controls, real aperture control and flexible shutter speed, good image quality, large LCD, fast focusing, uses compact and inexpensive SD cards, rechargeable battery supplied, good battery life.
Reservations
Inconvenient manual lens cap, menus are controlled by a little joystick (which I dislike), slow startup and shutdown, unresponsive zooming.
Bottom Line
With a couple of reservations, I recommend the Z760. It is easy to use, produces good pictures, has high resolution and is a good value.
My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras
Canon:
Canon Digital Rebel XT with Lens Kit
Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A620 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A610 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A520 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A510 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A410 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S70 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD200 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD300 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD30 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD400 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD450 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD500 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD550 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 6x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 6x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Olympus:
Olympus D-595 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Olympus SP-350 8-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Olympus Stylus 500 Digital Camera Review
Olympus Stylus 600 Digital Camera Review
Olympus Stylus 800 Digital Camera Review
Olympus EVOLT E-500 Digital SLR Camera Review
Sony:
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-M1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P200 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S40 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S60 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S90 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T33 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T5 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T7 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W7 Digital Camera Review
Fuji:
Fuji FinePix A345 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix A350 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix E500 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix E510 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix E550 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix E900 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix F10 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix F450 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix S5200 Digital Camera Review
Kodak:
Kodak EasyShare C340 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare P850 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare V530 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare V550 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare Z700 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare Z730 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare Z740 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare Z760 Digital Camera Review
Kodak EasyShare Z7590 Digital Camera Review
Konica Minolta:
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Digital Camera Review
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Digital Camera Review
Nikon:
Nikon D50 Digital SLR Camera Review
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
Reviews written: 817
Trusted by: 514 members
About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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