Pros: Small, attractive design, nice interface, high degree of multifunctionality
Cons: Poor image/movie quality, very fragile, no carry case, expensive (considering package)
The Bottom Line: This camera, from the lopsided casing to the poor image/movie quality, is a deplorable case of hype building up a shoddy product. Avoid it!
For all of the hype surrounding the Mc3 (just check out the Mc3 exchange at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/cameras/mcXchange/index.jhtml for an example of this), you would have thought that this camera was a miracle of design, something that digital camera lovers everywhere would sell their own children to get, and would eliminate the need for camera film everywhere.
As it is, the Mc3 is a fairly shoddy product at best, but from a negative perspective (i.e anything but the marketing hype), this camera is not a good product.
The first thing that I noticed when opened the package was the lack of carry case (or at least lense protection mechanism, such as a cap). Secondly, upon taking my first picture, I was shocked to discover that:
a) This camera cannot (I repeat, CANNOT) be used indoors, at least not without the kind lighting that is used to illuminate football stadiums at night, which thus halves its useful working life
b) Even outdoors, the 640 x 480 resolution produces pictures that are not only poor quality, but often out of focus/blurred/poorly composed, sometimes with random lines throughout the image. How annoying. And it definantly doesn't produce the kind of image you want to show to anyone else, at least with your pride intact.
I assumed that this distinct lack of quality in the pictures had been allowed for at least half decent movie performance. Wrong again. Fuzzy, slow (even at optimal frame rates - 20 fps! Grrrrr) movies with mono sound (not really Kodak's fault but even basic stereo would be nice) are not the kind of things one wants to base one's memories upon, but I guess that we don't have a choice if we stick to cameras such as this. Unfortunately, the software included on the CD does not allow you distinct improvement of your images, but the Arcsoft and RealJukebox products are impressive pieces of software nonetheless.
All in all, this camera is not really what I saw in the marketing hype. Kodak promised a machine that could take 150+ images in 24-bit colour, even the demos on the Mc3exchange site look quite nice (though obviously thanks to PhotoShop, but still), with movie and Mp3 features to boot. I don't get quality images, and certainly not 150 of them at a time. And movies, well, I've said enough about movies for one night. Unfortunately, the Mp3 function is the only one that really lifts this camera out of an engineering black hole. Sound quality is good, the EQ settings are fruitful, but is somewhat limited by the small memory size (16 meg = 20 minutes of CD-quality music, which limits the portability of the mc3, especially if you want to take photos and listen to music simultaneously).
I'm afraid that this has been a hatchet job, but it was a necessary one. So far, my mc3 camera has not lived up to my expectations, and I can't see how it would live up to ANYONE'S expectations. Kodak owes us all an apology. The least we can hope for is a magnificent improvement in this model - or I fail to see how it will gain any repeat buyers at all.
Don't forget to 'trust' me if you don't already! =))
[THE ABOVE LINE WAS A BLATANT ADVERTISMENT FOR ME. BUT LISTEN TO IT ANYWAY =)]
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