bry2k's Full Review: Kodak Advantix C750 Zoom APS Film Camera
What prompted me to buy this camera was because of its cheap price. With a 50 dollar rebate, I paid about 80 dollars on this camera. It was the first camera I ever bought. Staying in UCLA, with its fine buildings and active people, I could just not pass so many photographic events undocumented
On the surface, it looks like it was worth every dime. It has an LCD screen which gives you a plethora of automatic features (more on that later). It is truly compact--small enough to fit in a pocket, but not too much as to make holding it a pain, you know, you're fingers getting in the way of the lens and the flash. The camera also came with the battery and a 200 speed 15 exposure film. Also included was a strap and a flip cover for the lens.
The Advance Photo System (APS) is different than your normal roll of 35mm film. The C750 takes advantage of the APS film by having a slide on which you indicate the three sizes you want your pictures to come out. The 3 sizes are Classic, the slightly-wider HDTV size, and the truly wide Panoramic size. Except for close-ups, the slide on my camera is permanently on the HDTV size. Additionally, the camera comes with a 2.5x zoom.
One feature that I appreciate was the red light that blinks when you take a bad shot using flash. It seems however that every nighttime shot I took has this light blinking mad. Judging from the pictures that came out of the camera so far, the light should've been permanently on. Which leads me to a criticism of the APS film. I shot night-time scenes with flash with both 200 and 400 film and they all pretty much developed washed-out (which actually produced a dramatic eerie effect on one of my shots). According to the Kodak website, the advantage of the APS film was that it encodes a bunch of information inside the film that is suppose to help the photofinishers to adjust for mistakes. It didn't do that. Another question is whether the one-hour APS photo prints out inferior quality pictures than the one sent out to labs. Still, the daytime pictures were spectacular; I've shared some pics with people and they were amazed at the postcard perfect shots I've taken at daytime. (UPDATE!: I reprinted the pictures developed at a one-hour photo and sent it to the lab. The lab took advantage of APS technology and the pictures were perfect).
Ok, automatic features. Using the LCD screen, you can imprint up to 30 pre-selected messages on the back of your pictures. The messages are special-events like Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday. The camera also allows you to tell the photofinisher on the LCD screen how many prints of a certain shot you want (up to 9). It has a self-timer. It also has selections that lets you skip manually adjusting flash and focus by simply selecting on the screen what kind of shot you're taking and under what conditions. For example, selecting the portrait mode automatically adjust the zoom lens and flash, so all you have to do is take the picture. I suggest however, to not rely on this feature too much; there are way too many nuances you have take into account when taking a shot whether it be portraits or night-time.
Another thing with APS, is that processing is a bit more costly than 35mm. For 15 exposures on APS WITHOUT panorama prints, a buck more expensive than 35mm. The difference climbs to 3 dollars when developing 40 exposures. Reprints, enlargements, processing partially unexposed rolls of film, are all costlier than 35mm.
But having those features and others on your camera is a step-up for a casual picture-taker like me (I simply don't have the talent to call myself a photographer. Yet.). Usually, casual picture-takers resort first to disposable. However, owning a C750 means having people confuse it for a digital camera. Plus, the Kodak website is amazing in answering my questions and you can even check the status of you film processing there. I have many reservations not with the camera but really with the APS film. It is not holding up to its promise. But I should've learned not to take fancy pictures with a point-and-shoot camera. Overall, I have to say I recommend the camera for being so easy-to-use, sleek, and introducing me to a new hobby.
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