All you'd ever want to know about the Kodak Advantix C650
Written: Dec 27 '00 (Updated Dec 27 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: zoom, 3 kinds of pictures, 5 kinds of flashes, etc etc
Cons: expensive, some picture taking problems
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| lawgirl's Full Review: Kodak Advantix C650 Zoom APS Film Camera |
Here is the amazing story of how this little camera came to live with us- for free!!- and how we have fallen in love with it since. (If you want, just skip down to the features of the camera to get to the real meat of this epinion, and pardon my digression.)
Thanksgiving 2000- we went to my parent's house in St. Louis for Thanksgiving this year and also celebrated Christmas together since it was our turn to head to my in-laws for the actual Christmas date this year. During the festivities, my Mom, aka "shutterbug", took tons of pics with my brother's Kodak Advantix C650 camera which he had received the previous Christmas as a gift. Once we finished the roll of film, we tried to get it out of the camera, to no avail. It was broken! The day after Thanksgiving, we all headed to the mall to see the Christmas sights and to get this dumb film out of the camera! We stopped in at the local Wolf Camera store and the man working there was a little reluctant to help us because he did not want to break our camera. We finally begged him into doing it- and it took him at least 15 minutes and many different camera-fixing tools to get out the film, which was torn apart and ruined. He then put in a new roll of film and discovered that the film winding mechanism was broken, and he told us that it would cost as much as a new camera to get it fixed. So, my mom bought my brother the latest Advantix and was getting ready to throw this one away when I, ever the Dutchy-don't-throw-away-anything-in-the-hopes-I-can-fix-it, scooped it up and took it home.
My mom had purchased the camera at Target, so my husband took it back there, explained the situation and was given the 1-800 number to Kodak's customer service. They gave us a place to send it to, and since it was under the one year manufacturer's warranty, we could get it fixed for free!! We sent the camera off on a Monday and received it back from a Chicago camera store no Friday!! We were astounded and so excited to get this camera back fixed for free, especially considering we never even paid for it in the first place.
What makes this camera worth saving.
Gosh I wonder where to start. This camera really has it all for the everyday user. Let's start with the basic things that make this camera great.
1. It's gorgeous dahling!
This camera looks great. It is silver everywhere, which gives it a really modern look, which I love. It has a grippy area on the camera where you put your right hand to click the shutter. I think this is so your hand does not slip during picture taking. It has lots of smooth buttons on it and it just looks great. Go check one out and you will see what I mean.
2. Easy loading film.
This is one of the main reasons everyone loves this camera. The film just drops in the bottom and you click the door close. It loads itself! I have had so many rolls of film that I misloaded and took tons of "pictures" to only find out later the film was never loaded and I missed all those pictures! This will never happen on this camera provided the loading mechanism is not broken (like it was on my brother's camera. More on that later.)
The battery is also very easy to load- the place it goes is on the left/rear side of the camera and it is very easy to get the door open (I have had the opposite experience on other cameras) and the battery just pops in.
3. Three shapes of pictures.
This is the other big reason everyone likes these Advantix cameras. You can take pictures in Classic, Group/HDTV, and Panoramic pictures from the same film cassette. The viewfinder frame changes to match each format selection. On the left/rear of the camera (right above the battery compartment) is the shape selector. You switch a lever to C, P, or H to choose which way you want the pictures taken. The C is your classic rectangle shape that all pictures are taken in- the HDTV size is wider and longer and will incorporate more items in the picture. The panoramic is what you are thinking- the long rectangle that will take pictures of several items from left to right. (I use this one to take pics of my ebay items for sale- then I can just use my scanner to trim down the pics and isolate the items. That saves on photo developing, which is very expensive.)
I have not used the panoramic or classic much- I tend to stick with the HDTV format- it gets in more but does not cut down like the panoramic does. The panoramic is wide, but not very deep. For example, if you have a long string of people, all you can fit in would be their heads and not the rest of their bodies- you cannot get much in in terms of top to bottom using panoramic.
4. Zzzzooommmmm
This camera has a zoom lens that will zoom in 2x on an object. The zoom control is located on the top of the camera, right above where your thumb is when you are holding the camera in picture-taking mode. The zoom is operated by a little dial with a piece sticking out that you just turn with your thumb while holding the camera. This sounds complicated, I know (I am not very good at descriptions) but it is very easy to operate and very well-placed. You can operate the zoom easily while holding the camera and looking through the viewfinder. I love that- my old camera had the zoom control on the front, so you it was very hard to do while looking through the viewfinder. This camera makes it easy to control the zoom while focusing your picture.
5. Five flash modes!
This camera will take pictures in five flash modes. If you use any of the settings except "Off", the flash will pop up automatically when the camera is turned on.
Off- the flash will not flash in any picture
Auto Flash with Red Eye- the flash and red eye reduction lamp go on every picture
Auto Flash without Red Eye- the flash without the red eye reducer goes on every picture
Fill Flash- this is an interesting item I had not seen on any camera before. You use this flash when the subject you want to photograph is backlit, meaning the source of light is coming from behind them. I.e.- if they are standing in front of a sunset. This is a big NONO usually when taking photos because it causes shadows on the front of the subject being phtotographed. This flash settings will help eliminate those shadows.
Night View- this mode should be used with high speed film, at sunset or night. This flash mode balances the flash and existing light exposure so you can take beautiful pictures of people at sunset or night.
Each of these settings are selected by pushing the flash button on top of the camera in succession until you get the item you want. Each flash is signified by a different symbol displayed on the digital display.
6. Infinity Focus
This is a setting you can use to take sharp, clear pictures of distant scenery at any zoom position. You should use it only in dayight and outdoors. This helps the camera take into focus items that are far off, such as a mountain range.
7. Digital display.
This camera has a digital display on the top that lets you know all you need to know! Just turn the camera on, and it tells you how many exposures you have left, what the date is, and what flashes and other settings are active. I love that!
8. Date and time imprinting.
You can get the time and date imprinted on your pictures. The date is displayed at all times on the digital display, even when the camera is off. The date is easy to set using the select and enter buttons on the top.
9. Self-timer.
This camera has a self-timer. You simply set the camera on the a flat and stable surface, push the self timer button on the top of the camera, make sure your photo is centered and focused, and then push the shutter button. The self timer lamp on the front of the camera will flash and then glow the last two seconds before the camera takes the photo so you know exactly when it is going to go off. The self timer automatically shuts off after the photo is taken, and it returns the camera to the auto-flash position.
10. Simply outstanding, no questions asked customer service.
When we called Kodak, they were simply no hassle customer service. We did not have to prove our camera was under the one year warranty with a puchase slip or anything. We simply wrote down our story, mailed the camera to them, and 4 days later it was back and fixed. No questions asked, no hassle!!! In these days of nonexistent customer service, my husband and I were simply amazed and delighted.
They also have a great online section. Since our camera was my brother's, it did not come with an instruction booklet. Never fear! The Kodak website has one online- complete with diagrams. If you need any assistance or you need to look something up on this camera, simply click to:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/advantix/c650/c650.shtml
And all your problems should be taken care of. They have troubleshooting, the instruction booklet, repair help, and tons of other things to help you with your camera. I find this so great- no being on hold with customer service.
A Con AND a Pro to this camera.
This camera has what it calls "safety interlock film." What this means is that the film kind of communicates with the camera and has a code on the end of the film that tells the camera "Hey I am done. Rewind me." If the camera has not received this message- i.e. the film is not all used yet- the film door will NOT unlock. This is normally a pro- the door won't open until the film is done which prevents the film being accidentally exposed and ruined. BUT--this is what was broken in my brother's camera- and as I said before, if this mechanism is broken, the door will NOT open even if the film is done. Our pictures were all taken, but the the film and camera were not communicating, so the film would not rewind. The camera did not know the film was done, refused to rewind the film and we could NOT get it out.
The man at Wolf camera told us that this does happen occasionally to these kind of cameras, although in his experience it is not a common occurrence. Just know about it and beware.
A few other things I don't like about this camera.
1. WOW it, and everything about it, is expensive.
When my mom bought this camera in December of 1999, it cost $200, although now I think it retails a lot closer to $100. Plus, the film is very expensive. A set of 3 film cartridges of 25 exposures each runs about $15. To me, that is a lot for 45 pictures. Plus, the developing is outrageous. Around here, it runs about $6-7 per roll for developing- and that is without doubles! I am used to using cheap developers such as York Photo Labs and Snapfish.com, both of which do not take Advantix (called APS) film! I have found one place that does- Shutterfly.com. They will develop your Advantix film for free, email you when your pics are done then you can go to their website, view your pics and order the ones you want for relatively little. I would love to hear from other Advantix owners on where to get cheap film and/or developing!!
2. Some problems taking pics.
I have had some problems getting the camera to take pics, especially of items laying on the table and taking pics from above. For example, I had laid an item flat on the table and was trying to get a pic of it to put on ebay.I could not get the camera to take the picture, no matter how hard I pressed the shutter. Has anyone else had this problem? I am unsure if this is because our camera was previously broken, or if this has been a problem for other users. Or maybe I am just doing something wrong. But, I thought I would mention it.
Overall.
Overall, I just don't think you can beat this camera. It is gorgeous, and has all the bells and whistles you could ever want- and some- in a basic camera. The price has come down a lot since my mom bought my brother his. My last mysimon.com search ended up with the cheapest price of about $125 for this camera. I think this camera is well worth the money- I don't see myself every buying another one! If you can afford the film and developing as well, this camera has all you could want!
Recommended:
Yes
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lawgirl
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Location: Milwaukee, WI
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