Pros: Price, ease of use, quality, durability, software
Cons: Zoom, internal memory
The Bottom Line: Unless you are a professional, you don't need more than this camera. Grab a secured memory card when you get the camera. You will need it.
uvachief's Full Review: Kodak EasyShare CX7300 Digital Camera
I bought this camera because my old 35mm just died. It was only $99. I actually bought 2 digital cameras for $99 and wanted to try them out to see which one best suited me. This one was 10x easier to use so it won hands down!
First of all, I am not a professional photographer. I use it to take pictures of friends, family and vacation shots. I wanted something that was easy to see what I took, delete bad pictures, easy to upload to my home computer, share pictures with friends and hold a whole heck of a lot of pictures.
The camera comes with 16MB of internal memory. Not much. Think it would take about 24 real good quality pictures. However, the secured media cards have gotten dirt cheap. I bought a PNY 128mb card. It holds about 141 good quality photos now. More than enough more my purposes and you can always buy more.
The camera itself is really easy to use. You can easily review and delete photos after you take them. You can record video for about 7 mins with the 128mb card. Its easy to record, review and delete video as well.
The software that comes with the camera is excellent. You can transfer pictures from the camera to the computer via a usb included cable. My home computer has a slot to insert the secured media card and directly read off the card which is very convenient. The software enables you to review, edit and share your photographs over the internet. It will take you a few minutes to figure it all out the first time you use it, but you won't need to pick up the manual.
Battery life was better than I expected; however, I would strongly encourage anyone buying any type of digital camera to make sure you can use rechargeable batteries in it. You will waste a ton of money on batteries otherwise. I went to a Christmas party and took lots of indoor photos using the flash. I took about 80 pictures before I ran out of juice on 2 AA batteries. This included reviewing and editing. Using the camera to transfer pictures will drain it pretty quickly as well.
The camera is dang durable as well. I was dumb enough to try to take pictures with the camera in one hand while holding a solo cup full of drink in the other. I somehow managed to drop the camera into the solo cup and submerge it at least one-third of the way. I cannot believe it didn't ruin it. Still seems to work fine.
The other camera I purchased was a Sipix. Needless to say it lost out. Wasn't compatible with Windows XP. Very difficult to review photos on the camera and impossible for me to transfer photos without the additional secured media card. Camera just looked awful as well.
Biggest complaint will be the size. Its about the size of my old 35mm minolta. You can slide it into an inside suit pocket but it is not real conducive to putting it in a jean pocket. If you are going to use it like a standard camera, it is plenty small enough. However, if you want to slide it into your jeans without it looking like you are deformed, go with one of the tinier much more expensive digital cameras.
When editing the photos you can zoom in 2x and then 4x. The software easily allows you to crop and edit. I could not see any loss of quality in the photo if I zoomed 4x and cropped away. Eventually you start to loose quality if you repeat this procedure over and over and zoom in 16x or greater. However, for most shots within normal picture taking distance, the zoom is fine. If you will primarily be using it to take scenic pictures from afar, you probably need a stronger zoom.
Seems great and love it so far!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99.99 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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