Very Functional, not especially fancy
Written: Jul 04 '04
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Pros: Price, essential features (zoom, macro, flash, movie, etc), AA batteries, SD memory.
Cons: External lens cap, slightly large size, not-so-great software.
The Bottom Line: Gets the job done for a great price.
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| bostonorion's Full Review: Kodak EasyShare DX4530 Digital Camera |
My wife and I were in the market to replace our HP camera, which broke after one year (just after the warranty expired). On the advice of my sister, we got a Kodak easy-share that was on sale. It came with a free 256 MB secure digital chip.
Good Points
I read a lot of complaints on this site about the picture quality of this camera and the lack of color control. I'm not sure what everyone out there is after, but we wanted something to use on vacation, social gatherings, family, etc. This camera does these fine. It takes short sound films, has a macro for those Ebay pix, and a few other features we haven't even used yet. The camera came on the mid-level setting (3 megapixels, presumably) and it hasn't budged. The pictures look terrific both on the screen and on the 4x6's we printed. Granted, "terrific" is subjective.
I also like the mode selection switch over our older HP's. On the HP, it was pretty easy to find yourself in movie move or accidentally turning the camera off. This switch is pretty unambiguous.
Another nice thing is that the camera is basically another remote storage device as far as you computer is concerned. This means you can download pictures from the camera, edit them, and then upload them back to the Secure Digital card. Then you can take your edited pictures in for printing on the card rather than burning a CD. I personally find this a great feature and is something you should consider regardless of what camera you decide on.
Bad Points.
I've read a lot about the slow recover time for this camera, but that hasn't really bothered us. We tend to watch the action, then say to ourselves "let's take a picture" rather than watch everything through a view finder. That's just us, though.
This camera is larger than a lot of cameras out there. Bigger than our old camera and bigger than my co-worker's Pentax. It's roughly the size of your standard 35mm camera.
You'll read lots of complaints about the lens cap, and I agree here: it's a pain. If you forget to take the cap off before you turn the camera on, the zoom lens pops the cap off for you. I always for get to take it off, and I'm worried that it will wear the zoom motor out someday.
I have had a few pictures come out blurry, but they were (in my case) due to my movement with a slow shutter speed. For the most part, the pictures are focused and clear.
My biggest complaint is with the software. It's pretty crude, but will get the job done. There are sliders that control the amount of brightness, contrast, etc. However, there are only about four positions each way, so you can't make very refined adjustments. HP's software was a little more intuitive and seemed to do more with less. I'm tempted to use that software for editing my Kodak pictures.
I think we've gotten our money's worth. All in all, fine pictures and the features we want. This is *not* the camera for someone who wants a tiny camera to slip into a pocket. It's probably not for people who want to be working with tiff's for publication work. But for capturing those fun moments in life, it's more than adequate.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
bostonorion
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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