The Kodak DX 4530 digital camera
At the time I got this it was the most affordable camera on the market featuring 5-megapixel resolution and optical zoom (3.3x digital). It uses around 1.54 MB per photo (ie 83 images on 128MB card), however you have the options of 4.5, 3 and 1.2 Mega pixels (ie 0.41 MB, about 312 images on 128MB card) but the quality seems to be great on all these formats.
The manual is provided on one of two CDROMs as a PDF document, which can be saved onto your computer or just used when needed. I found this quite annoying as I like to read. Smell is a powerful trigger to the memory; A certain flower or whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell, musty and rich and DEF documents don't.
The knowledge gained from a computer has no texture or context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last then the getting of knowledge should be tangible, it should be smelly.
Kodak provide an A/V cable to allow images/videos to be shown on your T.V, which is very useful, but they don't provide a case.
The basic software to manage and create albums is also provided but I haven't used it much since the standard Windows drivers do a good enough job; and being a student, I don't care much for this type of helper application, as I like to do these things "by hand". But you would probably find it very useful and it is really quite cute too :-)
The camera’s menu structure is very easy to understand. However I found it slightly counter intuitive (there are two levels per function but the second could be incorporated into the higher level, for quicker operation); That notwithstanding, you don't even have to read the manual to get things going. All picture modes - landscape - sport - night - close up are exactly as they say, and work. The video is good quality.
The USB cable provided for connection to your PC is XP friendly, however the slave end is quite fragile, as these things often are, much better to spend a bit extra and get the Kodak Easyshare Camera Dock II as well, which comes with rechargeable batteries too.
A "dial" on top of the camera has several photograph mode settings:
Auto: For standard ‘point and shoot' photography.
Sport: Faster shutter speed to avoid the blurring you get with moving objects.
Night-time: Shutter stays open for longer to allow more light in.
Landscape: Focus is set to infinity so that good distance landscape shots can be taken.
Close-up: For taking snaps of objects less than 28" (70cm) away.
Take aim using the viewfinder (as on standard cameras) or the 1.8" LCD screen (which I find much more user friendly and already couldn't do without), press the shutter button (as on a normal camera) half way and wait until the camera has focused (signalled by a green light and the focus frame changing from green to red), then press the shutter button fully. Easy. The LCD screen is full colour and very clear (72,000 pixels) when used both inside and outside.
Having used all the photograph modes, I can honestly say that each takes a great picture. Bright sunlight, dim room, action shots and not a bad quality shot among them.
Good points:
1) Cheap and good sharp image quality from Kodak with a focus range of 23.6 in. to Infinity (w).
2) It can use AA batteries, a CRV3 battery "pack" is provided to get you started - it’s supposed to last you a long time (IT IS NOT A RECHARGABLE BATTERY THEY SUPPLY) however I’ve purchased the best possible batteries (uniross 2300 mAH for around £30) these batteries will last me ages! save me lots of money.
3) Night time photos good, can adjust setting very easily to capture more light in dark shots ISO Speeds Auto • 200 .
4) Very easy to use.
5) Nice features, such as "slide show", image information, Security locking and photo preview magnification .
6) The camera has an internal 32 megabyte (MB) memory, not shipped with additional (secure digital) storage. That means it will store up to 21 highest quality photos or about 2 minuets of video before filling.
Bad points:
1) EasyShare: There is a ‘share' button on the camera, this simply allows you to earmark certain shots for printing or emailing when you download them using the EasyShare software (The software included doesn't run under Windows 2000, so the installation fails) . It is just as easy to take a look at your shots once they are downloaded and select ones for printing, emailing etc. I'd suggest this is just a gimmick to create a whole new series of ‘EasyShare' cameras.
2) This is "bigger" (Width 4.3 in.Depth; 1.5 in; Height 2.6 in; Weight 0.46 lb) and less "stylish" than other £200 cameras, and a little "plasticy" but that is just a matter of taste, and who cares when it will give you superb pictures, from a leading manufacturer, at 5 megapixels.
3) There is a slight shutter speed (1/2 - 1/1700 sec) delay between pressing the shutter button and the photo being taken, meaning that your object / subject may have moved, this can also cause a "motion blur" type effect.
4) Physically there are a few things to note:
A) The lens cover: Instead of being the automatic style, the lens cap it is the old-fashioned type, dangling from a string and in need of clipping into place every time you've finished. Not too great a disadvantage, but one that rather frustrated me when taking a downwards shot and the lens cap kept swinging into view.
B) The lens cover: When you power the camera, the manual says that it is supposed to pop off, but instead the camera does not power up, you have to take it off and turn the thing off and on again, also the cover comes off a little bit too easily for my liking. You WILL need a case for the camera because of this. e.g. putting it directly into a backpack could cause the cover would pop off.
C) Flash: The flash quality is okay but the light intensity sensor is not so great, it has a slight tendency to under illuminate the background which can result in the subjects looking as if they where "cutout" and pasted into the scenery (you can easily compensate for this); and the ‘redeye' feature is not automatic, there is a separate mode for this.
D) Flash: When the flash is disabled, the camera automatically increases the exposure time, to compensate for the lower light levels, however there is no way to prevent this, which can exaggerate motion blur. I would often settle for "darker" photos and preform a gamma correction later on the computer.
E) Video: The video format is QuickTime (320 x 240 at 15 fps) ie good quality, internal memory can store up to 2 minutes worth of video footage, but there is no way to control the sound, and the cameras microphone records more sound ‘behind’ the camera than what is being filmed, and the unwanted sound exponentially reduces the recording time.
5) The settings: The camera does not save your long time exposure, exposure compensation or flash settings, these revert to the default options every time it is turned on/off. Annoying when you want to cut the flash off all the time. This may seem logical; however the camera turns itself off after 10 minutes (and there is no way to control how/when this happens) to "save power", so these settings are lost and you have to "setup" the camera again in which time you've missed your shot.
6) The orientation sensor: This is a nice little feature which automatically rotates photos so you don't have to later on your computer, however when this is enabled your photos are scaled to the height instead of the with of the LCD display thus they ‘look' very small, the effect is that you can't so easily review your photos, you can of course use the ‘magnify' feature but that’s not the point.
7) Image format: The JPEG compression is NOT adjustable and sometimes it has a habit of being too high. This isn't really a problem when viewing on screen, but if you are buying a 5MP camera because you might want to enlarge a print once in a while (which most people might want to do) then the high compression means the print might not be good enough.
I am the website administrator of the Wandle industrial museum (http://www.wandle.org). Established in 1983 by local people determined to ensure that the history of the valley was no longer neglected but enhanced awareness its heritage for the use and benefits of the community.